Hmmmmm...not sure I can agree with you there. The protein content of an adult mouse and a baby rat is not significantly different (about 2%) However, both baby rats and adult rats have a
significantly higher fat content than similarly aged mice. Check out the breakdown.
Nutrition Feeder Mice | Nutrient Composition of Feeder Animals And look at the mineral breakdown as well. An adult mouse has about twice the calcium of a baby rat.
Again Im not saying this is essential or that its not perfectly feasible to feed rats their entire life. Ive raised many ball pythons on both and had no problems with either diet. Ive just started giving the smaller ones mice now due to the increased mineral content. Ive never had any problems switching them over from mice to rats though, so I cant speak to that issue.