Age old debate - quality or quantity

[kwaka_80]

Hey guys, just though I would reopen the debate of quality or quantity. Somehow this time every year I'm buying new animals (snakes in general) and I have recently got some hatchie stimmy's again. With that I'm also going to be doing a trade for a 2 year old Cape York for a hatchie hypo carpet.

Now the whole thing is that the carpet is feeding on pinkie rats and the stimmy's are on fuzzy mice. Now I'm all for varied diet but as far as doing that I believe there isn't enough in any pinky to go back once food source is ramped up past them. But if I am buying pinky rats for the carpet would I be better off steeping back to a pinky rat for the stimmy's or staying on the fuzzies and feeding them 2 at a time. Hence the quantity/quality thought.

I have also thought of giving the carpet 3+ fuzzy mice instead of 1 maybe 2 pinky rats. I know in the wild if a snake came across a rodent nest it would gorge itself on as many as it could before moving on so would the higher quantity of slightly older food source be better. I'm of the belief that step up from pinky as soon as I can and not go back. The pinkies them self aren't overly nutritious as they are still only on mothers milk. But then again so are fuzzies (but they still have some fur) agh the questions going through my head.
I think it's much of a muchness at this stage but I have just been thinking about it and wanted to ask the question on here...

Cheers, Matt.

 

[Shane73]

Hi Matt, sorry but I got a little confused half way through your post, but in short I'd prefer to go for quality, unless its pizza and beer night

 

[kwaka_80]

Haha yeah the post was kind of like a diatribe of a mad housewife but they are the questions I keep asking myself. And I'm sure even if it was beer and pizza night you would still want the quality aswell as the quantity. Other wise I have some ale here that I have been fermenting in an old boot waiting for someone to sample if your keen :lol:

Cheers, Matt

 

[AUSHERP]

There isnt much if any nutritional difference between pinkie and fuzzie. The fur adds nothing to the meal other than roughage and a binding compound for the stool. I would prefer to feed 1 sufficient feed item than multiple smaller items, it is more practical in my opinion. My snakes always seem to do better on rat than mouse.

 

[Rogue5861]

There isnt much if any nutritional difference between pinkie and fuzzie. The fur adds nothing to the meal other than roughage and a binding compound for the stool. I would prefer to feed 1 sufficient feed item than multiple smaller items, it is more practical in my opinion. My snakes always seem to do better on rat than mouse.

I thought a fuzzy had a lot more bone structure thus being a better food item?

As far as im aware most hatchy carpets should be able to take a fuzzy rat without size being an issue. A lot of people seem to be hung up on starting with pinkies and seem to have issues as the snake doesnt see it as food (being too small). A lot of posts popping up this time of year with new owners being given the wrong advise in regards to feeding sizes as well.


Rick

 

[Riffherper]

Get onto rats as early as you can. Last thing you want is an adult carpet that refuses rats. With regular feeding it will quickly move past rat pinkys and fuzzies and onto bigger food items.

 

[saximus]

Get onto rats as early as you can. Last thing you want is an adult carpet that refuses rats. With regular feeding it will quickly move past rat pinkys and fuzzies and onto bigger food items.

Have you had to deal with this before? I only have fairly limited experience but I've never had an issue with switching other than a requirement to scent them

 

[Riffherper]

Have you had to deal with this before? I only have fairly limited experience but I've never had an issue with switching other than a requirement to scent them

Not personally as I always get my carpets onto rats from a very early age. I had a close friend who would have to feed multiple adult mice to his adult Jungle who flat out refused anything else. All the tricks in the book were tried but he had obtained it as an adult and it had eaten mice it's whole life.

 

[kwaka_80]

Thanks for all the replies guys. I do know what ill be doing and I do actually prefer to step up items as soon as I can and never look back. It's just the first time I'll have such a diverse range of snake sizes, I'm used to a one (or 2) size fits all in regards to food items. I'll probably just end up getting pinky rats for all hatchies and go from there. After the pinky rats I'll probably end up with a Weaner mice for the stimmy's and stick to rats for the carpet. I also have 3x 2year old cape yorks that are already on 2 weaner rats per feed looking to step up size very shortly. Not to mention the 8+ year old jungle I got on adult rats. :lol: man I'm going to have a decent stock of rats in my freezer soon.

Cheers, Matt

 

[AUSHERP]

I see what you are saying rick but with only a weeks age between the 2 rodent sizes and the short period of time the snakes are on that size it wouldnt make much difference. I feed my animals the appropriate size which is usually the biggest they can safely take, not multiple small feed items.
The stimson may be ok on adult mice through uts life but you will definitely want your catpet on rats. As sax pointed out its usually not hard to swap over (with some frustrating exceptions)

 

[Ramy]

I don't believe you have to start snakes on rats from the outset - I haven't had a big problem with getting a snake to move from to rats. You get them hungry, they learn (only a well-fed snake can afford to be fussy). Remember that most captive pythons are well fed and can afford to skip a few weeks without showing any weight loss. The easiest way to transition from mice to rats is do it early (not only as a size increase) and defrost a mouse and a rat of similar size in the same bag and only offer the mouse after the rat is gone.

A note on pinkies: They're not born fully developed; Eyes and brain still growing, bones still forming. If nothing else, the longer you give the bones to grow the more calcium your growing snake gets. It's only a small difference, but I think it helps. The fur is more representative of all the other growing they do, and in itself is less useful.