Rat sizes

Aussie Pythons & Snakes Forum

Help Support Aussie Pythons & Snakes Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Status
Not open for further replies.

Derekw

Active Member
Joined
Jun 4, 2019
Messages
141
Reaction score
42
Hi everyone,

Its time to step my little guy up off hopper rats and I thought there was a larger size like a weaner or something. Been out to several pet stores this morning and they go from hopper to small rat. Am I wrong in thinking there is a in between size?
 
Hi everyone,

Its time to step my little guy up off hopper rats and I thought there was a larger size like a weaner or something. Been out to several pet stores this morning and they go from hopper to small rat. Am I wrong in thinking there is a in between size?
Try fuzzy rats after hoppers rats have more protien and there similar size/ a little bigger than hoppers plus getting them on the scent of rats earlier will help when they are older

Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk
 
Try fuzzy rats after hoppers rats have more protien and there similar size/ a little bigger than hoppers plus getting them on the scent of rats earlier will help when they are older

Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk
Cheers mate. He has been on rats since I got him , Can be a bastard to get him to eat it but I will not try a mouse because I know I will never get him back to rats.
 
Try fuzzy rats after hoppers rats have more protien and there similar size/ a little bigger than hoppers plus getting them on the scent of rats earlier will help when they are older

Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk
mate, fuzzy rats would be smaller than hopper rats - next size up would be weaners/small depending what store wants to call them - one thing you have to keep in mind, pet stores will generally call this guys larges a JUMBO, it will become something you get used to, have to look for best price > size ratios

this is my suppliers list

68749033_871535263230685_1474462277011767296_n.jpg

[doublepost=1572046057,1572045863][/doublepost]
Cheers mate. He has been on rats since I got him , Can be a bastard to get him to eat it but I will not try a mouse because I know I will never get him back to rats.
not sure where this rumour came from but its baloney, whats wrong if he wants to stay on mice forever anyway, saves you money, you just have to feed him a bet extra every feed
 
I ended up getting weaner rats from the third pet store , last pack as well.
Man those prices are awesome, I'm paying at least double that from local pet stores.

I have a super zeb jungle python and a adult jungle , from what I have read they are notorious about not liking rats. Fortunately for me someone else put in the hard work on getting them started on them.
 
mate, fuzzy rats would be smaller than hopper rats - next size up would be weaners/small depending what store wants to call them - one thing you have to keep in mind, pet stores will generally call this guys larges a JUMBO, it will become something you get used to, have to look for best price > size ratios

this is my suppliers list

68749033_871535263230685_1474462277011767296_n.jpg

[doublepost=1572046057,1572045863][/doublepost] not sure where this rumour came from but its baloney, whats wrong if he wants to stay on mice forever anyway, saves you money, you just have to feed him a bet extra every feed
My mistake thought he was talking about hopper mice

Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk
 
I am curious where this myth about snakes feeding on mice never eating rats started. I have been keeping snakes since before most of the people on this site were born and I have never had this problem.
These days I only keep pythons including various types of jungles, Darwins, GTP's, rough scaled, SW carpets and all the smaller ones are fed mice up till I switch them to approx 70gm weaner rats.

I start all my hatchlings on fuzzy mice and they progress in feed size up till approx 40gm adult mice, 2 to a feed before they get weaner rats. There are different opinions on this but mice with developed skeletons, organs, skin and fur have much more substance than pinky or even fuzzy rats. I breed Quackenbush mice and they are much larger than common mice with young adults 35-40gm and older males up to 75gm (still feed these to my adult GTP's)
My smaller pythons, especially jungles are occasionally fed mice long after they have progressed to rats, I often have some left over when gassing and packing a batch and they go to my smaller pythons.

It is not a matter of cost for me because I breed large numbers of rats and mice but since I started selling frozen rodents on the Gold Cost I am amazed by the number of people who are terrified of feeding mice to their pythons. I sell 35-40gm mice in 10 packs for $10 yet some prefer to pay pet shop prices to get fuzzy rats?

I sell lots of hatchlings that have been fed on fuzzy/hopper mice and I do not recall ever getting a call from a new owner having a problem switching them to rats.

For the record my rodent prices with no minimum order, all vacuum packed with no water ice, discounts for large regular orders.

Fuzzy, hopper, weaner or small adult mice in packs of 15 are $10. 35- 40gm adult mice pack of 10 $10.

Weaner rats 70-100gm $3 each in packs of 4 or 6.
Small rats 110-140gm $4 each in packs of 4.
Young adult 150-190gm (Pet Barn XL are 160gm) $5 each in 2 packs.
Adult 200-240gm $6 each in single packs
Large 250-280gm $7 in single packs.
XL 290-360gm $8 in single packs.
I rarely grow them larger than 360gm because they will have a higher fat content, only a few retired male breeders.
I don't keep any rats smaller than weaner frozen because I don't use them myself but I can process some for large orders.

