feeding rats or mice

[Princess-dad]

Hello all I have been checking into buying bulk feeders for my snakes . How does a 22 gram mouse compair to a 22 gram rat nutritionally . My corn has been feeding on roughly 22 gram mice . But the outlet I have found near me is out of mice but does have rats of the same aproximate weight . I have attached an older pic , the snake is considerably larger now .

[Manietsky]

I know that rats in general have higher percent fat and protein. If they are the same size you would probably get more growth for the money on the rats. I prefer feeding rats over mice and my snake didn't mind the switch...

[Sylphie]

In case of the corns mices are all they need. Ofc you can give them rats, but then you must remember that they need more time between feedings as rats are more "fat" than mices. For example: for adult corn you should feed one adult mice every two weeks, but feeding rats you should wait at least few days more (I would wait 18, even 20 days).
Corns are rather prone to being overfeed and obese

[SSSSnakes]

I don't know the answer as far as nutrition goes, but I feed both. I switch back and forth from mice to rats with most of my snakes and they grow just fine. In the wild they eat what ever they find, so giving them the same kind of food all the time is not natural. I also have been keeping snake long enough to see most of my snake live long and healthy lives so oit must be OK. This is how I do it, but others may say different or have another way that they like.

[EL Ziggy]

I agree with Jerry. I also feed all of my snakes a varied diet of mice, rats, and chicks. Your corn will do fine on mice exclusively but it definitely won't hurt to introduce other prey items. Give it a try and see what happens.

[Minkness]

I switch mine up too. Even my BPs still get mice from time to time . My others are all too small for anything other than mouse babies (pinks and fuzzies) but as they grow I'll offer rats, quail, and maybe chicks. =)

[prairiepanda]

A lot of people seem to get confused by the nutritional data tables comparing feeders. Rats have higher nutritional values because they are larger. Unfortunately the tables don't show nutrition per gram or something like that, so they mislead people by putting different sized animals next to each other. Compared gram to gram, an adult mouse is pretty close to equivalent to an adult rat. Of course, an adult rat would be more appropriate for a large snake and an adult mouse would be more appropriate for a small snake.

But if we're looking at a 22g rat and 22g mouse, a 22g rat will be younger than a 22g mouse and so will have a higher fat to protein ratio simply due to its age. (it has more "baby fat" compared to the more mature mouse) For a growing snake, the extra fat in rats can boost growth rates, especially in very young babies. But either mouse or rat would be perfectly suitable for your corn so personally I'd go with whatever is cheaper. Or you can mix it up if you'd like, as others have suggested. For an adult corn, however, I would lean more towards mice since rats at the size that adult corns would eat will still be quite young and therefore fattier. But even then it never hurts to switch it up sometimes.

[pitontheprowl]

Rats VS Mice only differs on how many items can you get a larger animal to eat.
If you compare gram per gram there isn't enough difference to matter.

[Minkness]

Oh wow, I had no idea about all this! It makes perfect sence though. I'm sure the actual body condition of the feeder matters too. A fatty rat vs a lean rat ect.

[chairman]

In relation to Minkness' post, I remember reading that rats get healthier in relation to mice as the mice get into the large/extra large range. An extra large mouse is usually fatter than a similarly sized rat.

[prairiepanda]

Originally Posted by chairman

In relation to Minkness' post, I remember reading that rats get healthier in relation to mice as the mice get into the large/extra large range. An extra large mouse is usually fatter than a similarly sized rat.

Depends on how your source produces "extra large" mice and how large they are. If they're retired breeders, they'll be nice and lean. If they're just overfed adults(which they commonly are) then they'll be pretty fatty. Usually XL mice are around weaner rat size(30-40g), so a healthy XL mouse should be much leaner than a similarly sized rat. But again, it depends on the source; often XL mice are just obese, in which case a similarly sized rat might be the better choice.

[Princess-dad]

Thank you all .

[Mad Max]

I fed adult mice until my snake was big enough to take weaned rats, because I read that adult rodents were nutritionally superior, with more muscle and developed bones, to ones that were still nursing. So, I'd probably stick with mice for a corn snake.