i just have a small question

[chasedandbeaten]

So I have 6 bps now and all of them eat like hogs... and generally runs me 2 or 3 trips a week to my local reptile shop the owner and I are pretty good friends now maybe only cause I buy like 50% of his rodent stock lol.. he does give me discounts but still isn't enough at 2.25 per rat pup so I would say average weekly costs range from $20 to $30 dependind on the snakes appetite so let's just round it out to about 100$ a month on rat pups so here is my question to others that breed their feeders do you think it would save me money to take on a small breeding colony? :note: my brother also has 4 bps and a corn so I'm sure we would somewhat split costs. I also have a friend to sell to.

[jben]

hey, i have 5 bp's and i have a 1.3 colony that just started producing. if you have the space and time i would definitely start breeding. it would save you in the long run but just remember that you would have to continue buying until the rats start producing. IMHO, with 6 bp's i would get a 1.6 or 2.6 colony and definitely build a rack get some mazuri and some pine. we feed ours a carrot daily and whatever fruits and vegies we have. almost forgot that you would need to clean the tubs out weekly otherwise the smell starts to get strong. there is a thead on here explaning on how many to breed and all that good stuff and i'm sure that the more experienced breeders will guide you in the right direction.

P.S. i will be picking up another female today.

[SlitherinSisters]

I think it would definitely be worth it. Right now I've got 8 bps and my current colony size is 56!!! *faints* Most of them are babies that I'm waiting to get up to size to feed off. I've got 2 males and 7 females that are breeders, the rest are babies. I started breeding when I only had a few ball pythons and never had a problem with surplus because I would freeze the pinkies I didn't need. You can freeze them until they open their eyes/ears, after that you really need to CO2 them.

Even with this crazy amount of rats I'm still saving money compared to buying frozen from the pet store or online. A 25 pound bag of Mazuri rat food costs me $17. So far it seems as though it will last me at least a month even with this number of rats, but I also feed a low protein dog food (any dog food that is under $50 a bag-read the ingredients list people). I feed about 1/3 dog food to 2/3 rat food to the moms, the rest just get rat food.

[chasedandbeaten]

I've tried getting my snakes to eat f/t before a few times with no luck and I know my brother feeds live so chances are we won't be pre killing any and if I ever have surplus I would call other people I know to help change that unless I get a hold of my old friend to just sell him any f/t.

[theturtlepond]

Once you pay for caging it would only cost you like $25 a month. I have 16 snakes and a ton more hatching this year so it is definitely worth it to me.

[littleindiangirl]

We started breeding when we got around 6-8 bp's. I recommend ASF or mice, less chance of the rats growing too big for your snakes.