Thinking about breeding feeders

As my collection keeps growing, so does the expense for food. The only place around here that sells mice is the local pet store and they are EXPENSIVE. At first it wasn't TOO bad buying a $3.00 live mouse once a week for my bp, but now I got another bp and a red tail, both on hoppers. The store sells mice hoppers the same price so I said screw that! Theres no rat breeders anywhere around here so the best alternative is breeding my own so hopefully you all can help. Here are my snakes:

1. BP 180g
2. BP 135g
3. Red Tail-couldnt get him to set still long enough to weigh him lol.

How many rats would I need to get started? I was thinking at least 3 females and a male? Is this right at all? I know they go into heat every 4-5 days and altogether it takes about a month before any babies, and then another 15 days before they would get the right size.

A 1.3 group would probably be sufficient

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Originally Posted by pigfat

As my collection keeps growing, so does the expense for food. The only place around here that sells mice is the local pet store and they are EXPENSIVE. At first it wasn't TOO bad buying a $3.00 live mouse once a week for my bp, but now I got another bp and a red tail, both on hoppers. The store sells mice hoppers the same price so I said screw that! Theres no rat breeders anywhere around here so the best alternative is breeding my own so hopefully you all can help. Here are my snakes:

1. BP 180g
2. BP 135g
3. Red Tail-couldnt get him to set still long enough to weigh him lol.

How many rats would I need to get started? I was thinking at least 3 females and a male? Is this right at all? I know they go into heat every 4-5 days and altogether it takes about a month before any babies, and then another 15 days before they would get the right size.

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I am starting to breed rats and should have rats very soon. are you near MWC or OKC? if so i could help you out

maybe this can help you guys out
http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...-Many-to-Breed

I started with a 1.2 when I just had one BP. I would feed live and kill and freeze the rest when they got to a perfect size. Now I am sitting at 3 BPs, 1 redtail and a Hog Island. So I held back a few babies and am now doing 2.4 maybe doing 2.6 soon.

Just be ready for a lot of work. They smell, and its not easy. Make sure you build a rack, you can use tubs, but racks are WAY easier.

Good luck.

Second that. They smell and they are more work than the snakes.

Definitely way more work than taking care of the snakes. I clean my tanks every two days. Not only time consuming but also expensive in it's own right - you need to buy bedding, pine pellets, food and of course the initial expense of setting up your tanks or rack

I have seven snakes and I breed my own just because I could never find feeders when I needed them.

Good luck with your decision.

Yeah, that is why I started too. If I had a reliable source of live feeders for the guys who won't eat f/t I'd never go through the trouble of a rodent colony. When you get a great many snakes I can understand that it is way expensive to buy live feeders. But for someone who only has 2 snakes that insist on live, it's a PIA.

On a brighter note, my possum is grateful that he gets the surplus, because he loves rodents and there is a lot of surplus at the moment.

I have three. One ball takes an adult mouse $3.00, and will only eat live, tried every technique an left the mouse in with him but he still wouldn't eat it. The other ball python takes about 3 hoppers and the boa takes two hoppers. So thats almost $18 a week. I thought it may be cheaper than f/t


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i got 6f 4m just for my 1bp and at aound two the three weeks old she eats two of them a week, just remember that you can not count on the litter size i just had one that had 3, the one before that had 11 some went to freezer food. each one gets bread every two or three month, and the breeders are also my kids pets.

I don't find my rats to be that much extra work , I actually enjoy breeding them and has become another addiction so just a warning, be ready for a second addiction.:D

On the opposite opinion, I hate breeding rats with a thriving passion--they produce a lot of stink, even when kept clean, and I spent more time cleaning up after them than the snakes, when I had enough of them to feed my whole collection. When you add in the man hours and the feed and the bedding costs, they are not less expensive than buying them. If you ignore the work, then they can be more economical.