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I picked up a yearling licorice black rat recently and while I haven't done a side by side comparison, he seems to be longer than all of my 09 corns, though not as thick as some. I ordered some frozen rodents a few weeks ago and loaded up on adult mice since all of my snakes are growing and will be taking them soon. The problem is, the bag of "weanlings" that was supposed to last them until then came in pretty much the same size as the adults. The snakes are taking them just fine, but it is a larger meal than I'd typically feed them.

What caught my attention is the fact that the corns all have a visible bulge for several days after eating, but the black rat seems completely slim and trim again after about 2 days. He definitely has a distinct bulge just like the others immediately after eating and he's kept in the same rack under the same conditions. I don't recall my previous non-corn rat snakes (I've kept bairds and black rats before) having faster metabolisms than my corns. Maybe it's something I just didn't notice though. I was just curious whether or not any of you have noticed a tendency for your North American rats to digest meals any faster than your corns?

Well, black rats are larger in general than corns, so it makes sense that its bigger than corns of the same general age. As far as metabolism, I had a pair of baby Kisatchi corns/rats that seemed to grow with every feeding and converted food into growth at a much higher rate then same age corns. So, I think its totally possible it just assimilates faster. I have a WC yearling texas rat and WC yearling black rat that are taking hoppers and seem to be "slim" again soon after feeding. However, the yearling corns I have from last years hatch are pretty much the same.

I have an adult WC Texas rat and an adult CB motley corn in side by side cages. Both are about 4 1/2 feet, and both are on the same feeding schedule, a medium f/t rat every week. The rat snake typically slims down and defecates about 3-4 days after feeding, while the corn will not show defecation until days 5-7. The rat is also consistently more active than the corn. I think there is a definite metabolic difference between these two closely related species.

>>I picked up a yearling licorice black rat recently and while I haven't done a side by side comparison, he seems to be longer than all of my 09 corns, though not as thick as some. I ordered some frozen rodents a few weeks ago and loaded up on adult mice since all of my snakes are growing and will be taking them soon. The problem is, the bag of "weanlings" that was supposed to last them until then came in pretty much the same size as the adults. The snakes are taking them just fine, but it is a larger meal than I'd typically feed them.
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>>What caught my attention is the fact that the corns all have a visible bulge for several days after eating, but the black rat seems completely slim and trim again after about 2 days. He definitely has a distinct bulge just like the others immediately after eating and he's kept in the same rack under the same conditions. I don't recall my previous non-corn rat snakes (I've kept bairds and black rats before) having faster metabolisms than my corns. Maybe it's something I just didn't notice though. I was just curious whether or not any of you have noticed a tendency for your North American rats to digest meals any faster than your corns?
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the black rats I've had have always digested quicker, and grown quicker, then my corns. They always made good dispose-alls for extra mice...
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Corn snakes and rat snakes..No one can have just one.
"Resistance is futile"
Jimmy Johnson
(Draybar)
Draybars Snakes

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I don't keep any obsoleta rats, unless you count Baird's, but my corns/Emory's seem to digest pretty fast.

Maybe we're looking at a couple of variables here, one being that black ratsnakes are a larger snake and grows larger faster, and the other the fact that corns tend to need a little warmer temps than most ratsnakes when digesting.

I have a group of corns (rootbeers) that are eating about every fifth day at this time. The temps are pretty high this time of year and they are putting on some good growth. At the same temps the other ratsnakes may seem to be digesting faster.

TC
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