Tradgedy in my city! Need to start breeding

[Foschi Exotic Serpents]

Well my local family herp shop which has been there for about 10 years, just went out of business. Its a shame because the family began the business in their home. Breeding many different types of reptiles and rodents. This financial mess we are all going through made business drop so bad, they just couldnt keep the store open.

The biggest problem now is feeders. Sure we have petsmart and petco but they never have feeders and the quality is not very good around here. We have one more small family owned pet store which has been open at least 25 years or more because they are also the primary feed shop for local farmers. They sell feeder mice and the occasional rat but usually only have medium adult mice.

So im talking to a local ASF and feeder mouse breeder about getting some breeder pairs. Only half my collection will take F/T. They others all prefer something different. This one likes mice. That one like small rats. That other one wants ASF's etc...

So im going to start a small breeding colony of ASF's and possibly mice. From the looks of it, many snake breeders are switching to ASF's anyway. They make feeding time a lot easier when it comes to picky ball pythons.

I was hoping this would not happen since the reptile store had great prices and i didnt want to have to breed more than one type of rodent. Even they said they were going to get a breeding colony of ASF's to support the demand in my area.

One good thing about this. It may open up doors for the few local breeders we have of rodents around here. Now that the main supplier is gone.

[nixer]

that stinks i always hate hearing about a good place going out of business, while many many bad ones are still around.
i breed rats and mice both, but i never seem to produce enough
hopefully i just fixed my mouse issue with the addition to my mouse setup.
now the rats... since my colony crash (due to a major flood) i just cant seem to get enough rats to kickstart my colony, but im working on that. i just put together 4 more groups of rats and i need to build another big rack.

with asfs they either do really good or really bad.

[Beardedragon]

Hey Monica, sorry to hear about the shop. Here are some few pointers ive learned from breeding mice that I wish I knew when I started.

1. Make sure you have a good male, WIth females I like to choose by size in color but ive found nothing beats a healthy albino male. Stick a few males together with a bunch of females, and if the males fight with each other keep the one starting it all, or if you see one breeding the females. Most colonys fail to start breeding because they male is not a good stud.

2. Keep as many females as you want together as long as they fit without being over crouded, unlike asfs who do good in smaller groups mice seem to do great in bigger groups.

3. The whole dont touch the babys thing is Bogus, Some females will eat them but those you do not want anyway, with the proper diet they will do great no matter what.

Heres a video I made last year, ( And also, there are a few vids of your snakes on there as well if you want to see them)

YouTube - Mouse Barn

If you have any questions ill be glad to help!

- Matt

[twistedtails]

That sucks!

[Foschi Exotic Serpents]

Oh man it is definately bad. Ive already gotten calls from friends asking where they can get rodents now. I feel bad for the family that had to close the store. They were good and honest people. They would often special order supplies i needed for my animals and herps. They always offered credit or trade when i brought in surplus rodents. I adopted quite a few of my fish from them and my male pastel breeder came from them. Today i went to the other pet and feed store we have nearby and they were completely out of mice. They only plan to increase their stock by 1 tank! Oh boy 2 whole 30 gal tanks of mice! lol Well i guess i just need to start breeding my own mice again. And keep working on getting everyone on frozen rodents. Its so much easier. Cost effective and less messy. Though i doubt i'll ever get my 7 year old female to take frozen exclusively.

[nixer]

Oh man it is definately bad. Ive already gotten calls from friends asking where they can get rodents now. I feel bad for the family that had to close the store. They were good and honest people. They would often special order supplies i needed for my animals and herps. They always offered credit or trade when i brought in surplus rodents. I adopted quite a few of my fish from them and my male pastel breeder came from them. Today i went to the other pet and feed store we have nearby and they were completely out of mice. They only plan to increase their stock by 1 tank! Oh boy 2 whole 30 gal tanks of mice! lol Well i guess i just need to start breeding my own mice again. And keep working on getting everyone on frozen rodents. Its so much easier. Cost effective and less messy. Though i doubt i'll ever get my 7 year old female to take frozen exclusively.

where are south of chicago are you located? i could probally scrape together a well started group of mice

[Foschi Exotic Serpents]

Ok im halfway there. Today i picked up two 1.5 colonys of ASF's with 10 extra feeder males for a 3rd holding tank. Im still going to be short on rodents for a couple months but if i can find enough others to get me through until i have litters growing up i should be fine. Even if i have to drive back to the city in a couple weeks for another group of extra feeders. I also have a small local reptile show twice a month here. I was just told i can get rodents there and 30lb bags of lab blocks for less than $20. That sure beats what set stores charge. I do have quite a few frozen rodents still but only 5 of the 15 balls will take them so i have a lot of converting to do. I don't think breeding season is the best time for trying to convert when im trying to make sure everyone eats well right now. I was going to go with just mice but im glad i got the ASF's. These ASF ASF actually handleable. They don't bite and are relaxed as long as you move slowly w them. Im surprised.