Low odor rats and mice for new colonies

Hi,

Just a reminder to cut back on the want ad theme if possible as we do not allow those outside of the for sale/ wanted/ adoption forum.

Shipping live rodents is extremely expensive and complicated in regards to vet certs for each animal and the needed caging to ship in. So you will be very unlikely to find someone willing to do that for a price you would find acceptable.


dr del

I am located in Western North Carolina. Can anyone point me in the right direction? The nearest rat farm I have found is over four hours away, and won't cut a discount for picking them up. Somehow it seems wrong to have to pay full price AND a delivery fee when I am making an 8 hour round trip to pick them up (yes, the delivery fee is required, whether they deliver them or you pick them up).

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Originally Posted by dr del

Hi,

Just a reminder to cut back on the want ad theme if possible as we do not allow those outside of the for sale/ wanted/ adoption forum.

dr del

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I apologize if I'm breaking site rules. If so, this thread can be deleted or moved please. Originally posted in the wanted forum, moved to feeders by freaky frog.

What part of western NC are you in?

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Originally Posted by llovelace

What part of western NC are you in?

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Morganton, NC

I can and WILL drive to pick up what we need. Thanks for the help!

I keep my rats in the garage. I open the side garage door most of the time for air flow. I open the main garage door also when it gets hot. I close both in the winter, and run a space heater when it gets below freezing. I have never had any issue with wild rats coming into the garage. I have had some deaths likely due to extreme temperatures, but not too many. The deaths are mostly very young or old rats. I am not saying that this is the best method, but I would never keep rodents in my house, especially the amount that I breed.

Hope this helps.

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Originally Posted by Ben Biscy

I'm trying to figure out how wild rodents would get into a closed cage (glass tanks and screen tops). NO wild rodents make it too far into the yard, as we have ratters (small dogs) that LOVE to play with them.... For this reason our breeding table is elevated, and will have a "dog guard" surrounding it (sheet metal). The table is not yet fully constructed, as this project is still in the air. As of now I still don't have a supplier.

Anyone familiar with hot shot's no pest strips?

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Everything that can destroy a colony is smaller than your cages.... parasites, viruses.... Why in the world would you keep breeding rats outside?

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Originally Posted by littleindiangirl

Why in the world would you keep breeding rats outside?

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A family member has a phobia and nightmares. The smell is my only issue, and thanks to others' posts I feel better about that situation.

Glass tanks will insulate the heat, and if they are much higher than high 70's, they will not breed for you. Keeping them outdoors does does not seem like a feasable solution to me. You're likely going to have overheated rats that don't produce any babies for you.

I don't know why you don't just get a freezer and buy f/t.

I have over 30 Ball Pythons right now and am feeding f/t for the cost and for the lack of space/not wanting the smell.

I get my mice for 15 cents a pop with free shipping. I just got 700 large frozen mice for a whole $115.00. My snakes could give a crap too, they snatch 'em right up.

Even when these mice aren't on sale, they're only 46 cents for the large ones.

NOT advertising or anything, but I had a good experience with AmericanRodent.com. Might want to give them a try before abusing live rats/mice with extreme weather conditions and most likely death.

If you have under 10 snakes, just get the f/t. So much easier... It took me an hour to feed 30+ Ball Pythons live mice. And it only takes me an hour to feed 30+ Ball Pythons f/t mice. Dump them all in the sink of warm water to thaw. Fill up a bucket of hot water, put mice in, go to snake room and feed.