I was at a show today and dropping off our version of weaned rats only to discover some of the vendors are calling them mediums....it got me thinking that when I am marking down my feeding of a small rat to something someone else might be marking it down as a medium and my medium as a large etc...not really a major deal but got me thinking about what information I give people about the prey sizes not being accurate, not important to a experienced keeper but to a new owner it could boil down to them not being fed enough.

I know the way to do this is to just get weights on the prey before I feed them but really who wants to go through all that all the time so what standards do you all use to judge your rat sizes by?

I hate to disappointcha Jeff but I weigh all my prey items. It's been said that a prey item that's 10% of an animals weight is a good start for maintenance feeding. So if you have a 2500 gram ball python a 250 gram rat is a good place to start. Same, same a 250 gram baby, feed it a 25 gram rat pup.

As far as what I call what mine weigh, I'm a bit like you I guess. My weights don't compare to places like rodentpro or any of those guys. My weights tend to go heavier. A small, to me, is 45-100 grams, a medium 125-200, larges 225-300 ans so on. Mind you, these aren't solid rules. 10-20 grams one way or the other means squat to me :D or the snake for that matter.

All that being said, I don't sell rats, so it's really irrelevelent :dunno:

I know when I order rats. It amazes me how everyone is different.
I have 40 smalls in a cage, growing them up to what I call smalls. Next time I will order Mediums.
I wish we did have a standard for weight.

My weights don't compare to places like rodentpro or any of those guys. My weights tend to go heavier.

You really can't compare weights between live and f/t as during the freezing process a good amount of water weight is lost. But then again I don't know if they weigh them before or after they freeze them :dunno:

Pups are easy to recognize then the next size up are weans which is right after they loose that "baby" look and are no longer nursing (hence the name wean) but aren't quite adult yet around 4" long (nose to butt) - Smalls are just that small adults about 5 inches long - Mediums are 5-6 inches long - Large 6-7 and so on... :dunno:

I don't usually go by weight more by size and activity. Pinkie is obvious. Fuzzy is not really crawling, eyes closed but a little hair. Crawler is bigger moving around and may or may not have eyes open. Pup is weaned. Small is big enough to be in their own tub and so on from there.

I just ordered a bunch of mediums and crawlers from Rodentpro and I couldn't believe how small they are! The crawlers are more like fuzzies to me and the mediums look like pups.

Yeah its weird because I sell rodents, one guy will call it a small and the other will call it a medium lol.

Yes and even Jeff and I differ on what he calls a small and what I call a small ect.... :dunno:

I've used Rodent Pro's sizes as a gauge for a long time now. So when I talk to someone about rodents I will sometimes refer them to their chart.

http://www.rodentpro.com/catalog.asp?prod=2&label=frozen_rats

I think I am feeding my bp's med to large rats....I don't know...:lmao:

I feed what they consider mediums to my girls all the time. I don't think I've ever hit a large rat size though. :lol: I always go by the weights and not the pics also.

I will start referring folks to that chart for weights, seems the best idea...I tend to feed a little heavy but I know smalls are damn near what I feed to the corns...

You have to give averages. Males will get bigger faster. A buddy of mine does it by weight. I always go a little on the smaller side, but have had one guy that told me they were one size and I said they were bigger. He no longer buys from me.

I know what your talking about with the sizes...It's amazing what you can find that varies in what people call certain sizes....I don't weigh my rats or mice when feeding...I just go by eying them up to what was the closest I fed them last time and move up as the snake grows.....I try and keep it simple here :cheers: One of the guys I won't get food off of I have seen him calling Jumbo Mice what I would call weanling mice :eek::eek:

whenever possible , and if i can plan correctly, i buy mt rodents at a show, so i can see what i'm getting. really wish we had a standard.
why can't we have a standard ?
got standards for everything else...
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