Advice on breeding rats for 1 BP.

[littleindiangirl]

I'm looking at this from a completely financial point. Initial cost of set up will cost you the most, after that, you will get of cheaper, but I still don't see it as being close to what you pay now to breed yourself.

Initial set up cost of tubs and equipment.

1 tub for breeder mice
1 tub for females after weaning
1 tub for males after weaning

3 52 qt tubs from walmart I believe was 5$.

$15 for tubs

1/4" hardware cloth 8$

3 water bottles and hides
Depending on brand, 6-8 ea.
24-38$

Total so far: 47-61$

Now food costs, what size and brand of feed will you buy?

Mazuri 9F is an excellent food choice and available from most Purina dealers. I always recommend giving your animals the best feed, the best that goes into your rat/mouse will be the best in your snake.

Kaytee brand is mostly crap, as well as any mixed feeds (seeds, corn, colored kibble) For breeding mice, I recommend a nice lab block to use in a hopper for the mice to free feed. Less waste and you know it is a good food source and complete nutrition.

Mazuri, small 3 lb bag from petsmart costs 8$ here.
A 40 lb bag of Mazuri 6F from my supplier is 22$ Make your own decision on how much you want to buy compared to how much you will use.

Total so far: 68-83$

Bedding, aspen is best. No cedar, or pine, it is poisonous to small animals and especially for your snake.
Aspen bale is 12$ from petsmart, and will last you a long time.

Total so far: 79-94$

Then, cost of mice. 2$ each.

83-98$ Total.

This is for the initial set up cost that you wont even come close to spending in 3 months of just buying your mice from the supplier.

I'm just estimating with all of it, considering I raise only rats, and they take a dent out of my wallet every week, but it is actually better for me to breed my own. It would cost more or less however you decide to do it.

Edit: I also really like Becky's system, she's got it down

[Stewart_Reptiles]

If you concern is to save money, let’s face It breeding for 1 snake is not gonna save you that much if it even saves you any money.

By the time you buy the feed, bedding etc, and you provide for multiple mice until they are fed off your cost will likely be around the same than buying from the store.

Now if your concern is to offer the best quality feeder you can offer and don’t mind the cost and the work than go for it.

Remember breeding rats for one snake will be an issue as rats grow big very quick, so your options are to either euthanize and froze them when they are proper size (this require that your snake already takes F/T) or you can sell the surplus to your pet store (maybe).

Breeding mice is not easy some have tried failed and gave up, it took me 3 months to get started with mice and now my colony is thriving but I was really thinking about giving up as well.

Note: I started breeding feeders when I reached 10 snakes.

Hope this helps you make your decision, and if you need help on mice breeding I will be more than happy to help.

[ch312]

im cleaning out all of my mice and rats right now as it seems like none of them want to breed

at $3.50 per mouse i think its worth it for me to breed rats. thats $28 per month for one snake!

my snake refuses to eat f/t so i must use live. the only way to feed f/t is to let her almost finish the first mouse and then put the dead mouse in her mouth so she will continue swallowing it.

the pet shop likely pays 50 cents for each mouse

[SatanicIntention]

Find a big supplier, sheesh. I pay a whole $0.45 per adult mouse from Big Cheese. Even with the gas, they still cost under $1 per mouse(I drive to Dallas once a month or so to pick them up).