When does it start becoming economical to breed your own rats?

[redshepherd]

I currently have my 3 ball pythons and dumeril's boa on rats. Green Tree Python will only need to eat adult mice, so she doesn't count in.

How many snakes do you think you could have for it to start becoming really economical to breed your own rats? Six? Ten?

What's the total cost of caring for say 2 females and 1 male rat per month, plus raising the babies until they become "small rats" size to euthanize for feeding?

[AriSilvermoon]

This is a good question, one I just talked to my husband about. Today was feeding day and to feed my 9 snakes it costed me $30 at the store today so I'm really thinking about getting some rats to start breeding since I plan on having more snakes in the future...

[Eric Alan]

Personally, my time is worth enough to not breed my own rats regardless of the size of my collection. Once I factor in spending time with my family, my full time job (including my daily commute), and caring for the collection - especially during hatchling season, finding the motivation to establish and care for a feeder collection just to save a few dollars isn't worth it to me.

For me, buying frozen feeders in bulk and staying on the lookout for reliable local feeder sources is the way to go.

[redshepherd]

Eric- I see, that makes sense. Do you know how many dollars exactly is it saved per month, for your collection for example? If it's not THAT much saved, I also think it's probably not worth the trouble for me... I'm not keen on raising a bunch of rats, unless it really can save a couple hundred a month or something.

Also, what seller online do you buy in bulk?

[the_rotten1]

I'd say don't start breeding rats unless you really like rats. I just started breeding my own, but with all the upfront costs of caging, feeding, toys, and cage furniture I'm running at a loss. I may be able to come out on top eventually, with a few more females and a little luck. But there are a lot of variables. It's hard to say how much you might would save, or even if you'd save money at all.

So far I've spent $40 a month on food and bedding for 1 male and 2 females. I got 13 babies from one female the first month, but my second female had a bad litter. Several were born dead and one wouldn't come out. I had to euthanize the poor girl and buy another. Hopefully I'll have better luck this month.

If money were my only concern I'd just stick with buying frozen online. It's quick, easy, and cheaper than the pet store. But I wanted pet rats. They're friendly and affectionate when they're properly socialized and my kids love them. Getting a few extra meals for my snakes is just a nice bonus. But as far as the feeder side is concerned I also like that I can control the quality of their food and cull them at the exact sizes I need. I've gotten "pups" the size of fuzzies and "fuzzies" the size of pups from the pet store before.

For the record I have 7 ball pythons, so I'm looking at getting at least 3-4 breeding female rats eventually. I want to make sure the ones I already have will breed okay. Fingers crossed for no more dead babies.

[redshepherd]

Good advice, thanks. $40 a month is more than I thought for just 2 females and a male. I'm not too keen on raising rats if it's not a huge gain, so I guess I'll be sticking to buying f/t in bulk.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

I started breeding when I reached 10 snakes, the way I do it my feeders run me $0.40 to $0.50 each (basics yearly cost divided by the number of feeders produced, I can't really calculate based on age of the prey and food consumed.)

When breeding snakes to me is just a necessity, being able to have the right size prey at any given time is important and relying on someone is just not an option (anything can happen like major die of and than you are stuck with a supplier that cannot deliver).

Most of my collection is fed live but I keep a few animals on F/T to take care of the surplus produced during the winter.

I don't like it but it's part of breeding snakes for me.

[the_rotten1]

Good advice, thanks. $40 a month is more than I thought for just 2 females and a male. I'm not too keen on raising rats if it's not a huge gain, so I guess I'll be sticking to buying f/t in bulk.

Admittedly, the food I buy is pretty expensive. I get 2 small-ish bags of Oxbow and they're around $10 each, so you could probably find something cheaper or save by buying in bulk. I am keeping my rats as pets, so my model isn't the most cost efficient.

[PitOnTheProwl]

My rodents cost me $70 a month in food an bedding plus maybe another $75 in electricity to heat/cool the she.
I also feed live so the nice thing is that if one of my snakes doesn't eat then the rodent gets to live a little longer.
Plus I offset a lot of my cost by selling live and F/T local.

[the_rotten1]

Oh hey, almost forgot to mention: If you are interested in buying f/t online Layne Labs is pretty great. I've been buying from them the past few months while I get my breeding program going. I'm pleased with the quality of their feeders and their sizes are consistent. They're also located in CA, so shipping won't be as much as it is out of state.