so, i was told by a breeder to not feed corn snakes rats. "because this causes them to become obese." what is everyone else's opinion on this issue? i have about 9 corns (all practically still babies) and would like to know your imput
thanks
Danielle

I guess it would depend on the size of the rat vs size of the snake. A large rat/corn snake could take a medium size rat at least. As far as getting obese, you wouldn't have to feed a rat as often as a mouse. Just my humble 2 cents worth

I feed all my adult corns on rat pups. It has increased their growth rate as rats have more meat on them than a similar sized mouse. The only way a snake will become obese is if the keeper over feeds them, regardless of the type of prey item.

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

A few of my corns are on rats, and doing great off them, if the prey size has to be moved up, you have to give them something a little bigger, I would rather feed one prey item than a few, and if a rat makes up for two mice then a rat it is

my older corn is on the larger rat pups and has been for about a month or so now and is doing great. he's growing very well and pretty much the only reason I feed him those is because they're a little bigger than the mice I used to get and the rats have more meat.

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yes i am a she ^_^

~My Babies~

1 Rosy Boa (male) Chaos
1 Snow Corn (male) Blizzard
1 Anertherystic Corn (male) Bullet
1 Senegal Parrot (male) Shadow
2 dogs (male) Spot and Bear

Our adult corn is now on rats. Mice were just too small, he is now over 4 feet and healthy,,,not obese

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Ken
"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world. But, the Marines don't have that problem." -- Ronald Reagan

All of my snakes eat rats and that includes my corns. I need to feed them less often actually, because the rats have more meat on them It helps that I raise my own rats for them and I just freeze the rats at whatever size the small snakes are eating at the time. Then, I let the other baby rats grow a bit bigger for the larger snakes.
They say rats have more nutrtional value too.

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Some think they can. Some wish they could. Some do.