I raise my rodents, both rats and mice, so I have all sizes available. I find that hatchlings feed best on live fuzzies because they need to see movement. As soon as I get them feeding well on live fuzzies, I switch to rat pups, live. Live rat pups can be left in the cage without concern for harm to the snake. When my animals attain some size and I begin feeding them small rats, I ALWAYS "thump" or "stun" the feeder first before offering it to the snake off of long hemistats. I know what damage a rat can do, so it is best to have it compromised before offering it to your ball python. Then once the snake has grabbed it and wrapped it, I look closely to make sure none of those rat incisors are sunk into my snake in any way before closing the cage drawer. I have tried f/t but find it is such a hassle to thaw first and warm them up.........too time consuming for me! But at the same time, I have to say that my weekly job of cleaning nearly 100 pans of rats and mice is NOT MY FAVORITE job to do!

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