rats to snake ratios-neccesity farming

Hello all,
So i am a fairly new herper with a 6ft boa and a 5 ft ball python normal, and my question is how many pairs of rats should I invest in to keep my snakes fed? Is it better to have one male to several females?
I am not going to be getting any more snakes for a good long time-if i can help it. ;) And both my snakes are full grown so i just need a steady and even resource.

I am no expert,I have nine snakes but I'm no breeder I just love them,I have one male and two females and its perfect for the ones that are big enough to eat them,but it can get out of hand fast!So do some research on how fast they can have babies and those babies and decide from there,good luck


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Are they eating F/T?

Rule of thumb is have one breeder female rat for every one snake you have.
Add or subtract accordingly.

One male is fine. Just rotate him through your females every other week or so. Adjust his rotation schedule accordingly for your needs as you get the hang of things.




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Thanks guys!
Yes they currently eat f/t but I plan on trying them on some of the babies to see if they are good hunters. I am well aware of the risks of feeding live and have no intention of harming my snakes, so I will also probably have to co2 them at some point. I am studying up.

The basic rule of 1 adult female breeder rat for each snake is a good general rule. Once you start breeding and need babies fed along with your adults it can get crazy. I like have one tub per adult so 1.3 per adult snake and that gives me plenty!!


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For a boa - do they usually eat multiple rats? It takes a while for a rat to reach full size, so one alternative would be to feed multiple small to medium rats. In that case, you may want 2 females for the boa and one for the ball.

I have been buying a package of two small rats at petsmart and feeding bi weekly. The boa gets both at once and the ball python gets one on one night and another in about a week or so. The rats are usually about 3" not including tail.
The packages are $13.00+tax and at 1 a week i feel like I'm spending a small fortune for some dinky little rats. Neither of my snakes seem to like the smell of them either.
I found a supplier of feeder rats nearby but he doesnt kill/freeze. If I'm going to have to deal with live I feel like I may as well breed them myself.
Thanks again for the helpful tips!

Depends on what price the local breeder is going to sell them to you for. If the price is right you can co2 and freeze them yourself. $13 for those rats is insanity. If your snakes are feeding on F/T and you only have two snakes I would highly recommend buying F/T in bulk (online or at a local show). With only two snakes breeding rats is really not worth the hassle and $$


http://www.metalmonkeyexotics.com/blog/?page_id=331

I do breed rats only because I have nine ball pythons but I spend just as much time feeding and cleaning after the rats,not fun,two snake,find a whole saler,save time for yourself

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