All rodents are fed premium food and grown in large cages designed to keep them active and lean, gassed with food grade CO2 and vacuum packed in commercial food grade bags with weight on bag.
 
I am curious where this myth about snakes feeding on mice never eating rats started. I have been keeping snakes since before most of the people on this site were born and I have never had this problem.
These days I only keep pythons including various types of jungles, Darwins, GTP's, rough scaled, SW carpets and all the smaller ones are fed mice up till I switch them to approx 70gm weaner rats.

I start all my hatchlings on fuzzy mice and they progress in feed size up till approx 40gm adult mice, 2 to a feed before they get weaner rats. There are different opinions on this but mice with developed skeletons, organs, skin and fur have much more substance than pinky or even fuzzy rats. I breed Quackenbush mice and they are much larger than common mice with young adults 35-40gm and older males up to 75gm (still feed these to my adult GTP's)
My smaller pythons, especially jungles are occasionally fed mice long after they have progressed to rats, I often have some left over when gassing and packing a batch and they go to my smaller pythons.

It is not a matter of cost for me because I breed large numbers of rats and mice but since I started selling frozen rodents on the Gold Cost I am amazed by the number of people who are terrified of feeding mice to their pythons. I sell 35-40gm mice in 10 packs for $10 yet some prefer to pay pet shop prices to get fuzzy rats?

I sell lots of hatchlings that have been fed on fuzzy/hopper mice and I do not recall ever getting a call from a new owner having a problem switching them to rats.

For the record my rodent prices with no minimum order, all vacuum packed with no water ice, discounts for large regular orders.

Fuzzy, hopper, weaner or small adult mice in packs of 15 are $10. 35- 40gm adult mice pack of 10 $10.

Weaner rats 70-100gm $3 each in packs of 4 or 6.
Small rats 110-140gm $4 each in packs of 4.
Young adult 150-190gm (Pet Barn XL are 160gm) $5 each in 2 packs.
Adult 200-240gm $6 each in single packs
Large 250-280gm $7 in single packs.
XL 290-360gm $8 in single packs.
I rarely grow them larger than 360gm because they will have a higher fat content, only a few retired male breeders.
I don't keep any rats smaller than weaner frozen because I don't use them myself but I can process some for large orders.

All rodents are fed premium food and grown in large cages designed to keep them active and lean, gassed with food grade CO2 and vacuum packed in commercial food grade bags with weight on bag.
Hi Yellowtail,
I have seen you say before that your pythons will eat either. You made mention that occasionally you will feed your jungles mice but after they have been established on rats , is that because jungles are fussy as I have read? As you probably remember I have a deposit down for one of your black and white jungles should they produce this season. Will he or she be established on rats before the sale or mice? Just so I can be prepared.

Derek
 
Imo and quite a few others jungles especially like the taste of mice and can be very stubborn to switch to or back to rats ! Im positive many otheres will agree! No problem keeping them on mice if you dont mind feeding an adult 6 or 7 mice at a time hahaha @BI69aze
[doublepost=1572059127,1572058567][/doublepost]@Yellowtail to be honest a darwin i got from you is very difficult to feed anything other than mice . Will take a rat occasionally only if fed a mouse first and thats not gauranteed. I have tried every trick in the book to get him on rats as he is well and truly outgrown mice but little to no success . Not having a dig at you hes a great snake just fussy. Just stating the facts . I also have another jungle zebra which never took to rats
 
Imo and quite a few others jungles especially like the taste of mice and can be very stubborn to switch to or back to rats ! Im positive many otheres will agree! No problem keeping them on mice if you dont mind feeding an adult 6 or 7 mice at a time hahaha @BI69aze
[doublepost=1572059127,1572058567][/doublepost]@Yellowtail to be honest a darwin i got from you is very difficult to feed anything other than mice . Will take a rat occasionally only if fed a mouse first and thats not gauranteed. I have tried every trick in the book to get him on rats as he is well and truly outgrown mice but little to no success . Not having a dig at you hes a great snake just fussy. Just stating the facts . I also have another jungle zebra which never took to rats
@Shire pythons I read one of your post saying that you got the clutch my little guy came from onto rats as early as possible because you had issues with mice in the past. It definitely seems to be a thing with jungles! My little guy can be a tool about it but he eats it eventually lol.
I'm just not willing to stick him on adult mice unless absolutely necessary.
 
@Shire pythons I read one of your post saying that you got the clutch my little guy came from onto rats as early as possible because you had issues with mice in the past. It definitely seems to be a thing with jungles! My little guy can be a tool about it but he eats it eventually lol.
I'm just not willing to stick him on adult mice unless absolutely necessary.
Yep . Thats been my experience and quite a few other breeders i know and others ive chatted with. Mate hes eating rats and adult mice are already way too small for him so i cant see any logical reason to give him a mouse its not like you cant source rats ??
 
