Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I underestimated Damien. I bought a small rat today, prekilled it and put it in with him. He's been eating 2-3 mice.

Well, the rat looked too big for him, but he ate it.
Seemed to have no problem with it either.

Guess he's eating small rats from now on.

You are absolutely lucky. DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT switch back to mice. Good luck with your baby. Not many people have such an easy time with the switch!!

Just wondering.... Why shouldn't someone go back to mice after going to rats?

I have an adult ball who eats mice. What a pain!!! What one medium rat does for my other balls is a struggle to get the same sized snake to eat multiple mice. And my ball who likes mice is quite "small"(as far as adults are concerned, he is a male), I can not imagine if my big female liked mice-- she would need three or four to equal a small rat.

Balls are super picky. Once you go to rats, stay!! Almost all of my snakes are on rats. It guarantees that the bigger they get, the more options you have opposed to mice.

ha that is what I deal with, female eats like 4 on wed and can eat around 5 on saturday(depending on size). Breaks the banks and she is still on the smaller side and this is my het so she needs to be big fast!!!

I think the reason most people say don't feed mice to a ball that eats rats, is due to the fear that they will choose the taste for mouse over that of rat.

I don't follow this theory; I feed them whatever they will eat.

I feed some only mice, others only rats, and some a combination to keep them eating regularly.

I will agree that growth rates in purely mouse eaters are slower in my adult snakes, and it is a hassle feeding 6-8 mice a week per snake.

But as Chad Bachman has said in previous posts, I do find these animals to be much leaner, and during fasting mine seem to hold their weight better.

TomChambers

Maybe mice are good for leaner snakes. My ghost male who eats only (3-4) mice to the others' one rat is quite lanky. He is a consistant eater, and has been a very enthusiastic breeder for me so far.

Maybe mice do have their place in the adut ball diet. However, I can not imagine having my carpets demand mice only. It would be $10 worth of mice to satiate my 1 1/2 year old jungle. And she sometimes eats twice a week!

To feed any number of adult mouse eaters would cost a fortune; I tend to overlook this because I breed my mice and rats.

Maybe that’s why my feeding policy is as liberal as it is??

If I had to pay for mice at what, $1.25 per (locally), I would not want too many mouse eaters either.

TomChambers

I second that, I have one that is getting to almost 1 1/2 years and hates rats. She will only eat dumb mice which cost more due to the fact that she has to eat a ton to be full. I have tried every trick in the book with no luck. But I am not giving up I will break her one of these years I hope!! Maybe yours can rub off on mine??

she is so bad that if the mouse has some rat smell on it she won't eat it.
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Misty Sprouse Ball Pythons

I switched my then two year old to rats and after 2 succesful feedings she went on a hunger strike for three months. Switched back to mice and all has been well for the last year. She eats 3 at a time and is a large healthy female. Not a big deal to me at all.
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- John

1.0 Baird's Rat (Milton)
1.0 Okeetee Corn (Edgar)
0.1 Ball Python (Agatha)
1.0 Brazilian Rainbow Boa (Rudyard)