Breeding Feeders

Hi everyone! I've raised snakes all my life but I'm new to ball pythons and the forum. I've been reading through some of the threads and there is a lot of knowledge here! I thought I would would post about my dilemma.

I want to start raising feeders for my two ball pythons but I'm not sure which route to take. Do you guys suggest mice or rats? I think mice are easier to raise but I'll probably want to eventually move on to rats once my snakes are bigger right? Right now they're both about 350 grams and feeding great on adult mice every 5 days.

Thanks!

Tyler

I would go with rats, its what you will want in the longrun. But other than that are you sure you want to breed rats just for 2 ball pythons? Do you plan on breeding your 2 current ones and/or adding more to the collection?

Thanks for the response! And good point. Breeding rats for only two BP's probably wouldn't be the most cost effective but I do plan on breeding them. Plus if I get extra rats I have friends that have snakes and would be happy to receive some.

With only 2 snakes I suggest the rat route. I have crumby luck introducing adult mice. Once I get a compatible group of mice going they stay together and just pump out babies. With rats though I can keep the sexes separated and just introduce males for 7-10 days for stress free, planned pregnancies.

With only two snakes I say don't even bother at this point. The biggest issue with raising rats is that you're going to end up spending most of your time on them instead of your snakes just because rats require much more daily maintenance and care (don't go mice, mice stink in every way). There's also the associated costs, which you'll find is about the same as if you were to buy frozen. Rats eat a good bit and you'll be throwing out half your food supply if you don't have a rack or a hopper system since they like to bury it in their bedding. Once you get more snakes (if that's your plan) then by all means reconsider, but for now I just wouldn't.

You can always get a single rat and raise it for a while to see if you'll enjoy/tolerate rat keeping? I personally prefer to buy younger females and raise them to a good breeding size anyway, I've only ever had poor luck buying older females that were already up to size (four pups from one! Four!).

Thanks for the replies guys. Great advice. I'll wait a little while before I jump into breeding feeders. After thinking about it I think it is going to be more work than it is worth with only two snakes right now. Plus it is pretty cheap to order frozen mice. My only concern is whether or not my BP's will take F/T rats. They've only ever been given live mice. I guess there is only one way to find out!

Try a live rat pup to switch them over then do f/t. I still have 1 190 gram pewter girl who wont switch over for me. I once read somewhere that it is believed rats are better food for them than mice, better nutrients protein and all that good stuff.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by BigJay

Try a live rat pup to switch them over then do f/t. I still have 1 190 gram pewter girl who wont switch over for me. I once read somewhere that it is believed rats are better food for them than mice, better nutrients protein and all that good stuff.

---

Rats are no better than mice with regards to nutrients, protein, etc.

Rats are simply more convenient due to size. Full grown adult BP's will require multiple mice per feeding, while rats grow big enough so only one is required.

Rat breeding is awful. If you have only 2 snakes definitely don't do it. It may seem like a worthwhile thing to do, but its a giant time suck and can get expensive.