Thoughts on Feeder Breeding

I'd put my vote in for a small freezer as well. I enjoy raising my own feeders a lot but they are a lot of work at the same time. I spend every bit as much, if not more, time cleaning their tubs and feeding/watering them as I do my snakes. My collection is currently 13 ball pythons and 100+ rats in 18 concrete tub racks ( mostly grow outs & pups with two dozen or so adult breeders). Mine live in my garage, so I really can't say on the smell but a rack of them in the living room...? Each to their own and not judging in the least but you get more than one or two in a room, depending on how often you change their bedding and the smell can get to be noticeable in a hurry, lol! I raise mine because it's honestly just easier than dealing with shipping and having to buy "x" number of this size versus that for all of my various sized animals (hatchlings to a 2007 female being the size range), so that's what works for me. If you can make the freezer work and your animals will eat f/t, I'd say stick with that and don't fix it if it isn't broke, lol! Good luck and hope it works out, whatever you decide. :gj:

Agree with the chest freezer.

With 5 snakes, you'll likely end up with far too many rats than you need, even with just 2 breeding groups of 1:2. Then they will end up in your freezer anyway, leaving you no room for human food.

Chest freezer in the living room with a nice cover over it. Maybe a lamp on top. Nice. :gj:

Here's another tip - Look for sales on display models. They may have a scratch or two or maybe a dent but they work fine and you'll save a bundle. I like that better than getting someone's used merchandise.

Thank you for the replies! It's indeed decided on the chest freezer (and icy pops :D ) and it's actually become the least of the space issue with a newly acquired iguana in the house. Looks like the shelving unit (and more furniture even) may be replaced by iguana enclosure. I love my significant other, and thank god he has iguana experience of 10+ years, or I might've followed through with my urge to acquire a mini freezer and drop it straight on his head... (LOVE iguanas, and wanted one someday, we'll be able to make it work but I had hoped to figure out the smaller issues first. Oh, and maybe prepare, ya know, might've been a good idea :taz: )

Thank you again guys, I have a tendency to simply miss simpler solutions and move straight to the more complicated stuff. At least I can keeps the snakes simple and cheap! I'm overloading on the house rearrangement brainstorm in my head

The smell of rats can be very overwhelming, that said I really dont recommend them inside your living space. More of a garage would be a good place... just saying. 2nd thing, I wouldnt worry about producing high number of rats, you could always sell them. Just my $0.02