Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have two bps that are the same age and from the same breeder. The first snake is an albino female that has only been eating mice since birth, the other snake is a het albino that has switched to appropriate sized rats a few months ago.

My albino has eaten 34 ounces of mice and gained 9 ounces so she is gaining weight at .265 ounces per ounce eaten.

My het albino has eaten 38.5 ounces of mice and rats and gained 14 ounces so he is gaining weight at .364 ounces per ounce eaten. My het is gaining weight about 38% more efficiently which seems significant.

Are rats better than mice or should I take my albino to get checked for parasites? Or do I just need to relax and get a life?

Thanks for bearing with my long post, I'm a nerd.

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1.1 Normal Ball Pythons (Snakerton and Mathilda)
1.0 Het Albino Ball Python (Walter)
0.1 Albino Ball Python (Perrie)
1.2 Breeder Rats (Seamus, Fiona, Spotticus)

Get a fecal done if you think it's necessary, but I'd relax personally.
Some snakes grow at different rates. I have some hatchlings...same clutch, eating the same size mice...and two of the females are twice the size of one of the males.
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"What is man without the beasts?
If all the beasts were gone,
men would die from great loneliness of spirit.
For what happens to the beasts,
soon happens to men.
All things are connected."

-Chief Seattle (Duwamish Tribe)

well if you do the research (which I dont know exactly) rats are better for snakes than mice. (told to me by a breeder) I want to think he said they are a better source of calcium but I wouldnt swear by it.

Most breeders will say the same thing...
rat eaters generally grow faster, but with more fat than mouse eaters. For some reason mice tend to leave snakes more muscular.
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"What is man without the beasts?
If all the beasts were gone,
men would die from great loneliness of spirit.
For what happens to the beasts,
soon happens to men.
All things are connected."

-Chief Seattle (Duwamish Tribe)

You want to weigh them and maintain as much trend analysis on weight, appearance,shedding, activity, food consumtion, etc..as possible.

The more information you have, the better off you will be if you DO have a problem.

Fecal examines are not too much $$ if you choose that route.

That said, I tend to think your female is just a slow grower. I have a couple females that are picky eaters - what can you do?

Well you can sell her as a well started mouse eater, being honest with the person you sell her to that she is a slow grower. You can then buy a new animal that will grow faster for you..hopefully? I bought this (pic) female 66% het Albino going on two years ago because I liked her look - still do! She was only 65 grams and wouldnt eat when I got her. Going on two years later, she is still only about 450 grams, but I really like her look and I grow attached to them so I still have her...LOl!

How much does your girl weigh exactly?

Rats, do have higher protein and fat (I believe) contents, so if she gets to a certain size, they sometimes become less timid and begin to eat rats. At this point she might really take off size wise?

I believe it was Tosha maybe, who posted a breakdown comparison between the nutritional values between rats and mice. You can try searching back through old posts - 2006 maybe and find the information, or search on google for it...its out there if you really look.

I have heard the same thing about rats ver. mice. Rats tend to have more fat content and stronger bones which consist of more calcium. It would be logical to say that rats are more nutrious than mice.
Chrissy
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Brian n Chrissy

"snakes are kind of like potato chips, you cant have just one"

More fat and calcium content in rats than mice.Terry

In my experience parasites are very common in captive snake and rodent colonies. I would consider getting a fecal done on both animals and treat accordingly. However, you might find they periodically get re-infected from your rodent supply. Some day I’d like to start in a clean new facility with my own SPF Harlan rodent stock and see if it would be possible to keep parasite free without regular rounds of testing and treatment.

well it's good to know i'm not the only bonehead with nothin' better to do... i've also done similar calculations. they are obscure at best. i've used my data to help figure out how many appropriately sized meals would be required to get animals to size for breeding. gives you a baseline to work from, but it's not solid science. variations in levels of hydration (food source and the subject animal), "quality" of the calories in the food source, average temps of the individual subjects (affects metabolic rate), and a plethora of other factors would have an immesurable impact on your data. but it's better to have an idea than to be blind to things that are all around you. making sure your animals are empty is also tricky business without serious equipment or long periods of fasting. last week one of my girls dropped a log that was over 13% of her body weight. fun stuff.
keep up the dirty work,
ck

First-Rats, in my experience, ARE slightly better at putting weight on a BP than mice. Second, alb unos of any kind of animal are well documenmted to be overall slightly "weaker" and perhaps less efficient, than normal individuals.

Brad Chambers

Debunking the myth:

Domestic feeders no matter which type contain more than enough nutrients than our domestic pets need - all those extra nutrients become nothing but waste - so whether you're feeding your snake mice or rats your snake will have more than enough nutrients. More is not better - it's just a waste (pun intended).

On the other hand yes - rats are higher in fat content which does get absorbed more readily and is not necessarily "healthier" for your snake. In human terms you can think of it as mousers being on an all chicken diet and raters being on an all pork diet.

Rats are easier to feed - one per meal instead of several - and for people breeding their snakes it helps build the fat content necessary for the reproductive process -f or pets the extra fat is not really necessary.

They do what they do - they are as individual as people are - just relax and enjoy your animals!
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Tosha
JET Pythons