Necessary and Cost Effective?

I am thinking of breeding my own mice as feeders. However I am not sure if it is going to be necessary. I only have 3 snakes total, 2 bp and 1 kingsnake. Would it be worth my time and effort to start and maintain this project? Each snake only eats 1 adult mice weekly. I am spending about 8 bucks every week on feeders currently.

maybe a 1.5 group of mice will be all you need to feed them all. But mice are PITA at times and dont breed.

I breed mice and they seem to breed seasonal when i dont need them. And when in need of food they stop breeding. So im going to ASF for hatchling food.

What do you mean by 1.5 group? Where can I find ASF? I don't think my local pet shop sells them. Is there a previous thread on the basics of feeder breeding?

1.5 means Male . Female Ratio


And when breeding buy quality food not petstore garbage.. And with mice theres nothing special with them. Just keep them clean, well fed and water. And keep them from being overcrowded and they should breed well for you.

If you're in NY, it shouldn't be hard to find ASFs.
I know a guy in NY, but his aren't social and are barely handleable.
But if you want his contact info, I can send him a message for you, he's on my ASF forum. :)


Don't know if you ever treck down here, but I have lots of ASFs that are more tame than the average ASFs, and I have plenty available right now.

For food, just get a high quality rodent block, and you'll be set for mice, rats, or ASFs. :gj:

Rich,

Do you have problems switching hatchlings that have been started on ASF over to mice/rats?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by bkelley02

Rich,

Do you have problems switching hatchlings that have been started on ASF over to mice/rats?

---

Switching to Mice no as their closely related to ASF. But rats is not a natural food source and some just dont take them right away. With presistance you can get them on rats or mice which ever you wanted.

Thanks. I had heard switching from ASF to mice or rats was very difficult. I have a few that will eat nothing but live mice and won't bother with a Rat ( live, FK or FT ) no matter what. Was thinking of starting a small group but was worried of the smell. Only a group of 5 that are fussy and only take the live, so should need too big of a group. If I had any extra, was going to freeze them ( after Co2) for later use.

I dont feed ASF to my adults, It will be just hatchlings to get them started faster. THey will be hungry to eat mice or asf. Rats is just not something they take right off the bat

IMO If you only have 3 snakes then your best bet is buying your f/t.
If you want to save money buy in bulk. Check out rodent pro, american rodent supply etc.

But think about it...with a small colony of mice to feed 3 snakes youll need to have space for them, you'll need a cage, aspen, food, a wheel if you feel like they should get exercise. Then you have to deal with the smell, a weekly or biweekly cage cleaning. And its possible the mice wont even breed that much for you, or they will eat their whole litter. Sometimes I have to seperate the male to cut down on cannibilsm, then theres an extra cage I need setup.
And it takes several weeks before a mouse reaches adult size, thats alot more food.
It takes alot to have a breeding colony.

If I were you I just wouldnt do it. But thats just my two cents.
I have 20 snakes so I do have a small breeding colony and beleive me I wish I didnt need it. But I have a few picky hatchlings right now.

I also have a small breeding colony for my 6 bp's. I have a few that will strictly take live mice and supplies are not readily available so I opted to start breeding my own.

It is alot of time and work in order to keep them clean and odor free. I keep mine in 10 gallon tanks and I have to clean their cages every 3rd day in order to keep any smell from stinking up my basement - it can be done but like I mentioned - every 3rd day.

I know for sure I am not saving money by doing this but it is just a matter of knowing that I will have healthy live mice when I need them - which is why I am breeding mice.

Best of luck to in whatever you decide.

I agree that it's not really worth breeding mice for 3 snakes. You're better off ordering frozen mice in bulk. However, once your collection grows a bit larger, raising your own feeders can be worth doing.