Breed em, buy em, or both? Feeder source Poll~Please Vote

We breed both mice and rats. It would be way too expensive to buy each week, all year round. I admire those of you who have the production schedule down - I've been breeding rats/mice for over 2 years and I still end up with too many in the winter and not enough in the summer. Especially when the balls hatch! We tend to supplement buy in the summer for the hatchlings and some of the adults.


I really don't like the mice - they are way more smelly, they are slow to produce, and they eat their young. If I could switch my mouse eaters over to rats and figure out a way to start my hatchlings on rats I would give the mice up in a heartbeat!

I started breeding mice a couple of months ago. It is so aggravating due to them eating their babies. Now that I have a different set up and a different organization method I think it is going to help alot. So far I have seen tremendous improvement. However just last week I set up tubs for rats. So now I am going to try my hands with them as well.

It is expensive to feed all of the animals but Iam going to try and start a "successful" breeding mission.

So all in all I breed them but mostly buy.....

I breed all my own rodents... I like to know the quality of the rodents my snakes get. In a bind though, its nice to live close to one of the largest rodent producers in the world.

Just started to breed them about 2 months ago. It is so cool to raise all the rats and to be surprised every time a momma gives out babies, they are so cute.

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Originally Posted by Sasquatch Art

It is expensive to feed all of the animals but I am going to try and start a "successful" breeding mission.

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Good luck with that. Once it was all said and done, it took us about 6 months before we broke even on our feeder breeding, but since that point, our cost per feeder has gone through the floor. We still "refresh" every once in a while from big cheese to keep inbreeding down, but the bottom line is still much lower than week-to-week feeder purchases.

I buy b/c I only have one snake.:tears:

I started breeding mice about a month ago and (after haveing to feed off a bad male three weeks in) and now that i know for a fact that breeding is going on, and that they are getting bigger, im about to stop buying mice. But for now i buy adult mice for my adults, and breed for my little one( which is about to change once my 8 adults pop) So soon it will be Breed only, Cost is not a issue with buying food, its going to get them once a week.

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Cost is not a issue with buying food, its going to get them once a week.

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I only have one snake, so I plan on buying 2-3 feeders at a time so I don't have to take as many trips. I have a tub that I was going to use as a seperate feeding container, but is now going to be the feeder bin.

As far as the poll goes, I buy. :D

I find that my ASF's and Mice are as much fun as the snakes themselves. sometimes even more!

Have never had a problem with the mice eating the babies. I keep three females together... and they have babies / nurse together. I take the male out right before they pop. I put one med size igloo in the tank right before they pop (same time i take the male out) and put shreded newspaper in the igloo. Before I know it there are 40 pinkies under the igloo... and the moms all take time going in and nursing.

I breed all my rats. I picked up a couple of normal girls from TSK that were mouse eaters. I had no problem switching them over to rats.
I see no need for mice.
Just bought 400lbs lab block and 10 bales bedding. :D
Managing the colonys so you have the right size rat at the right time is the hardest part.I would rather have to gas and freeze the surplus than not have enough.