Hi everyone I’m back again I wanna know why people feed there bps /royals rats instead of mice my ball python has been on mice since I have got him he eats 40g+ ex breeder mice one every two weeks I have tried rats and he doesn’t like them
Not everyone feeds rats instead of mice. Rats are supposed to be more nutritious. In my opinion it’s a matter of personal preference. Your boy looks great imho. I think even @t_h_wyman Travis feeds a few of his ball pythons mice in lieu of rats? Correct me of course if I am incorrect Travis…
It is because Rats are more nutrient dense than mice, they have more healthy fat content and higher bone density that provides more calcium. Not to mention that they also get a lot larger than mice to provide a properly sized meal for the larger BPs.
That doesn’t mean mice are a bad thing to feed to BPs, they just don’t provide as much in one prey item that a rat would and I’ve seen some opinions that giving a Ball Python one large meal is better for their digestion and metabolism than giving them multiple small meals, I haven’t seen any real science on whether this is accurate but its a common opinion as far as I’m aware.
There is a possibility that your BP was started on mice as a hatchling and just never wanted to transfer to rats. Its why a lot of breeders reccomend either getting them to rats asap or they start off their hatchlings on rats.
Honestly your boy looks great for a mouser, usually mousers are pretty small and underweight for their age.
Yeah I feed my boy one every 2 weeks and he is not under weight or overweight just perfect I have seen people who feed rats and they are huge /obese
All of my males balls feed on mice. I have found that males generally do not grow large enough nor have the same high caloric demands of females (especially breeder females) and that feeding them rats generally leads to obesity
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This is both accurate and inaccurate. For adults, infrequent large meals are better for their metabolism because of the massive physiologic changes they undergo when they eat (heart, stomach, and liver tripling or more in size, huge gastric acid production, radical changes in blood chemistry and viscosity, etc). Constantly feeding them multiple small meals triggers the physiologic changes and then holds them there long-term, which can eventually lead to problems
However, for younger animals, frequent small meals can help them reach their “adult” size sooner. This is beneficial in the wild because it gets them out of the ‘So small EVERYTHING is trying to eat me’ phase and into the ‘Now I only have to deal with a handful of predators’ phase
Ty for the enlightenment, thats a lot of good info especially considering the physiological changes that take place during digestion. I had no idea that some of their organs grow in size while digesting, thats really neat!
As mentioned above, different reasons for different snakes. I have had a few hatchlings refusing to start on rats and went for mice instead. I have a couple adults who still prefer them over rats.
From there, it just mostly what would make the best meal for my little guys. Most of my boys are on mice atm because my small colony is booming and they’re small enough. Two of my boys are 2000g+ so they eat rats every 2-4 weeks.
Rats are generally a bit better nutritionally and easier to give the right size meals with larger snakes. The only real concern I would have with the mice you are feeding is that retired breeders, depending on the source may not be as balanced.
If the source is rotating their breeder stock regularly, then they should still be pretty good. But if they’re keeping their stock a while then they can be more fatty without as much muscle or bone density.
It’s a pretty rare occurrence, but overly fatty rodents can make a snake regurge. And the fat mixed with the stomach acids can cause burns on the snake of they’re in a smaller enclosure.
With me my snake has never thrown up after eating the ex breeder mice and since they are 40g+ mice I feed one every two weeks and somehow he is in very good weight and size I know mice are apparently like fast food for them but somehow mine is not fat with rats I have seen people feed a 100g medium rat for there bps every two weeks and are obese still I’m just curious because I get alot of hate for feeding him mice
It’s still possible to have an obese mouser. It’s just the matter of how often you feed and how much. If your snake is getting fat then cut back on the frequency.
The general 10-15% per meal every 7- 14 days isn’t a hard set rule for adults. It’s a guideline that typically leads to a generally healthy feeding schedules that are easy to remember. But that can still lead to obesity in some adults and they need to be weaned back on size or frequency. Depending on the community it can be a bit frustrating to get an answer on when to wean.
Also, the downside with some communities is that they become an echo chamber for very specific care and looks. Any deviant care is treated as wrong, even if it is better for the individual snake. They can be rude or banhappy as well. That’s what I tend to avoid and why I prefer the community here.
Personally, I keep my two large males a bit leaner than yours. But they’re also the oldest males I have at around 9 and 25 years. My younger males are sometimes a bit leaner but sometimes a smidge rounder depending on size/age/breeding vs non.
So here’s my simple solution:
If it ain’t broke don’t fix it. And please avoid the “hate” forums. You don’t need it! 
I think I have a paper on this somewhere… I will see if I can scare it up. It is really interesting in a creepy cool way
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I know of at least thee FB groups that banned Kobylka for ‘knowing nothing about ball pythons’. Just to point out the level of echo chamber delusion
And then there’s ASF’s.
That is shocking.
Very true ive read many people doing both ways just depending on the snake to some just wont take rats others just wont take mice as long as they are healthy thats the important part
Some snakes just seem to prefer or thrive on mice, it would seem. Mine was a mouser at first, moved him to rats when he got big enough that large mice weren’t gonna cut it. heck he’s on medium rats now and got me wondering if he’s a She with some butch lil spurs. He or possibly she is healthy, curious, mobile, and in great condition, so I don’t sweat it. There’s a lot of ways to keep a happy healthy snek.
