Mice to rats.

Tinks · 07-15-05, 09:23 PM

ok, when is a good age/size to switch to rats? right now im feeding her inch long fuzzies, they arnt much widder than her and i want to switch to rats as soon as possible so that i dont have probs when shes older.

Crofab · 07-15-05, 09:34 PM

I personally feed all my snakes rats from the start if they will take them. I breed my own so this is not a problem. Generaly a 4-5 day old rat pink is the size of a mouse fuzzy. However i wouldn't worry about it much, alot of people keep bps on mice until they are able to take weanling/small rats. I have never had much of a problem switching bps over. If you do wash the rat and scent it with a mouse.

Tinks · 07-15-05, 09:41 PM

ok thanks, ill see if she'll eat a rat next time (five days from now) also, how would i go about killing the rat? the store only sells live. i currently feed her live mice b.c theyre small enough to do no harm.

Lrptls · 07-15-05, 10:51 PM

mice can do alot of damage to your snake, just as much as a small rat. iv noticed mice are more jumpy and quicker than rats and therefore are probably more dangerous than small rats.

i take rodents by the tail and very quickly bang them on the side of an aquarium, it rarely takes more than one hit to kill them and there nice and twitchy-makes the snake grab them even faster.

Tinks · 07-16-05, 12:02 AM

these mice dont even have their eyes open yet. and i was always there watching to make sure she didnt get hurt. from now on ill use the flick of the wrist so that the mouse is still fresh.

Lrptls · 07-16-05, 03:38 AM

i didnt know you meant baby mice, i figured if you were wanting to switch to rats the snake had some size and was eating larger mice. though one time i was holding a hopper, it only had its eyes open for maybe a day, it bit me and suprisingly it was quite pinch from the teeth, enough to scare a snake. snakes can become afraid of their own food if it harms them. if i were you i would feed the snake mice until it can eat rat pups, rats are simply better than mice. you might be able to switch yours over once it gets to eating small mice (just before they are adults i mean)

End Times · 07-16-05, 05:39 AM

At what size would you all say that a BP can accept full grown rats? The reason I ask is that I'm in the same boat, my snake is on live mice but I want to convert it to F/T rats but my LPS only carries frozen adult rats... The snake is 37 inches long and of good body condition. Don't have an exact weight yet, but I'll borrow a scale and weigh it this evening...

Princess Erica · 07-16-05, 07:41 AM

A full-grown rat is HUGE. A lot of people say you don't need to go over medium rats (I think the criteria is like 85-175g). My guy is about 37" and he's on medium rats. The biggest one I've ever seen him take was 110g, but that's the biggest one I've ever gotten when I bought them. You could always measure your snake and then measure the rats at the store and see if they're about the same sized, and judge from there...

End Times · 07-16-05, 11:33 AM

O.K., according to the cheap food scale, the snake is weighing in at 900 grams. Does that sound right for a ball of 37 inches? For some reason I expected a higher number, but what do I know, this is the first time I've weighed a snake! She/He just looks so thick!

Alright so, 37 inches and 900 grams, what size prey item would people feed this? Should I maybe just stick to mice and feed more than one seeing as my frozen options for rats are so limited (adults only)? Oh, and apparently-if the woman that brought it in to the animal shelter can be trusted-the snake is supposed to be 1.5 years old.

Princess Erica · 07-16-05, 11:43 AM

The weight sounds about right. I think medium-sized rats would be appropriate, but you can always measure and compare, or just buy one and see how it goes...

If you want to feed mice, it definitely seems like a couple are necessary. I don't know how big your mice are, but the ones I have access to here are rather small compared to rats, they'd be just a snack to my guy, who weighs a deal less than yours. Good luck!

End Times · 07-16-05, 06:34 PM

Great news, I went to my LPS today and they do carry different sizes of frozen rats! Apparently the joker who told me they only carried adults is "the idiot". All pet stores have one, some more than one....

Anyway, picked up two frozen medium rats, the guy said that these mediums are a little smaller than usual and that they are closer in size to rat pups than mediums but after having him show them to me, they look about the right size to me. About twice the size of an adult mouse and not overly thick. I think these will be just right! Now..... the battle begins. Gotta get this snake from live mice to frozen rats..... Lord be merciful!

greenman1867 · 07-16-05, 06:59 PM

Your 900g Ball can easily eat med rats in the 90-120g range. Good to hear you can get what you need locally. That helps alot.

Lrptls · 07-16-05, 07:15 PM

my Bp is almost five feet, eats large rats easily.

End Times · 07-16-05, 08:20 PM

Well, I've already mentioned it in a thread I just created, but my bp snatched the F/T rat up like it was a toddler with candy! I'm so pleased! I can't believe it switched over on a single attempt! Popped the top off the sterilite, dangled that rat in front of him/her, and BAM! Scared the crap out of me because I didn't expect it eat F/T on the first go! I am so thrilled! I know to you guys with several that this won't be a big deal, but this is my first and I'm just glad it switched over so easily after I've read the nightmares about trying to get BP's off of live and onto F/T. Not only that, but it was from mice to rats to boot!

Tinks · 07-16-05, 08:36 PM

lol id be surprised too, congrats on the easy switch, hope mine is just as easy