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I have a female Miami Phase Corn which is about 2 years old. Since I bought her a year ago she has been a very fussy feeder. That is until I tried her on rat pups about six weeks ago. She has yet to refuse one and will have three for each weekly feed. I am trying to get her to accept small mice by scenting them with the rat pups but so far without success. Can anyone advise whether feeding her on rat pups will cause problems in the longer term? I have heard that the overall nutrition in a pup is much lowere than in a similar sized mouse and the calcium levels will also be lower. Anyone had this problem before - will she eventually return to mice?

I feed my adults rat pups.There more nutritious than mice.If you can get ahold of rat fuzzies there even better...Paul

Thanks Gargoyle,

One reason that I was concerned was that the amount of faecial material from my corn seemed a little low. This made me think that rat pups may have a high water content? I'm having difficilties tracing rat fluff/fuzzies. I live in the UK (north east England) and local suppliers don't seem to stock them.

Rat pups (more than 10-50 grams) are more easily digested and slightly more nutritious than a comparably sized mouse. I feed hatchlings pink mice but switch to rat pinks as soon as they are able and keep them on rats throughout their lives. I have noticed my post lay females put weight back on very quickly when fed fuzzy rats. Check out this report.

http://www.nal.usda.gov/awic/zoo/WholePreyFinal02May29.pdf

K. Royer

>>Thanks Gargoyle,
>>
>>One reason that I was concerned was that the amount of faecial material from my corn seemed a little low. This made me think that rat pups may have a high water content? I'm having difficilties tracing rat fluff/fuzzies. I live in the UK (north east England) and local suppliers don't seem to stock them.

my opinion.

Bob