What is the most affordable ONLINE per lb lab block?

I need to mix up what I'm doing with my rodent food since my girls are not regaining weight quickly post-nursing. That means I'm doing my homework on feed store vs online. I'm moving to another town about an hour away and have contacted a few feed stores there to see if they can order Mazuri at the very least for me, but I haven't heard anything yet. So I'm checking online as well. In the meantime I'm thinning out litters at one and two weeks (I do have snakes eating those sizes) to keep the calorie drain of motherhood down.

So what is the most affordable online price for rat-specific block/feed? What price would you say is completely unreasonable per pound? If a feed store tells me they cannot order in a rat diet should I hunt around until I find one that does?

Price online tend to be very expensive due to shipping cost but the best price you can find is this http://www.petfooddirect.com/product...nt-diet-40-lbs ships free. (they really embed shipping in the cost of the food)

Unless they changed again I don't think the Rodent Block gets free shipping anymore.
I changed to doggie bag when they started charging shipping.

I buy mazuri online. In my area the markup, drive time, and physically effort involved in buying local just doesn't add up. I buy multiple bags online which cuts down on the shipping costs for each additional bag.

They drop it right off on my doorstep and I don't mind spending a little more for that convience. I called all the feed stores in the area and got quotes for their rat feed. I figured the amount of Gass used and the time it takes to complete a trip in addition to the asking price for the food.

Look at the numbers, to me online is the easiest way to go but I'm going to stock up at the next big expo to save some money.

^ what website do you use ?


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dustinf860@gmail.com

I buy it straight from the mazuri website .

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Originally Posted by Ba11er

I buy it straight from the mazuri website .

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$35 a bag is already $8 over what I can get it or locally.
Not to mention $20 shipping on 1 bag BUT $250 shipping on 5 bags!?!?
No way I would spend $460 on 5 bags.....

http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h1...psz4lo3gzr.png

HOLY...wow something doesn't look quite right there for shipping to be so high, but that doesn't mean I'm right either. Damn.

That said; is Doggy Bag a food that's fed alone or is it usually mixed up with something? I've looked up where I'm moving and there is a Tractor Supply within sane distance. They carry some Mazuri feeds but for some reason not rat or mouse feeds.

I've also been looking back and forth at Mazuri 6Fs nutrition+ingredients and comparing them to hog feeds. They're actually surprisingly close! Is there any reason I shouldn't try hog feed with my rats? I may do a growth experiment or two to see what's most effective dollars-to-meat.

The Doggy Bag is almost identical to F6 comparing the nutrition tags and only $13 a bag.

That's crazy because I get two bags and pay 30 for shipping. I looked up 5 bags and got the same quote as you, I would place multiple orders instead of paying the price for the bulk order.

I use about 4 or 5 bags a year so I don't need too much. When I find a better place to buy I will.

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Originally Posted by Ba11er

I use about 4 or 5 bags a year so I don't need too much. When I find a better place to buy I will.

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I go through a bag or two a week.

I am in Connecticut and can't find it anywhere but 2 hours away on the other side of the state


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dustinf860@gmail.com

No one carries rat feed around me so I would have to special order which is more expensive than buying from mazuri online. I hate having feed lying around the house but at this next convetion I'll grab a few bags.

I'm going to look into the doggy bag see if I can pick that up somewhere local.

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Originally Posted by Ba11er

I'm going to look into the doggy bag see if I can pick that up somewhere local.

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Tractor Supply

Picked up some doggy bag today at TS until my mazuri comes in . I was reading some people had horrible experiences with it . Anyone care to chime in ?


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dustinf860@gmail.com

I havent seen anything horrible about it... Like what?

I've been told that any feed store or mill that handles Purina products can order mazuri. Whether they will or not, and whether the price will be acceptable, now that could be another story. I know with tractor supply, they can only get what their distribution centers stock, and that varies from DC to DC. A regular independent feed mill/store won't have that issue. My local mill keeps a few bags in stock for me, so I go in and get a bag a week or more on average. $28 a bag kind of sucks though, so I wouldn't mind finding it cheaper.

Edit: Oh, and if anyone was wondering, the sudden shipping cost increase is due to the weight causing it to have to go freight instead of regular shipping. As in they have to stick it on a pallet and ship via truck. You could probably get 40 bags at the same shipping cost, or close to it.

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Originally Posted by Darkbird

I've been told that any feed store or mill that handles Purina products can order mazuri.

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To different companies. Purina does make a Rodent Diet that looks just like the Mazuri but smells different to me and most of my rats wouldn't eat it too willingly.

I'm aware they are two different companies, but Purina is supposed to be a distributor for Mazuri, at least that's what my last feed store told me.

I tried Doggy Bag and my rats started having issues eating each other, the litter size dropped and the amount of feeder sized rats I was getting per bin plummeted.

I've thought about it, since other people have no issues with Doggy bag. Perhaps my colony has been geared towards a certain food and the ones that do best on it(and not best on Doggy Bag) are the ones I've kept. Perhaps there's something else at play.

At any rate, I used up the one bag of Doggy Bag and moved back to the rodent feeds. I buy it local.

Wolfy- I feel that does make some sense. You could then select the healthiest to hold back and essentially over time groom your to thrive on the product.

I used to order NE from petfooddirect/pet360. When they had their crazy $1lb price hike (even when they run free shipping occasionally) I stopped ordering. I now load up on DB from the local tractor supply. Everyone gets DB in their hoppers/over the hardware cloth 24/7 but I have a grain mix they get a big scoop of every 3 days or so. I based it around the Camrattery diet but tailored it to suit my needs.

I'm considering getting the doggy bag and doing a half/half mix with the other food to see how they do with the mix.

The doggy bag your production will go down and odor up. I can get Mazuri 6f at $17 a bag but I buy a ton at a time. I have way more rodents than most . If just breeding for a small collection I'm sure doggie bag will suffice.

I feed my rats Purina's Nature's Match sow pig complete feed to my rats instead of doggy bag. My mice get a blend of mazuri and doggy bag. The mice waste too much pig feed because the pellets are small, or they'd get that, too. TSC carries the pig feed, and the price is comparable to doggy bag. A little better actually, because it's a 50# bag instead of 40#. I just put it in heavy crocks inside the tubs. If I let the crock get empty before refilling, they waste less.

When I fed my rats doggy bag, I noticed a decrease in productivity, the rat pups weren't as fat/chunky, and moms took longer to regain condition, with a little more time in between litters. Pig feed is better. My mice don't seem to care, but that might be because they're still getting mazuri in the blend. They do eat their mazuri before they eat the doggy bag.

I buy all my from the feed store, some is less than ten bucks for 50 pounds. My rats have litters of 16 pups and gain weight super fast, and look better than any rodents I've ever seen. I use whole corn, cracked corn, corn oats barley (COB), pig pellets, sunflower seeds and a bird food that is almost all nuts. I go heavy on the nutty bird food even though it's about a dollar a pound, seems to pack on the weight and make them grow like a rocket. I have many cases of mason jars that I store it all in, then buy a new bag of something different and fill the empty jars as I go. I wouldn't use dog food myself. I change out the food dishes every other day. I stopped buying the lab blocks, too expensive and the pet store uses them them and their rodents look sickly compared to mine.