breeding vs. buying

rats at my local petsmart cost $11.99 ea ($59.95 for rats for 1 month) so im probably gonna breed them myself when my bp reaches adulthood. but i have some q's.

1) will 1 male with 2 females be good?
2) can they stay together when babies are born or will the male kill them?
3) what are the signs that a female is pregnant?
4) what is their gestation period?
5) what is a good breeding schedule?
6) how long does a female rat nurse its babies?

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Originally Posted by mommanessy247

rats at my local petsmart cost $11.99 ea ($59.95 for rats for 1 month) so im probably gonna breed them myself when my bp reaches adulthood. but i have some q's.

1) will 1 male with 2 females be good?
2) can they stay together when babies are born or will the male kill them?
3) what are the signs that a female is pregnant?
4) what is their gestation period?
5) what is a good breeding schedule?
6) how long does a female rat nurse its babies?

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Sorry mods, this site doesn't always agree with my phone :(

yes 1.2 will be fine. They will look like they ate a soft ball the week they are due. They are prego for 28 days. Don't leave the male in, he will kill the babies so he can breed the female again. I think it's a montht that they nurse, i don't keep track. Oh and give the female a 2 week break once the babies are weaned, then you can breed her again.

Is frozen an option? Petsmart/Petco etc. really sell them live as pets. They charge so much to stop people from buying them as feeders. Also check to see if any local shops may sell feeders.:colbert2:

how long is the weaning process?

I would certainly look at local "hole in the wall" shops for feeders. I get mine from the same place I get my snakes and they're only like 4.50 for a large rat if I'm not mistaken.

Number one, the male rat will NOT kill the babies. He won't really help in the baby raising process, but he will not maliciously kill the babies. That won't happen.

He will however rebreed the female right away. This means that you will be pulling babies at 21 days old and force weaning them because the female will be constantly birthing new pinks.

If you only have one BP chances are that he will only be eating 2 rats per week at most. This means that one litter of pups will last you at least 5 weeks. You will be freezing off your baby rats when they reach the appropriate size.

I think the most cost effective way to do it would be to breed 10 females once a year and then freeze all the babies when they get to the appropriate size.

To answer the question that you asked, two females will be more than enough to feed your one ball python.

I would however separate the females when they are pregnant, not because the male will kill the babies, but sometimes the females will try to steal eachothers babies and they will inadvertently injure and kill some babies occasionally. My baby survival rate goes above 99% when I separate the mommas. About 85% of the babies survive when I leave them together.

Wow $12 for a rat is CRAZY! I used to buy from a local shop and they are very reasonable but still way more expensive than breeding my own. At $12 a rat I'd be broke with my 7 snakes haha.

Check craigslist for some rats around your area. Usually breeders ad's will get flagged and removed so people will say they have a few extra rats. Give a few different people a call and more than likely they are breeding them and have a constant supply. You can find people on there selling large rats for $2 or $3.

If you decide to go with breeding, you should look into ASF's. They've got a bad rep but I just got a 1.3 colony and they are AWESOME! You never have to pull the females when there prego and they don't stink at all. I found that the mazuri that i feed them actually smells worse than the rats do.