Feeder Business

[Jay_Bunny]

I posted something similar to this a while ago but now my mind is really turning it this way and that, trying to figure out if I should give it a shot. I want to start a feeder business. I would breed rats and mice as snake feeders, but I would also breed different types of insects, other rodents (gerbils, hamsters) guinea pigs, and possibly rabbits. I would provide both live and frozen feeders for those who keep exotics (snakes, ferrets, lizards, ect) and those feeding raw/whole prey diets to dogs and cats.

When my roommates move out I will re-claim a second bedroom and the snakes and rats will move in. There will still be a lot of space left in the room that I can use to breed the other types of feeders. The gerbils, hamsters, guinea pigs, and rabbits won't be bred in large numbers, but the rats, mice, and insects will.

I was wondering if its worth it. I already have one pet store that said they'd buy any extra feeders I produce with my rat breeding, and I was going to talk to another one. My colony is no where near large enough to start producing for pet stores, but I'm slowly growing it up. I have 4 breeding females and plan on getting more females as soon as I get more racks built. There was a man that works at the pet store that wanted me to breed gerbils for him since he didn't want to breed them himself and he couldn't buy them often because of the price. (He has a ball python that will only eat gerbils.)

So, I'm already working on the rat colony. I'm going to be getting some mice to raise up to become breeders tomorrow. I just want the feeders to pay for themselves and provide me with a little profit. I was hoping to breed these following feeders.

Rats
Mice
ASFs
Gerbils
Hamsters
Guinea Pigs
Rabbits
Crickets
Mealworms
Superworms
Roaches

[rocko]

Yes it will definably turn a nice profit.Right now I'm breeding rats,mice,crickets,super worms and wax worms.If you do plan on doing the bugs make a shelving unit that will hold the plastic tubs so it saves space and is organized.Ive found that the rats are what make you the money,depending on the market around you for them.

[Jay_Bunny]

Can you give me some details on breeding waxworms? You can PM me or post here. I'd really like to know how to breed those.

[Bettacreek]

The waxworms aren't hard. They require more labor and equipment than the mealworms, but it doesn't take much.
Hamsters, well, good luck with that. They're usually not the best mothers. Plus, if you're breeding syrians, they'll take a lot of space to breed. You could always use wet nurse rat mothers for the syrian babies, they'll care for just about anything.

[rabernet]

I don't know how profitable it will be. The guy I get my rats from when I need some to supplement my own breeding said that the money he makes from selling his (and he sells up to 100 a week to one person and about 20-30 at a time to me when I need them) just covers his costs on feeding his rats, and he makes no profit.

[Jay_Bunny]

That would actually be nice if they could at least help cover their feeding cost. I am going to be breeding a lot of those species for my ferrets as well, as all three of them are switching to a raw/whole prey diet and they need a variety of food sources. Mice and rats probably get boring after a while.

I picked up a few new breeders today. I'm setting up their enclosures now and they will be in QT for a while. I got a new female rat (agouti hooded), 3 female mice, 1 male gerbil, and 1 female gerbil. (I'm breeding the gerbils for the ferrets and for a man who has a ball python who only eats gerbils.

[Bettacreek]

You should look into quail as well. The button quail can be kept in fairly small cages and supposedly breed like madhouses. They can start to breed at 6 weeks (usually not until a little later, but it's possible) and can be fed on turkey or game pellets. They also don't get very big (about 8oz and 5" tall). You could probably feed the birds as well as the eggs. They're also cute as hell... Lol. The only thing is that it can be a pain to get the mothers to nest on their eggs, I guess you have to put them in a seperate box with soil (or coconut fibers) and give fake vines and such for them to nest in. I don't know much more than that about them, I just started looking them up.

[Jay_Bunny]

We have considered button quail since ferrets like quail meat, but we are going to wait until we have a house before breeding them. They are on our list though. While we live here, we are going to focus on the smaller species.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Have you consider how much space all this will take?

Also have you considered what your landlord will think? Weren’t you already breaking the contract by having ferrets, dog, cats, snakes, sugar gliders, rats etc?

Those are things to take in consideration before venturing into a new business that will be based from your home.

[Jay_Bunny]

Technically the animals are not allowed, but we are hoping to move in the near future. I have a two large rooms that I can use to house the animals. Currently I house them all in one, my living room, but my roommates are moving out this week (Yay!) and I will get my other bedroom back.

For the past year, they have come in to do repairs once and gave us 48 hours notice. The man doing the repairs struck up conversation about his ball python and ferret when he saw I had a ferret and my racks of snakes. He was a really nice guy and a few months later asked me how they were doing. Other than that, they have not entered my home unless I've asked for repairs. I'm already having them ok the dog. I just need the letter from the vet stating his breed and such. Caged animals don't seem to matter to them. When my roommate moved out of his apartment, he had signed no papers stating he had ferrets. He never paid any fees or additional rent so according to the office, he had no pets. When he moved out, there were ferret poop and urine stains both upstairs and downstairs and you could smell ferret in his apartment. When he moved out he was simply charged for the replacement of the carpet and that was all, which they would have done had they known he had an animal. Pitbulls are against the rules here, breed restrictions and all. There are at least two living right up the street from me and they walk them in plain site of everyone. A lady the other day walked two huge dogs right by the office and the pet policy is one dog, under 30lbs, so I think they say certain animals are not allowed, but I don't think they pay much attention or even care.