cheap and easy breeding

Ok guys and girls, I only have 1 Ball Python right now, but I would like to start possibly a rat colony or something, so I could make plenty of feeders, what is the most cheapest way of breeding mice or rats? Obviously you need a male and a female, and a cage, but what are some things as for maintaining them, in a low budget way? Can they breed from the same litter? How long does it take for some babies to pop out :P All that kind of information, Tips please! :D

Mitch

Why? You only need one maybe two mice per week. It would cost alot more to raise them than to just buy what you need every week. Just not cost effective at all.

I think Becky is right. But, if you insist, there are some good stickies in the Feeders section (where you posted this thread)... good luck :gj:

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Originally Posted by SatanicIntention

Why? You only need one maybe two mice per week. It would cost alot more to raise them than to just buy what you need every week. Just not cost effective at all.

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I understand what you mean, but I wanted to let some grow, and keep frozen feeders. every other litter I let them get a little bigger, that way after a few feedings Spartans prey will be kept bigger, as well I want to sell some as well as pets, just a business I could start, which will give me some pocket money and a happy snake :) I think it may be easier for me, but thats just my opinion.

If you were to start a 'colony' with only one snake to feed, you would end up losing money. The upkeep cost for the rodents would surpass anything you were spending on frozen/live feeders from a store. I have four snakes, and I won't start breeding feeders until I have at least twice that.

Its up to you whether you want to start breeding feeders now. The costs of cages (1 for male, 1 for females, 1 growout cage for feeders) food, bedding, ect. It would just cost too much in my opinion when you could easily spend about $2-3 a week on store-bought feeders.

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Originally Posted by Jay_Bunny

If you were to start a 'colony' with only one snake to feed, you would end up losing money. The upkeep cost for the rodents would surpass anything you were spending on frozen/live feeders from a store. I have four snakes, and I won't start breeding feeders until I have at least twice that.

Its up to you whether you want to start breeding feeders now. The costs of cages (1 for male, 1 for females, 1 growout cage for feeders) food, bedding, ect. It would just cost too much in my opinion when you could easily spend about $2-3 a week on store-bought feeders.

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Thats also true, and I agree with that as well.. I guess I'll see what happens.

If you are wanting to sell some as pets, feeders for other people, ect, then I see no reason why you can't. I was thinking you were just going to breed for the one snake.

From what I've read about breeding mice and rats, you have to keep males seperate from the females until its time to breed, and after she shows signs of pregnancy, take the male out. Some keep him in, but if he stays in while she's giving birth, she could become pregnant again almost immediatly after birth and two pregnancies back to back would be too stressful on the female.

Wire cages work best, so I've heard. That or a rodent rack. The wire helps reduce smell as mice smell really bad. I have heard that vanilla in thier water helps reduce the smell, but I do not know from experience.

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Originally Posted by Bright202

I would like to start possibly a rat colony or something, so I could make plenty of feeders, what is the most cheapest way of breeding mice or rats?

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The short answer is, there isn't one. The outlay of cash you would normally put into buying rodents outright will only be transferred into bedding, feed, and space.

We spent about $200 on a rack and $150 on mice to replace our $40/week mouse habit about 8 months ago. On top of this, we spend around $100/mo on bedding and feed. Granted, it makes good financial sense for us since we would are feeding somewhere around twice our original amount now, but it still took months to break even, and we spend a couple hours each week dealing with the care and maintenance of feeders.

Just a thought, it may be hard to start a business to sell extra rats/mice as feeders or pets. Just looking from Craigslist, it seems kinda hard even for some of these people sometimes to give away unwanted rats/mice/etc. and personally I am very picky about what I feed any of my pets. It has taken me awhile to find the best places for feeders, I don't know that I would trust just any small time breeder to get feeders for my snakes. I am sure that you could do it if you tried hard enough, but in the beginning you may be spending more money on raising all these feeders/pets than you are bringing in. But that's just my :2cent: . Good luck though with whatever you decide. :)

My :2cent: I would not breed for only one BP. Y

You will have anywhere between 6 to 12 rats per litter and they will grow fast and you will only need one rat a week.

While F/T is a great way to make sure your don't end up overstock with large rats that cannot be fed to your BP, it requires that your BP eats F/T to start with. Also keep in mind frozen rodents do not last forever in your freezer either.

One more thing taking GOOD care of your colony is not cheap just like with any other animals they must be provided with good care and quality food, and even than things can go wrong.

Finally you need to think about the work that is involve with a colony whether they are rats or mice and make sure the it is worth it, thinking you only have one BP.

I breed my own rodents (mice and rats) and I started when I reached 10 BP