Mice vs. Rats

Anyone have opinions on mice vs. rats? Spoon has always eaten live weanling/small rats, but PetSmart didn't have any small enough for him tonight. So I bought mice instead, thinking 3 or 4 of them would be the same as a small rat. I noticed he took them when a lot more enthusiasm/gusto than he does with rats...every time I've fed him a rat, he seems intimidated or nervous and it takes him a minute to feel ready to strike. He's also always refused pre-killed rats, he knows the difference between dead and live prey. With the mice, I hardly had it dangling for 5 seconds, he struck instantly on the first 2. The last one, I stunned it a little too hard and it died, but I offered it to him anyway...and he took it. He didn't strike, he just nosed up to it, grabbed it gently, and swallowed it down...no constricting. I've never seen him take dead prey.

I almost think he likes them better than rats...the others all had mice tonight too and they all seemed more enthusiastic about feeding than usual when I offer rats.

VPI's website says this:

Ball pythons eat mice all their life. One appropriately-sized mouse per week is an adequate feeding schedule. Older and larger snakes may eat two or three mice, or one small rat a week.

I know quite a few people that feed some of their adult bps mice and have some myself. It is just a preference thing. It is like you stated earlier, it will take more mice. If you are comfortable with it and your snake does well, it will be fine.

I'm perfectly fine with feeding him whatever it is that he prefers, I just want him to be healthy. The same goes for the others as well.

I fed leftover mice that the babies didn't want to Java last week, and he loved them too. I almost wonder if they prefer them because they're not so intimidating and are easier to constrict/eat.

When I bought the 8 feeders tonight, they also happened to have a pregnant female...so I bought her, another girl, and a male...I figured it'd be easier to breed my own. The prego one is white, the male is white with brown blotches, and the female is black, so I figured it would give me a good color mix.

Questions?? How do you "stun" the mice first of all, and which ones are cheaper? Mice or Rats? I mean Mice you'd have to buy more of. I talked to my landlord (well her son), and he said we could have a Ball Python!!!!! YEAH FOR ME!! Now WAIT! I still have no car and don't want to have a bad conscious. Going another winter without a car really sucks for me, but I said by next income tax I will have one or else! Which means my BP will be next Spring to hopefully!! My next Pet will be a couple of Rats though! I figure that should hold me over. A couple from work have Rats. Its funny she squirms when I talk about feeding Jake! Shes the one thats talked me into getting the Rats and she knows I'm getting a BP! LOL No, these ones won't be feeders, but the BP will feed. I figure I'd be better to get them first, at least if it ever got out I'd know where to find it! An then maybe I could breed some mice to, gain some knowledge. Later

Congrats!

Mice are $1.99 here, rats are $3.99 for smalls, which he eats 1-2 of. I stun the mice the same way I would kill them, only I hit with less force. They're put into a sock or held by the tail and whacked against a hard surface (the wall). To stun them, I don't hit as hard so it basically gives them a big headache and they stop squiggling and don't know what's going on. The last mouse I hit a tad too hard (or his head hit just right) and he died. Spoon ate him anyway though..

WICKED! Jeff will be feeding the BP.

you can also stun mice by flicking their heads hard with your fingers while holding them by the tail. then you can drop them in with your snake with less worry about a fight.

i fed my 2'5" BP small rats, no problem, once he actually even ate his small rat and stole the large rat i had gotten for my 4'8" BP, i was amazed, but as long as the rats arent biting, i see no reason not to feed them, when i first got my larger snake, he wouldnt touch anything but gerbils, he dropped that habit when gerbil prices hit $15 a pop.

Alan, didn't you just recommend to someone with a 16" ball python, who had it eating either large mice or small rats, feed it only one fuzzy weekly?

How can you say that in one thread and then brag about another ball only a tad over a foot longer eating a small AND a large rat?

Perhaps you should amend your post to that other person to reflect accurate information.

And how exactly did he "steal" it? You would have had to have given it to him.