Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Is the difference really noticeable. As far as weight gain goes I hear that rats put on the weight, why is that and is it a lot more than mice? Also why do rats cost more, are they harder to breed. Are they more healthy? I'm almost out of my frozen mice and would like to get some opinions on if the difference is worth the money. Thanks BrianD OH yea and I like the old forum format better, this is to hard to look at.

I think rats are better than mice in just about every respect. Rats make better pets. Rats don't stink like mice do. As far as feeding snakes, I've noticed that really big food items put on weight quickly. Whenever I switch my snakes up to the next-bigger sized food item, they make a huge jump in size. This is just really hard to do with mice. Not only is it more convenient to feed one large rat vs. 10 mice, but it's also much cheaper.

Also, with carpets, especially jungles, you really need to get them on rats ASAP. The longer you wait, the harder it can be to switch them. I try to feed my carpets mice as little as possible. You want my advice? Buy some rats, and throw out your mice.

Jake

You speak the truth....mice are really a pain. I found it easy to breed my own rats, but they bred out too quickly to keep up with feeding their offspring off. You have to go large scale to get enough for a medium collection.
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Rats have more protein that mice. Mice suck and thats the bottom line. I tried to feed my Blood yesterday, and he obviously wasn't interested (possible pre-shed) so I picked up the mouse out of the cage and it big me. HARD. We're talking a baby Blood here, so you can imagine how small this mouse is. The sucker bit in, and did not let go. I had to literally flick it off, and it drew more blood than any snake bite i've ever had. Unfortunately the local pet place has no rats small enough.
My carpet recently bit me, and the mouse bite hurts maybe 20 times more. Seriously.
Rats are easy to breed, we had one in the 10th grade class last year. But I hear that wild/house mice are the worst to feed a snake...they become addicted to that "wild" taste and never go back.
john

How does your getting bitten all the time have anything to do with
mice being no good??

I like to feed various items to my snakes,

Mardy

I just said that rats have more protein to them, and expressed my dislike for mice like many people did, not relating to whats healthier for a snake. Would you like me to reiterate?
The previous guy said rats make better pets than mice. What does that have to do with whats better for a snake? Are you trying to pick on me specifically?
Why are you so cranky?

I find it funny how many times we can all get bit by snakes and thats
no problem. But a mouce or rat bites and we all become judge, jury and firing squad
in a second.

All the best,

MArdy

haha snake bites are a little different. Im not that completely biased about mice, but I dont like them. I guess its because when a snake bites, it doesnt hold on it forever! Im not offended, I was just wondering what your problem was