I need to start a colony of feeders for my ball pythons, please help me decide.

BUT...I don't know what.
what I do know is i am tired of running all over town looking for food.

ASF?
RAT?
MOUSE?

looking for suggestions, please.
thank you
Bill :salute:

I would go with rats. When your BP's get full grown you will have to feed multiple prey items per feeding with anything other than rats. You can use different sized rats for all ages of BP's and never have to feed more than one per meal.

I don't think I've ever had a ball python refuse a live mouse. Ever... Well, maybe the first few times after hatching, but then again if they refuse mice, they won't touch rats either... Mice are invariably the first meal all of my babies eat and they'll never refuse another one. Yes, rats are much more efficient at putting weight on your snakes, and they are more economical. It's much easier to feed one rat to an adult ball python then to feed it 4 adult mice in order to make the same weight, but for some reason they just LOVE mice. Mice are like candy to ball pythons...

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Originally Posted by MarkS

I don't think I've ever had a ball python refuse a live mouse. Ever... Well, maybe the first few times after hatching, but then again if they refuse mice, they won't touch rats either... Mice are invariably the first meal all of my babies eat and they'll never refuse another one. Yes, rats are much more efficient at putting weight on your snakes, and they are more economical. It's much easier to feed one rat to an adult ball python then to feed it 4 adult mice in order to make the same weight, but for some reason they just LOVE mice. Mice are like candy to ball pythons...

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Mine love mice also. They occasionally turn down rats but mice almost never. I'm talking f/t here.

I would go with rat. All your needs are in that one breeder / feeder. Unless you just want options then go with all of them.

oh man good luck getting your breeders and stuff, i thought it was a good idea till you end up having to clean there mess up everyday, if not it's gonna stink, even asf's stink after one day, i was all hyped up as well after a month forget it i sold it all off and just bought feeders at my petstore.... but hey all the power to you and good luck...

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Originally Posted by oceancube

oh man good luck getting your breeders and stuff, i thought it was a good idea till you end up having to clean there mess up everyday, if not it's gonna stink, even asf's stink after one day, i was all hyped up as well after a month forget it i sold it all off and just bought feeders at my petstore.... but hey all the power to you and good luck...

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haha this is the truth except after 2 weeks I was done lol got tired of people telling me it stunk

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Originally Posted by DShaw

haha this is the truth except after 2 weeks I was done lol got tired of people telling me it stunk

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It dont stink like everyone states. If you use wood shavings as bedding it will cause a stronger ammonia smell in the air.

I use pine pellets and clean once every 7 days and never have problems. No one knows i have mice/rats in my house unless i tell them as they cant smell it.

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y14...k/100_2293.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y14...k/100_2305.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y14...k/100_2592.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y14...g/100_2952.jpg

Mice stiiiiiiiiink! Definitely go with rats. I also cannot stand pine bedding with my rats. For some reason the urine mixed with pine creates this heavy stench that is just noxious to me. Aspen bedding works really well for me, and I only need to do a cleaning every 5 days for it not to be noticeable (the smell). I haven't tried the pine pellets though...

I don't have experience with ASFs but wouldn't use them in case I wanted to sell my snakes/future offspring...

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Originally Posted by MarkieJ

Mice stiiiiiiiiink! Definitely go with rats. I also cannot stand pine bedding with my rats. For some reason the urine mixed with pine creates this heavy stench that is just noxious to me. Aspen bedding works really well for me, and I only need to do a cleaning every 5 days for it not to be noticeable (the smell). I haven't tried the pine pellets though...

I don't have experience with ASFs but wouldn't use them in case I wanted to sell my snakes/future offspring...

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Mice stink when you set them up on BAD BEDDING. Aspen or any other wood shavings is bad for rodent breeding as it causes bad smells and elevated ammonia level in which can cause sick feeders.

Pine pellets is not your average pine as its biodegradable and absorbs their pee and breaks down into a sawdust.

Just hate when ppl come in ans say mice stink when i been breeding them for a while and never had a problem with smell and i have 500+ mice not including rats or babies.