Someone suggested a adult mouse cause I could only get small rat but felt he could maybe take that but I don't think so , not just yet. I eventually ended up finding the right size rats but was a bit of a mission.
 
I understand @Yellowtail logic of feeding mice as they are a more substantial meal for a young python. But for me it's rats all the way i feed my pythons rats from day one and I get good growth from my hatchlings. It would be interesting to see a trail of rat vs mice growth rates. Their are various reasons I stick to rats and like mentioned before if you can source rats and your snake is eating rats I don't see any reason to change. But in saying all that I do feed my adult carpets a range of food items for a bit of variety and they always go back to rats without any dramas
 
I
Imo and quite a few others jungles especially like the taste of mice and can be very stubborn to switch to or back to rats ! Im positive many otheres will agree! No problem keeping them on mice if you dont mind feeding an adult 6 or 7 mice at a time hahaha @BI69aze
[doublepost=1572059127,1572058567][/doublepost]@Yellowtail to be honest a darwin i got from you is very difficult to feed anything other than mice . Will take a rat occasionally only if fed a mouse first and thats not gauranteed. I have tried every trick in the book to get him on rats as he is well and truly outgrown mice but little to no success . Not having a dig at you hes a great snake just fussy. Just stating the facts . I also have another jungle zebra which never took to rats
Interesting, I wonder if the Quackenbush mice I feed them are different? I keep a few albino hatchlings from each clutch every year and never had a problem feeding them rats when they grow, like I said above I often feed them either/or freshly killed ones left over and no difference to the feeding response. I also feed my adult pythons the occasional quail which they take without hesitation.
I have sold hundreds of Darwin and jungle hatchlings and I'm sure I would have heard about any feeding issues.
 
Yeah i start mine on fuzzy mice for a few feeds then get them on fuzzy rats as soon as they are either big enough or willing to take them . They seem to switch much easier earler rather than later in my experience. I HATE the mice feeders i have real pains to get size on etc etc
[doublepost=1572074143,1572073884][/doublepost]
I

Interesting, I wonder if the Quackenbush mice I feed them are different? I keep a few albino hatchlings from each clutch every year and never had a problem feeding them rats when they grow, like I said above I often feed them either/or freshly killed ones left over and no difference to the feeding response. I also feed my adult pythons the occasional quail which they take without hesitation.
I have sold hundreds of Darwin and jungle hatchlings and I'm sure I would have heard about any feeding issues.
I am 100% sure you dont have any problems . Your darwins are top notch. Maybe your mice are somehow different who knows i might just be unlucky in the case of this darwin but its not the first snake ive had trouble switching from mice at ages over yearling ???
[doublepost=1572074439][/doublepost]Maybe its the rats i get? I get from a few different breeders though ?
 
Maybe its the rats i get? I get from a few different breeders though ?

this is possible, I find sometimes my darwin just wont eat for ages when i switch to a new supplier, but after about 2-3 feeds of othersnakes she will catch on
 
Possibly. Same rats that 99% of my other snakes annihilate , the 3 mice feeders wont touch . This has been going on for over a yr with 2 of these mice eaters @BI69aze .
 
I got a jungle jag that refuses mice and have tried every trick in the book and even went as far as letting him starve for 4 months which slowed his growth up a lot. Even the owner of the shop I go to tried for 3 months with no joy. Was the first python he reckons he couldn’t change to rats. Have resorted to using roger Lester’s method of tying a small mouse to a larger rat using jute twine with great success. Didn’t want to have to resort to that but I was more than patient with him and had no other choice. Feeding a snake 5-8 large mice is just far too time consuming and expensive. Our 3 pure jungles smashed rats soon as they were first offered. My little jullaten girl won’t even take a mouse anymore lol
 
It's very rare but I have had a small number of snakes which only eat either rats or mice, or only live. I had one group of snakes I converted from mice to chicken, one of them needed the chicken to be mouse scented for about 6 months. 99% of snakes which eat rats or mice will also eat the other, but you get a few exceptions.

As for sizes, people use different labels. One person's weaner rats may be 15-25g, another person's weaner rats may be 70-90 grams. The terms are used very loosely. Learn to use grams. A gram is always a gram. If you can't use grams you'll need to stick with one supplier and use their own system or visually inspect the rats while buying.
 
I have a lovely Julatten from you yellowtail that's nearly a year and wont take rats. I have only offered them a few times so haven't made a serious effort at all, but the rats she has been offered were thawed with mice and the last one I gave an extra rub with a mouse but still a hard nope [emoji38]
Any tips on changing her over?

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Latest posts

Back
Top