Bulk Frozen rat/mice order question

[Surfer]

OK, so I now have two new 1.1 BP (my first). They both are nearly 9 months old and have been on F/T rats. I want to bulk order some frozen rats. Problem is the minimum order is like 100. I am guessing that they are both going to grow and one size rat is not going to cut it for the first (well with me) 50 feedings right?

I can get a combination of rat sizes in lots of 25 per size. If you had 2 BPs both about 300-325 grams each (about as big around as a D cell battery) and only 9 months old, what sizes would you order? They have Rat Pups(28g), Weaned Rats(36g), Small Rats(50g), Med Rats(75g), Large and Jumbo (out of the question).

I am assuming they are both still growing at a pretty fast rate right now, I could easily be wrong though.

Thanks!

[dalvers63]

At that age, I'd order 25 of the weaned rats, and then the rest small rats.

By the time you work through the weaned, they'll be ready for small rats. Unless the place you're getting them from gives the exact weight, some will be a bit smaller than the others. When changing sizes of rats, I start at the large end of one size and then move up to the smallest of the next size.

[kc261]

I think that someday one of these rodent places is going to start marketing "grow up" packs for those of us that only have 1 or a few young and growing snakes, and when they do they might be surprised at how much demand there is for it. Of course, it still won't be a perfect science because of all the different species and different growth rates even within one species.

Until then... you can always buy the size that your BPs eat now and then as they grow and you still have leftovers in the freezer, just give them 2 of the smaller size until you've used that size up.

Another possibility if you think your BPs are close to moving up a size is to go ahead and order the next size, and buy individuals locally until your snakes can handle them.

I'll let more experienced people chime in on the how many of which size question. I can tell you that a large number of people recommend that you don't feed larger than "small rats" to your BPs.

[starmom]

Ditto. Where are you ordering from? I've been ordering from The Mouse Factory but I think I might try Big Cheese; I've heard good things about them...

[Surfer]

I was looking at mice on ice but if you know of a better place (quality rats/healthy rats/good price) let me know.

[icygirl]

50 feedings? Say you feed once a week, that is around a year's worth of rodents, and don't they start losing nutritional value after 6 months of being frozen?

Correct me if I'm wrong...

[Enve]

pretty sure if you get them vacuum packed and keep re-vacuum sealing them you can get a year out of them. Not 100% sure I stopped feeding f/t a while ago. As for a good place to get them, I used to use The Mouse Factory, great quality, pricing and shipping.

[starmom]

The Mouse Factory is an amazing place; healthy, clean rodents and shipped really well. They are not the cheapest place by any stretch and when I called them last month Edna said that they were switching out their rat lines and so were really down on the sizes I needed. Also, their sizes are relatively small and since they are more expensive as size increases, well, I end up spending a fortune!

I have heard really good things about Big Cheese and called them and spoke with Chris. He assured me that he, too, had heard of the super cleanliness of the The Mouse Factory's rodents and he felt that his rodents were comparable. Their gram sizes are larger for the price and their shipping is way less expensive for me.

With my last order from TMF I paid almost $70 shipping for 4 months of food and with BC I'll spend $50 for 6 months of food and it is larger prey as well (and so heavier to ship!)

In so far as keeping rodents fresh, I would not want to keep rodents in deep freeze for much longer than 6 months, though I have known people to keep them in the freezer for 9 months with no problems. I have so many mouths to feed that I can get a 5 month supply and still meet most minimums...

Anybody else care to weigh in on opinions regarding rodent suppliers?

[starmom]

50 feedings? Say you feed once a week, that is around a year's worth of rodents, and don't they start losing nutritional value after 6 months of being frozen?

Correct me if I'm wrong...

I've never heard of nutritional values going down but just that freezer burn can start to creep in sometimes.

[nevohraalnavnoj]

I've never heard of nutritional values going down but just that freezer burn can start to creep in sometimes.

Freezer burn is ice sublimating to the gaseous stage. As far as I know, this takes only water out of the prey item and wouldn't affect nutritional content at all. In fact, you could probably argue that freezer burned prey are easier for your snake to digest because they have suffered some degradation already. Someone correct me if I'm wrong here.

JonV