Food size really depends more on the thickness of the snake, not the length. A three foot corn snake and a three foot Red Tail Boa wouldn't be eating the same thing since the corn is so much thinner. When choosing a food size it is also important to think about what size prey item the snake is comfortable with. Just because a snake is big enough to eat a rat, doesn't mean it wants to. I've got a pair of 4 foot redtails eating large mice, because they are thin due to the previous owners and I don't want to stress them with food that is too large. My 6 foot red tail boa gets Jumbo rats, because she is healthy and large enough to take them with no problems.

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Thanks for the explanation, Joe.
In which case, rat pups are a suitable size.

I too would go with BigCheese Rodents. I have ordered form them multiple times and I have only gotten the best quality items. And, the mice are shipped vacuumed sealed instead of in Ziploc freezer bags. Beacuse of this, the mice can be kept up to 3 years without any problems. If you don't have a vacuum sealer, it might be best to invest in one like a Food saver. They are wonderful devices and really work well. I have had frozen prey items in my freezer for over a year now and none of them have gone bad.

Also, feeding a corn Rat Pups is just fine. But you will want to be careful because the snake might get the taste of the rats and never switch back to mice...if you are planning on doing that. The rule of thumb with picking appropriate food items for a snake is going by the girth of the snake. The food item should be 1 to 1.5 times the size as the largest girth area on the snake. Corn snakes have more elastic skin than some of the other snakes, and a faster metabolism, so they can take slightly larger prey items, but doing this is not recomended.

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Paul

Everything is do-able in life, you just need to know how to do them to get them done.

PCar's Reptiles

Thank you all! I'm looking into Big Cheese right now to compare it with RodentPro...

Well, I had thought to switch them permanently to rats because I've heard there's more meat on them and less waste....

What do you all think here at HC? How many of you feed rats as opposed to mice and vice versa? What are your reasons for choosing that particular prey item over the other? Thank you all so much for your help!

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~Juliane~

For corns, so long as the food is the correct size, I don't think it matters whether mouse or rat.
I feed mice only because I can get hold of them more easily and they are cheaper.

Exactly!
I get mine on rats as soon as they are big enough.

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

I agree with Merlin: as soon as they are big enough, I get them on rats. There is much more muscle on rats.
Here is a website which shows some mice to rat conversion sizes.
http://www.redtailboas.com/frozen_th...en_thawed.html

Scroll down to "Rats!Rats!Rats!"

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Andrea

Thank you so much, Andrea!

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~Juliane~

I get mine all on rats as soon as they can take it! Sina is already on pinky rats,my corns are still a bit too small,but soon can take them! My ball python breeder said you could compare mice and rats with pork and veal! Only rats for my snakes!!