Amby_Purr
Active Member
Is there a difference between feeding a juvinile snake a pinky rat, rather than feeding them a similar sized mouse? Will they react differently to the different rodent or is food just food??
Pinky Rats vs. Similar sized mice
- Thread starter Amby_Purr
- Start date
Help Support Aussie Pythons & Snakes Forum:
- Status
dickyknee
Almost Legendary
Some will only eat rats or mice, others will eat anything ... really depends on the snake .
Amby_Purr
Active Member
that's a good point.... thankyou
dickyknee
Almost Legendary
i"d rather my snake continues eating when young and needs it the most , regardless of what its eating ...
It can be pretty easy to swap them any way , if its eating mice now offer it a small rat after its finished the mouse , it should get used to eating rats after a while
dickyknee
Almost Legendary
Not a problem , they are usually easy to swap over ... i was just offering some advice too
slim6y
Almost Legendary
I'm under the impression that a rat is of higher nutritional value than a mouse (although not entirely regardless of age obviously). But when taking weight for weight I'm fairly positive rats are 'better' for your snake.
W
wokka
Guest
There is very little acurate information available on the nutritional requirements of snakes. Anecdotally bones provide calcium which is good. The main reason for changing to rats is cost. it can be very expensive maintaining an adult snake on mice. Even a pink mouse is normally about 70% the price of a similar weight weaner mouse. A lage rat is probably about the weight of 7 adult mice but probably only 3-4 times the price.
slim6y
Almost Legendary
So is what you're saying that it's much better to feed your snakes weight for weight on cost not nutrition?
Because what I said and what you said basically correspond....
Rats are far more dense (mass over volume) - so for a similar sized rat to a mouse, the rat will be far more dense. Now we all know for a fact that it's not just hot air in the rat. It's bone density, fats, muscle etc etc... They're built very differently to mice... I assume we're not arguing that point?
Therefore the main reason I'd change to a rat is because it's the equivalent of Low GI (hehe) - it will sustain your snake longer, it will be healthier for a healthy snake - especially pythons (which predominately) will eat larger animals if they can catch them.
Of course when I said 'snakes' I meant pythons... so sorry for that mistake.
But as for cost....? No.... I can't see that being the main reason to change... but then... what do I know... I'd spend $1000 on an enclosure if I had to... So I'd spend more on higher quality food if need be... That's what we do for our pets...
Nutrition - Cost - Efficiency... link hand in hand.... Can't honestly say we can argue that.
IMO, adult or semi-adult mice are better value for the snake that rat pus because they have fully developed and functional organs (they eat solids), bones, hair, all of which is beneficial to snakes. You just have to look at the difference in faeces composition and texture passed by snakes fed on adult rodents and undeveloped rodents (pinkies). Of course, in case of big species (snakes), they need to switch onto rats at some stage.
I
imported_Varanus
Guest
Adult/ sub-adult animals over pinkies of either I reckon! I've recently switched my 13 month old female RBB from rat pups to adult mice for reasons mentioned above (see "waterrat's" post). Personally, I still like to vary the diet with all my charges; with larger elapids on adult mice/ small adult rats and small quail in rotation. I always stay away from "jumbo" sizes, as these tend to have higher fat ratios IMO.
Does anyone use any kind of suppliments when snakes are small and only able to consume pinkies/ fuzzies?
Does anyone use any kind of suppliments when snakes are small and only able to consume pinkies/ fuzzies?
I had already said this .... maybe not as stylish granted lol ....
I didn't mean to override what you have said, but bones and hair isn't everything. Some organs don't become fully functional (and produce enzymes, etc) untill the rodent starts ingesting and digesting solid food. The same goes for the digestive tract.
W
wokka
Guest
I dont know that it has been proven what nutritional factors limit snake growth and development. I think most snakes are fed more than they need from a nutritional point of view although I do agree that mature feed animals are more likely to have some trace elements and enzymes which may be important.
- Status
