mice vs rats- weight/fullness

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Originally Posted by snake lab

I do however have to take precautions when feeding them cause a rat bite sucks and you can imagine the bite a jumbo can deliver to a ball so i knock em out and yank the teeth

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:omg: Holy crap man...that's like something out of a horror movie. Wouldn't it be easier/cleaner/faster to just warm up a f/t rat in some hot water.

I used to do live mice, but I got sick of driving to the pet store every week and having to go to the back with an employee to dig out an acceptable sized mouse. Now I just get the things frozen at another store and keep a month supply in the freezer. The gas I'm saving is ridiculous, even if the mice are a few cents more each. She took her first f/t faster then the live one too! Go figure...

I tried feeding a few rat pups to her, and she loved them, but they're so hard to find live and are proving to be impossible to find frozen at my nearby stores. I'm contemplating buying some online, but I really don't have the space to keep 50-100 of them in the freezer, and I really don't want to spend 40+ dollars on shipping. :(

You can also look at the "long term" cost.
Going by box store pet store prices here.
Mice $2.49 each
Rats $4.99 each
3mice=$7.47 plus tax;)

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Originally Posted by Salodin

I used to do live mice, but I got sick of driving to the pet store every week and having to go to the back with an employee to dig out an acceptable sized mouse. Now I just get the things frozen at another store and keep a month supply in the freezer. The gas I'm saving is ridiculous, even if the mice are a few cents more each.(

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Thats why I started breeding my own rats. Costs me about $40 a month to feed 21 snakes;)

Edit: ^What he said is true. Rats are cheaper in the long run.

Rats are a little more nutritious than mice, not to mention it is easier to feed one appropriate sized rat than it is 3-5+ mice. I start my baby balls on rats. Its easier and better for them. I don't even wanna know how many mice our 3,400g female would need to survive if she was a mouser. Then again, I doubt she would be anywhere near that big if she was a mouser.

I personally like feeding live cause it keeps their kill instinct fresh and that keeps them eating better every week. Yes its easy for me to do that cause i breed my own rats and i suggest anyone that can should. Its alot cheaper.

I didnt really fear live rodents, its just more a pain with transport; ive even had 2 escapes and a near 3rd one in the car!

I only have only one 1 year old snake atm so breeding isnt really an option. I also dont know of any nearby breeders so i cant get a bulk on some cheap rats or even mice, so im stuck paying 1.99 for a live mouse, 10.99 for four frozen mice, or i think it was 4.99 for a frozen rat. As you can see, each passing month brings me closer to the time where i really want some decent priced rats, but i dread doing them live (at like 2.99), and 5 bucks for a frozen, ugh.

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What is your location??
Someone here might be near you:gj:

Coral Springs, Florida. Technically Parkland, but I'm on the border and more people are familiar with Coral Springs lol.

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Originally Posted by Salodin

I didnt really fear live rodents, its just more a pain with transport; ive even had 2 escapes and a near 3rd one in the car!

I only have only one 1 year old snake atm so breeding isnt really an option. I also dont know of any nearby breeders so i cant get a bulk on some cheap rats or even mice, so im stuck paying 1.99 for a live mouse, 10.99 for four frozen mice, or i think it was 4.99 for a frozen rat. As you can see, each passing month brings me closer to the time where i really want some decent priced rats, but i dread doing them live (at like 2.99), and 5 bucks for a frozen, ugh.

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For 1 snake you are right that breeding is not a cost effective choice. Isn't there some places in fl that do mail order frozen close by him that he could pick up to save on shipping?
Why do you dread feeding live? Most of the stories you hear about are from people leaving a live rodent in the cage for an extended period of time unsupervised and some rats are able to get their last bite in but in my cases they don't even break the skin. If my snakes show no interest within 5 min's of knowing it's there and me watching till it hugs it then they will have to wait till next time. The only reason I prefer live is that if a snake refuses I can put him back in his cage till next time. Other than that I like the rats and will hold and pet them so it's hard for me to feed them off ;)

I dread feeding live because anything over a hopper in age chews through the carry case they give you at the store. It takes about 15-20min to drive back home, and in that time there is usually a nice hole made in the box with a mouse trying to squeeze through unless I'm constantly shaking the box every few second to keep it from getting a grip to squeeze out >_<, I'm almost positive a rat will be more successful.

I've had 2 1/2 breakouts already, and it is no fun chasing a rodent through my car =(.

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Originally Posted by Salodin

I dread feeding live because anything over a hopper in age chews through the carry case they give you at the store. It takes about 15-20min to drive back home, and in that time there is usually a nice hole made in the box with a mouse trying to squeeze through unless I'm constantly shaking the box every few second to keep it from getting a grip to squeeze out >_<, I'm almost positive a rat will be more successful.

I've had 2 1/2 breakouts already, and it is no fun chasing a rodent through my car =(.

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I bought one of those cheap plastic pet carriers to stop that from happening:gj: