Re: a comparison that will leave you hungry for more...

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Posted by T. Larson on July 30, 2002 at 16:49:16:

In Reply to: a comparison that will leave you hungry for more... posted by jeff schofield on July 30, 2002 at 14:25:44:

Thanks Jeff,

I AM going to switch him over soon. "HE" is a cave ratsnake (Ridleyi) that's about 4 ft. long right now. He eats frozen thawed adult mice fine so I wouldn't think it would be to hard switching him over. Will be interesting to watch his growth over the next years as I do this. I'm not a power feeder and this snake wouldn't let me power feed it if I wanted, which is why I wanted to know if switching him over to mice sized rats would serve his finicky eating habits better. He won't eat if he is within two weeks of a shed and he typically will not take more than one item at a time.... maybe as he gets larger this will change. Anyways, very cool snake he is. If you want to see him go to my site below and click "snake". Thanks for the info. again.

Thane

:Think of it as eating BBQ,lol-humor me for a minute. Rats are higher in fat and the muscles,ligaments,tendons are soft and pliable--very much like Ribs on the grill. Mice or the same size are older,less fat, better developed bones,muslces,etc..are harder to digest because they likely need more digestive enzymes to break down--compared to a venison steak. Too often a snake wont eat larger mice and instead of turning them over to rats many people overcompensate by feeding handfuls of fuzzy mice. This leads to too much fat and deposits being laid down where they are stored most easily --the base of the tail. All too often I have seen graybands and others Lamp. sp. like this.
:And its way easy to adjust rat size throughout a snakes life cycle so that getting the "max" meal is achievable. No big size gaps like there can be with mice.
: But if you want to talk HEALTH, I think it obvious that a varied diet made up of all the foods that they eat in nature is healthiest. But this may lead to parasites and/or infections. We keep our animals according to our own styles, they are our possessions. While it optimal to feed the "healthiest" diet it is simply not practical. Make them eat hamburg if thats what you have. Dont let them convince you that they need filets,lol,Jeff

Thanes Place

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