F/T feeders, Rodent pro shipping costs? compared to LLL reptile

Ok I am faced with a problem I will be converting all of my snakes hopefully to F/T, Im buying my first bag tonight or tom. and was about to complete my order with rodent pro when I found out my total was 76 dollars for a 22$ bag of mice shipping was like 5 dollars I dont fully understand this and am a lilltle discouraged. I reevaluated the shipping address and the there "optimized shipping guide" and the only thing i can come up with is they charge you so much for alarge box to force u to buy in bulk? anyways I was recommended lllreptile.com and they include shipping in the price of the mice which they should considering individual mouse costs 1.20. my point being is this the best deal on the market? or is there hope to find a cheaper alternative that wont attempt to charge out the waaazzooooo for shipping. also Im on the west coast, Nor Cal to be exact if that makes a difference. This forum has helped me out tremendously and I figured why not ask befor I jump into a purchase. thank you very much :please:

? ? ? any suggestionss would be great

The reason shipping costs so much on frozen rodents is that they have to include dry ice in the package...this adds the cost of the dry ice...as well as adding weight and size to the package. It's not economical at all to buy a small lot of frozen rodents for shipping. It gets more efficient if you increase the overall size of your order.....but I do agree, no matter what size the order, the shipping costs on frozen rodents is always an exercise in sticker-shock.

Personally, I would not trust LLL to get frozen rodents from. They might be ok for dry goods...but they have a horrible rep for shipping out live animals. The animals are not shipped well...tend to be very sickly...and the follow-up customer service is awful. Of course, the frozen rodents are alive....BUT....based on their rep for customer service and their care when sending LIVE animals...I would not trust them to have healthy, clean rodents to begin with...I would not trust them to be shipped properly (could very well thaw out along the way) and IF you have any issues with the shipment, the chances of them making it right afterwards are slim.

All of the previous paragraph is based on speculation due to their current rep and is not reflective of any personal experience.

For ME, the best and most economical way to buy frozen rodents is to plan ahead and get them from a local herp show. (I've never been to one that didn't have at least one vendor selling frozen prey) I save up and figure out how many I need to have in stock until the next show...then buy what I need. Be sure to carry a big cooler with lots of ice to carry them home in.

Another source is local reptile stores, if there is any such thing near you. There's one near me that says they sell frozen rodents, but I haven't checked into their prices yet. Will have to soon though, as I wasn't able to go to the most recent show and my stock is low. Even if they don't normally stock frozens for sale to the public, they may be willing to work with you on splitting a bigger order from one of the national suppliers to cut down on shipping expenses for both of you.

i really apprecate the input. I would love to buy and stock up but then would need to look into buying a freezer lol my aparment fridge is small lol. that brings me to my next question are there any dealers on the west coast? thanks for the response again JLC your allways helpful

I am in Fresno and if you want to meet somewhere like Manteca you can pick up for $0 shipping:banana: the day we normally deliver to the Bay Area which is every Thursday! Shipping in CA is $40 including the box and dry Ice, for a box of rodents, so it is allways better to order a little more and fill a box, cost stays the same on shipping (up to 50lbs) but you get more rodents.
Hope this helps.
http://rodents4u.com

thank you for your help I might have to look into meeting up with you in the future.

i dont know if the distance between rodent pro's business and the person receiving the order plays a part in the shipping cost but rodent pro is in indiana. that's quite a ways for something frozen. but yeah i'm thinking of going with rodent pro too when i switch my snake to f/t but for me 1 pck of rats + s&h is coming out to $60...for a 6 month supply. to me that $60 once every 6 months is better then the $180 - $240 i'd be spending in 6 months caring for live rodents. so i see the high shipping rate in a different light i guess.
sorry if this doesnt help with your dilemma.

ya ur mojave will be proud

Distance is certainly a factor in speed shipping. It would have cost me ~50 I think for my ~$120 order I was contemplating.

I ended up buying from someone who had an ad on fauna or kingsnake (I forget). I saved a ton of money, but the quality in packing was a little lacking. I think next time I'm going to order from rodent pro.

Look for someone closer to you to save a little on shipping, or if you can find another herper near you, you can combine your order and kinda split the shipping.

I understand where you're coming from. I order from Loxahatchee a couple times a year and it's always a gasp moment when I go to checkout and look at what they're charging me for 3 day shipping. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find a way around it, I just try to make my orders less often but larger so that I pay a little less. The snakes have their own freezer in the garage and I fill that sucker up.