Grow your own or?????

I also debated this about a year ago.

The best option for me was to buy a chest freezer and order a supply of approximately 6 months worth of frozen mice/rats online. I have to order in bulk to justify the shipping cost, but ordering 6 months worth is the same as ordering 20! You have to factor in the initial cost (and space requirements) of buying the freezer and the energy to run it every day.

You can definitely save money breeding your own feeders, but the time investment cleaning and maintaining them is significant. If you can put a dollar value on an hour of your time, it can definitely add up pretty quickly and make the alternative much more cost effective!

Luckily, I don't have any animals that will only eat Live! If you do, then it might make even more sense to have them on hand when needed.

-Paul

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Originally Posted by cecilbturtle

a few years ago I had 20 or so snakes and maybe another 20 or so babies. I still didn't breed rodents. I'd go to reptile shows and buy frozen. You can usually pre-order what you need for a few months and then just pay the cost of the rodents. Some places will give a price break after a certain number.

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Just so happens that there is a reptile show this weekend about an hour from me ;)

Im still working on switching them over. Some eat F/T sometimes and sometimes they dont. Lil stinkers :taz:

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Originally Posted by KornSnake

Just so happens that there is a reptile show this weekend about an hour from me ;)

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There you go! Check the vendor list for rodent suppliers.

I almost bought rats at the last trade show to come to town. After seeing the condition/quality of the rodents being offered, I quickly changed my mind. The quality of the rodents I get from my online supplier is hard to beat. Its definitely worth paying a little more for in my opinion.

Just breed your own.

My set up cost fifty bucks to make and costs one hundred and twenty bucks annually to run. I have to buy the occassional rat or two locally if I don't time my spring time right.

I own twelve snakes and produce 30-60 rats a month.

I also had this big cost breakdown posted but my browser crashed ill post it here in a minute.

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20 for half inch screen
18 for three tubs
8 for two by twos
5 for water bottles

I buy three fifty pound bags of mazuri 6f for thirty a piece locally and three to four huge 12 dollar bags of kiln dried pine a year. That's it. Maybe thirty minutes of maintenance a week, fill water bottles and spot clean. I completely change bedding once every couple weeks. Pretty easy.

I was breeding my own. 12 females. I also have a full time career, married and two kids. I honestly am getting tired of the keep up, and someone local produces up to 300 a month, so I know she has supplies.

Sure suppliers get a significant price cut for buying in bulk but even if you're breeding on a smaller scale your costs aren't more than buying frozen from any of the sources I've seen..

Not sure what other people are paying for their rat food and bedding but around here it's $24 for a 50 pound bag of Mazuri and $5 for 4 cubic feet of bedding.

when i initially decided to breed rodents i had to invest 800 dollars in a shed, 200 for ac and fans, 100 for racking (have since added) and plus food and bedding each month. if you have 20 snakes or less dont do it. but when you have 60 and close to 150 +/- hatchlings a year, buying wont cut it.