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Are small rats more dangerous than large mice? i need to switch over to rats soon as my 2 1/2 foot BP eats 2 large adult mice per meal time every 3-5 days. I'd like to change this to one small rat every week. Do they fight back? is it harder to stun a small rat than it is to stun a large mouse? usually i flick them on the back of the head until they start to shudder out of control, but with a small rat should i do it with a spoon really hard? do small rats bite when handled? I will start out with a colony of 1.2 small rats in a 10gal, will this be enough room? i will also keep the large mice so i can gradually switch, and the rodents will smell the same. How much water do they consume? i have a mouse water bottle, will this be good enough for the small rats?

I feel they both have the potential to do damage, but if you are dealing with a rat, that is 2 or 3 times the size of a mouse, it would have the ability to inflict more damage per bite.
I find almost any rodent will fight back, but i've never seen one attack a snake(it may happen I just have never seen it), the problem is after the snake starts to constrict. If the rodent has an opertunity to bite the snake, it will bite to try to escape.

I don't know how hard it is to stun them, the two snake that don't eat frozed get live.

how many snakes do you have??

I breed my own rats, and they rarely bite me. Maybe because they are periodically handled during tank cleaning until they are large enough to feed off.
To the contrary mice have biten me regularly if given the chance.

I found when I had one colony I either had too many rats at one time or none at all when I needed them.
Think about it this way, you have two females, (I don't know why but my females in the same colony seen to aways birth at most 7-10 apart) so they birth about 12 pinks each, then it takes about 4 weeks to get them in the 50 gram range, so you feed 1.
Next week they are 55-60 grams, feed 1.
Next week they are 60-65 grams feed 1.
Next week they are 70-80 grams, feed 1.
Now the next week they might be too big for a small snake, and you have wait for another litter to birth.
The solution is to get your snake on frozen so you can freeze them at a good size for your snake to eat.

I keep 1.2 or 1.3 in a 10 gal and it is fine, but since it's small you have to clean the tank more often.
Good luck,
TomChambers

MHO I think adult mice are more aggresive than small rats. I feed all my 20 BP's live sm rats. So do other breeders and I never seen a sm rat bite any of my snakes. Also you should leave some rodent food in with the snake just in case the rodent gets hungry. Hope this helps.
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why would i leave food in the "Death Box" when the snake is gonna take him up and kill him withing 15 seconds? i dont know if i should switch to small rats or not yet. Hes 2 1/2 feet and is pretty big (fat, but muslcular looking)...he can eat a large mouse no problem, he eats them within 1 minute of death of the mouse. he large mouse leaves no lump in his stomach after he swallows it.

I don't know about leaving rat food in the snakes cage??? If my snakes don't take a live rat in 2 or 3 min. the rat comes back out.
The term "small" is surjective, I consider a "small" rat about 90-120 grams. You might want to try a weanling rat, about 40 grams, I think they are less likely to harm to your snake than an adult mouse, and are bigger.

On a side note I have had both mice and rats bite my snakes when they were constricting them, and a 120 gram rat has done more damage than a 30 gram mouse has(deeper wound), in my experiences.

either way, I think its easier to switch them to rats at a younger age, but its up to you.

TomChambers

what should i put on a wound if the rat does indeed bite my BP?

and how much would you pay for a colony of 1.3 small rats? each small feeder rat is 1.50 where i live (is this a good deal?) frozen is 3 dollars.

where I live the frozen rats are a little cheaper.
A live small rat( 90-120grams) cost $3.99, and a frozen small rat is $2.99 at the local pet stores.
I save quite a bit breeding my own, since I feed about 10 rats a week during the sumer.
I'm not sure why the live rats are cheaper where you are.
Are they the same size rat??
$1.50 sounds pretty cheap to me.

So 1.3 in my area would cost me $16.

I started with 1.1 and kept a few offspring for more colonies, now I have 3 1.2 and 4 1.3 colonies, so I always have all sizes of rats, and the local pet store buys any I can't use.

When a snake gets bit I put Povidone Iodine solution, then some Bacitracin

TomChambers

I think I traumatized my Ball with rats, because she's just as big as yours, and could EASILY handle a small rat, but won't touch them, alive or dead. I want to know how I can get my python to eat the damn things. Maybe if she gets hungry enough?

>>where I live the frozen rats are a little cheaper.
>>A live small rat( 90-120grams) cost $3.99, and a frozen small rat is $2.99 at the local pet stores.
>>I save quite a bit breeding my own, since I feed about 10 rats a week during the sumer.
>>I'm not sure why the live rats are cheaper where you are.
>>Are they the same size rat??
>>$1.50 sounds pretty cheap to me.
>>
>>So 1.3 in my area would cost me $16.
>>
>>I started with 1.1 and kept a few offspring for more colonies, now I have 3 1.2 and 4 1.3 colonies, so I always have all sizes of rats, and the local pet store buys any I can't use.
>>
>>When a snake gets bit I put Povidone Iodine solution, then some Bacitracin
>>
>>TomChambers

maybe its because it doesnt smell the same .. ask the pet store if you can have some soiled mice substrate and rub it on the rat .. once the rat smells mousy then the snake might take it