A blessing to my rat colony

Greetings all!

As some of you may gathered from my first post in the breeding rat forum, I am working on making my own rat colony. Several of you suggested keeping a few of my baby females in order to provide more rats down the road. I had one baby rat left over from my rat supplier that I put in with my current mom, and we sexed it today and found out it was female! Had some great luck with that, as it will give me a female that is not a blood relative to my current rats. So great news on that front.

The blessing came in another form, though. My wife and I stopped by PetSmart today to pick up some rat food for our growing brood. As usual, I checked to see if they had any new female rats in that were adult/close to adult in size, as that would give me another female rat that isn't blood related. I hit the jackpot! My friends that worked there informed me that they had a few come in, but that they couldn't put them out yet because a male was found mixed in with them, and they were potentially all pregnant! They told me that the bad news is, is that if any end up being pregnant, they have to adopt out the babies instead of sell them. They know that I own snakes and that I'm setting up a colony, so they told me they would sell me one of the potential pregnant ones if I wanted it because they knew what I would be using it for. So, I manged to get a potentially pregnant female from a different bloodline today! I'm excited for my colony project! New blood line and a potential for snake food, too!

Why not order some Mazuri instead of wasting money on Petsmart food?

I'm new to the whole rat world, and honestly have no clue what that is. Enlighten me, please?

its a good rat breeder food .. i use doggie bag and get it at tractor supply and works just as well and its like 16 bucks for a 40 pound bag

steve what brand/type do you buy from tractor supply?

Mazuri is a popular rodent food. Many breeders feed it to their rats and mice. I do myself. If you are fortunate enough to have a local mom and pop type pet store, you can buy from them. Otherwise it can be ordered online and shipped to you. I recommend mazuri food, it's always been good for me and my stock. Some people have better results with other brands, and a few will tell you that you can get by with dog food or hog feed. With me, it's a matter of getting out of my feeders what I put into them. I've had experience with feeders from people who feed whatever is cheap, like dog food, monkey biscuits and hog feed, but the difference in quality is plainly apparent. I'm not trying to put down people who use other feeds, but in my experience you can tell the difference between those fed a cheap diet of dog food or hog feed, and one's fed a more costly diet of good rodent block.

I have a number of people who buy excess stock from me that I don't feed my own animals. And they will only buy from me. The quality of my animals is so much higher than what is available from other breeders or even pet stores, they won't buy from anyone else unless I don't have any available. They even tell me their snakes can tell the difference and many will only eat my animals and will fast if offered rodents from another source. My snakes are the same way. Once or twice in the last few months I've had to buy a few feeders when my stock was low, but I learned the hard way my snakes won't touch feeders from someone else. I ended up making breeding stock of a few feeders I bought, and having to give away the rest.

Mazuri here is fairly reasonably priced. I can get a 50 pound bag of 6F, which is the standard formula rodent block, for $28 from my local small mom and pop pet store. I also see it at reptile shows now and then for $24 - $30 for 50 pounds. You can also buy it from some feed stores, and if they don't carry it, many will be agreeable to ordering it if they know people will buy it. It can also be purchased in smaller bags from some feed stores and occasionally small pet shops. I've seen it in as small as 6 pound bags if you only have a few animals. However, if stored in 5 gallon buckets with lids, a 50 pound bag will stay good for weeks or even months. Mazuri also makes a breeding specific formula for rodents which I believe is called 9F, but I've tried both and really cannot tell a difference in the two, so it's hard to justify spending the extra money on the breeding formula.

I hope this helps you to make a decision.

Gale

Check with your local feed store as already mentioned.
Purina Lab Block or Mazuri Rodent Feed are usually carried and here in San Antonio they are about $26 for a 50 pound bag.

I get my 50 pound bag of Mazuri at the reptile show for $25. I like it and the mice and my pet rat look amazing :)

Mazuri has corn listed as the first ingredient. Corn can cause tumor growth in mice and rats.

I feed a corn-free home made diet to my mice and rats. Its made of straights (purchased in 50lb bags meant for horses and livestock), 4Health small bites dog food, wild bird seed and mealworms. I increase the amount of mealworms and dog food for mice since they require a higher protein content than rats. I also increase the protein for nursing, pregnant, old and young.

