Ok so make it work for its food, make it move a little eh, yea central american boas, when they bite it bleeds but it doesnt hurt that much.
http://www.nal.usda.gov/awic/zoo/WholePreyFinal02May29.pdf - The Long Version http://www.rodentpro.com/qpage_articles_03.asp - The Short Version
The question still remains...what are the daily requirements for a healthy captive snake? Figures and compositions can be looked at all day, and on the whole a rat does look better, but what is it that a snake really needs? How much fat, protein, ash, calcium etc. do they really need to live long and healthy lives? Maybe, just maybe a rat is overkill in some areas? There are some snakes that never switch from mice to rats and they do fine and live long, seemingly happy lives.
I don't know whether I'd class rats as overkill myself, from a personal (and totally unverifiable apart from my own written records) experiance I found a more rapid weight gain when I switched my two balls from mice to rats. But I can totally see where you are coming from questioning whether highter nutrient contents on paper are necessarily better for the animals.
Agreed with the above, once I switched my ball from 3 mice at a sitting to 1 small rat, weight gains came incredibly fast. I was virtually having a shed every 2-3 feeds! Of course, what my local pet store calls *small* rats, I call daschunds.
Jesus Skunky, 3 in every sitting?! That was a no no *spanky spank* If the ol Colonel gets ready for Medium rats, move him up before stuffing him full of several small rats Whenever Hades goes off feed and finally starts eating again, I go out of my way to feed him baby rats as opposed to adult mice. They help a lot with putting his weight back on. But I wouldn't go so far as to never use mice. They seem to work well too.
Nothing wrong with a few mice --- they were small and the Col was nowhere near fat enough to tackle the big rats at my local pet store.....so he had a three course meal No problems whatsoever. But heck, feeding time took foreeeeeeeever!
Better to feed one appropriately sized than a bunch of smaller ones. I'm sure he could've taken a small rat or even a weanling if they are bigger than normal.
