Rat feed

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Originally Posted by PitOnTheProwl

I now feed lab-blocks to my mice and rats after seeing how much less food they eat and how much faster the litters are growing. In turn my snakes are putting on more weight and even my problem feeders dont lose as much weight as they use to after 3 or 4 weeks of not eats.

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I've done my own tests on this as well.... My rats and mice ate more of the doggy bag food, and had fewer and smaller litters on it.
The rodent block costs just slightly more, they don't inhale it like it's crack, and my litters are bigger, and I have less cannibalism.
I buy 40 bags(1 ton) of rodent block at a time, every 3-4 weeks. They more you buy, the cheaper it is... I get it for under $18 a bag when I buy in bulk. As opposed to buying from the same distributor, a couple bags at a time for $24 a bag... Even at $20-25 a bag, it still saves you money in the long run...

Not only have I found it last me longer, but I could not belive how the smell went down when I switched over to a rodent diet. There is no smell what so ever. I will never use edog food again.

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Originally Posted by jasbus

I buy 40 bags(1 ton) of rodent block at a time, every 3-4 weeks. They more you buy, the cheaper it is... I get it for under $18 a bag when I buy in bulk. As opposed to buying from the same distributor, a couple bags at a time for $24 a bag... Even at $20-25 a bag, it still saves you money in the long run...

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Which rodent block are you buying and from where?

Thanks.

I feed breeders mazuri 6f and growups get kent 23% and production is great and honestly for the price it is well worth it mazuri is about 25 for 50# and kent is like 14 for 50#. If you feed quality rodent food you get quality rodents to feed your quality balls IMO.

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Originally Posted by VicShell

If you feed quality rodent food you get quality rodents to feed your quality balls IMO.

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That's all I'm sayin

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Originally Posted by Tatt2Python

i use dog food for my feeders and i have no problems at all with any of my 12 mother rats or the babies and 8 of the mothers ive had for over 2 yrs now and they do great ( hey if do well on it why not buy it)i get 20lbs bags from dollar store for $5:gj:

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here a pic of one of my last litters nice large little of 17 http://i1211.photobucket.com/albums/...b/DSCI1824.jpg

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Originally Posted by JohnNJ

Which rodent block are you buying and from where?

Thanks.

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I buy direct from a wholesaler, who in turn buys it from ADM in Ill... Even with the wholesaler buying it, I get it delivered for under $18 a bag...
Sometimes I get Mazuri 6F instead, but I usually stick to ADM, I like the bigger sized blocks...

When I was using doggy bag food, they inhaled the stuff. I was using way more dog food than blocks. Plus, the DB came in 40# bags, at the time was $14 a bag, or .35 cents a pound. And, like I mentioned, they ate way more of it.
I get the ADM for under $18 a bag, or .36-.37 a pound....

No brainer.

Not to mention, my mice always had greasy coats on the DB, and they smelled way worse. I change bedding once a week, and the mice were smelly after just a day or maybe two on DB.

In my opinion, in the long run, even if you have to pay more for a quality block, you will save money. My rat racks are 14 tubs each, and on average, each rack gets one 50# bag per week. In my case, that's 7-8 bags for just my rats per week. On DB, I did a side by side rack comparison, and was using almost two 40# bags of DB in the same amount of time. Probably about 60-70# opposed to 50# of block.

On my mice, they were absolutely inhaling the DB, I was filling hoppers all the time. On block, I fill only twice a week when I refill water buckets...

I use doggy bag dog food mixed with goat, horse, or cattle feed. Which ever is cheaper that month. I have never had a problem with my rats or snakes. They are all very healthy.

Doggy Bag dog food from Tractor Supply. $15 for 40 lbs.