Another option besides Mazuri is Harlan Teklad or is generic, Native Earth. Native Earth can be purchased online through Amazon.com. Shop around, talk to your local stores, and what's available to you and how prices compare. Situations are different for every one.

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Originally Posted by angllady2

They even tell me their snakes can tell the difference and many will only eat my animals and will fast if offered rodents from another source. My snakes are the same way. Once or twice in the last few months I've had to buy a few feeders when my stock was low, but I learned the hard way my snakes won't touch feeders from someone else. I ended up making breeding stock of a few feeders I bought, and having to give away the rest.

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That's crazy. Is it to the point where you feel responsible to warn customers interested in your snakes that they may need to buy their feeders from you as well? :D

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They even tell me their snakes can tell the difference and many will only eat my animals and will fast if offered rodents from another source. My snakes are the same way. Once or twice in the last few months I've had to buy a few feeders when my stock was low, but I learned the hard way my snakes won't touch feeders from someone else. I ended up making breeding stock of a few feeders I bought, and having to give away the rest.

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Originally Posted by John1982

That's crazy. Is it to the point where you feel responsible to warn customers interested in your snakes that they may need to buy their feeders from you as well? :D

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I have a hard time believing that, I've had to get feeders that were not from my colony when running low and never had snakes flat out refuse because they were not from my colony. Did every one of your snakes refuse? Not trying to sound sarcastic or anything like that, just that I've never heard or come across this. I have heard of mousers and African soft fur only snakes, but never one that was picky about which rat it would eat. :)

I feed Mazuri and rarely ever have seen tumors until the rat is old. Even then, it's only a handful of rats out of probably up to a couple thousand a year. Add in that rats and mice are predispose towards tumors to begin with(why they use them in cancer studies), and I don't buy the "corn causes tumors". I've had rats pop up with tumors(when they're old) on whole food diets before I went with Mazuri.

My local feed store orders mine for me. They're great in that they will order me one bag or fifty. I usually order two bags at a time and I ended up with a surplus built up, and none of it went bad except ONE bag, that got damp. All the rest have been pristine when opened.

I've tried dog food and hog foods and a few other rodent diets. The dog food made my colony stink, the fur looked greasy and the rats were not plump. I tried hog food and had cannibalism issues and the rats were not plump and just didn't like it. The mazuri means no cannibalism, nice fat ratties(even nursing females normally don't get thin) and fat well grown babies.

I have seen people feed dog food and hog food and get what they said were good results. I'm not nay-saying anyone's personal experiences, but with my colony/pets, Mazuri has been the best by far.

I also don't agree that feeding Mazuri automatically means you will give your rodents tumors. I have a two year old male and two yearling females who have never eaten anything besides Mazuri Rat Breeder feed and they are amazingly healthy. Soft coats, bright eyes, lots of energy, no tumors. I supplement with fresh fruits and veggies on occasion but mostly as treats for good behavior.

I know how it sounds, but it is true. Now, I learned over time and with experience that most people who breed feeders around me feed whatever is cheap. Dog food, Hog feed, monkey biscuits, cat food, they don't care. Their rats and mice look different, smell different, feel different, and my snakes won't touch them. Hence why I raise my own food. I can't be buying feeders all the time that make snakes won't eat, live or not.

A dear friend of mine buys mice from me every week for his snakes. He does sometimes have to buy from elsewhere, but he tells me certain ones of his animals will not eat mice from anyone but me. Any time I have enough mice to bring extras to a show, I always sell out before the show even opens. People line up to get stock from me, even though there are others selling mice at the show. I almost never have issues with cannibalism even in super crowded grow out tubs. My females grow quickly, have big litters and the babies wean quickly and grow fast. Perhaps other people have the same results or even better than me with a certain brand of dog food or other inexpensive food, but my personal experience keeps me feeding Mazuri.

Gale

Dang, virtually every breeder I know uses mazuri 6f or 9f. Better tell them all that their rats will get cancer!

I feed mazuri and none in my colony have tumors, at least none that are apparent.

Plus doesn't EVERYTHING give you cancer now-a-days? Everything short of walking into a nuclear reactor I don't buy it lol.


I like my Dubstep to go Wop Wop Wop Wop

Without quality feed, you'll actually see a loss in production too. So, those that feed dog food for example, will go through breeders faster and produce a lower quantity.

Quality food is the key, especially when you start giving them to snakes. Lol.

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