Mice vs. Rats

[dannyc]

It was time to go to a larger prey size so I got some f/t mouse fuzzies. The fuzzies looked huge but my female got it down with no problem but it did take her a little longer. Then I found where I could order f/t rat pinks online, for half what I was paying for mouse fuzzies, thinking they were a little smaller and maybe more nutritious. But today I read adult mice are more nutritious than pinks. (not sure if it said rat pinks or mouse or just pinks in general) So my question is, would rat pinkies be better than mouse fuzzies or is there any real difference?

Danny

[SnowSnake]

I don't know but I would say the rat pinkies would be easier to digest since they dont have the fur that mice fuzzies have.

[YoungBuck]

Wouldn't the older mouse/rats be more nutritious since they have most likely fed a few times?? Just a hunch...

[Will]

The only big difference will be in fat content and Calcium.

Less mature animals have less bone density(read: Calcium) and more fat by weight.

For example, an Adult Mouse will have less fat on it, by weight, than a comparably sized small juvenile Rat(which would probably be the largest Rat a Corn could eat)...

Compared to an Adult Mouse, a Rat Pink is nothing but fat and no calcium -- so is a Mouse Pink for that matter...

Unless there's a reason the snake needs extra calories(ie breeding females), I would always choose the more developed prey item --> Adults over Hoppers, Hoppers over Fuzzies, Fuzzies over Pinks regardless of whether it's a Mouse or Rat.

[Peter Ludwig]

Don't forget hair contains a lot of protein.

[SnowSnake]

do they digest the hair or it passes through the snakes system untouched?

[Linds]

I put my corn on to rats as soon as she was on fuzzies (mainly because I breed the little monsters, and only have a small colony of mice that I didn't want to expand on). I see no harm in it and she has shown good results.

Domestic Rat (Neonatal, <10 g): 57.9% protein 23.7% fat 12.2% ash 5.30ª energy/cal

Domestic Mouse (juvenile 3-10g): 44.2% protein 30.1% fat 8.5% ash 6.65ª energy/cal

A good page to have bookmarked for quick reference http://www.rodentpro.com/qpage_articles_03.asp

SnowSnake,
I don't think they digest too much of the hair at all. Seems to go through them and act like undigestible fibre. The main difference I've noticed in fur vs. hairless is that hairless produces runniers poops while fur seems to bind it better.

Originally posted by YoungBuck
Wouldn't the older mouse/rats be more nutritious since they have most likely fed a few times?? Just a hunch...

Ah, but the baby is full of nutrition, having been raised inside it's mother and then fed with her nutritionally complete and condensed milk ;) They may not have the bone mass of an adult either, but they have a belly full of calcium-rich milk to make up for it. If it was inadequate, snakes wouldn't grow as well on them.

[SnakeyeZ]

Snakes will digest, bone, hair, skin...the whole rodent Snowflake, with ease, aslong as the cage temps are appropiate.