pet store mice

I've decided to start feeding live mice instead of frozen. It seems to be easier for me. I have two questions...

1) What do you guys pay per adult mouse at a pet store? I've been paying 1.79 a mouse.

2) Is there any possiblity that feeding a mouse from a pet store could make your snake sick? I only buy two at a time...would you recommend raising them under my care for a few days before feeding them off?

Thanks

prices seem to vary unless your buying from a chain store. I personally can't see spending almost $2 for a mouse or the outrageous prices I see rats going for...so I raise my own. As for keeping them "under your own care for a few days"...if the rodents are sick a few days is not going to cure them from alements(sp).

Not to be rude but if your snake is eating pre killed frozen thawed...why do you WANT to change it?? You say its easier for you...but by doing this you put your snake at risk. If you can't bare to kill rodents by hand buy frozen. Reptiles are not kept because they are "easy" pets.

Consider if the store doesn't have the right size mouse some weeks.. nice thing about F/T is you can have a months worth (or more) stashed in your freezer. You don't have to go drive out to the store every week to buy a mouse either.

I raise my own (then kill and freeze them)

I raise my own mice too....but pet stores around here sell mice (both frozen and live) for around $2.00 each. I feed live because I dont have the freezer space to buy bulk frozen rodents and my bps have better feeding responces with live food. By raising my own mice, I cut the cost to below $1 per mouse depending on how many I produce each month. That can be about a $6-10 a week savings, so it works just fine for me.

ha ha....I probably could buy a mini freezer, buy bulk, and save a little cash in the long run....but the mice amuse me :) They are fun critters to watch sometimes.

all of you are talking about breeding you on mice, I know is dificult to buy live because some time I can't find mice or the rigth size some time I need to give them 4 to my female because they are to small, ok the Q here is can you tell me some tips on mice breeding and how can I do some thing sow they will not stink, and can I put all of them together? thx and God bless

i just got back from my local herp store where i paid $2 a piece for some (live) weaned rats. to me that's a pretty insane price, but it's the only place i can get them nearby and right now i have to feed live to a few of my snakes. as far as keeping them a few days before feeding to the snakes--i usually do, not because they might be sick or whatever, but just to get their bellies full of good healthy food.

Wow...$2 a mouse? I pay .79c a weaned rat from a local pet shop, FT. Although I think the bigger places like Petco charge almost six or seven a rat. You have to either find a reptile friendly place, this is why the prices are so high--they don't want them to be food, or you have to buy bulk. I tried breeding them, but they stink. I spent more time cleaning them then I did anything else. Rodent Pro has some good prices too...you can get weanlings for about .55c a piece if you buy enough. :)

I still pre-kill or disable my rodents before I feed, I've not seen any better feeding responce between snakes that will take live vs pre-killed. I do have one female that I sometimes have to feed live to get her to eat but whe she takes p/k the responce is the same.

About the only thing you can do to keep mice from stinking is keep up on cleaning their enclosures. There are some other "tricks" but husbandry is the real key and they will still have some odor.


For in depth details on raising mice I'm sure there are other topics here you can find by using the search tool or Google is a never ending source of info as well. Or just buy frozen bulk.

if you want to breed your own rodents with less smell i would recommend rats. they stink sooo much less than mice. if you keep their cages clean they really don't smell at all.

another thing you can do to keep the smell down is add a little bit of imatation vanilla the kind for cooking or real vanillia for cooking to their water. When I walk into my room I cant even smell my mice and rats

Now that Baby is eating regularly...or almost regularly, I'm paying $1.29 ea. for two adult mice every 7-10 days..but spending about $4 in the gas to drive to the feed store. I'm looking to eventually change her to either F/T, or breeding my own rat pups. Because I tried juvie rats too many times, we now have a Scabbers rat pet, and a Peekaboo rat pet. Soon, I'm hoping Peek will be big enough to breed, and I can raise Baby food in-house.

The only kicker is having to buy the tub, CO & tubing in order to gas them. I wouldn't be able to whack 'em worth beans if I go F/T. But first things, I have to get a good diet established.

I've changed the bedding to the Aspen for the rats, and tried to get away from the special "rat" food from the pet store, but Scabbers is getting a rough coat and the scabs again.....seems I've heard here it's from too much protein. When I took him to the vet, he said fresh fruits & veggies...no commercial feed, but in moving, I don't have the fresh stuff right now. I've started them on the rodent blocks of feed and hoping that will help cut down on the sore spots he's got. I also read here about the bread soaked in oil to help their coats, so I'm going to start doing that too.

Whooops! Think I'll end now. :oops: < But any feed ideas would be appreciated! >

BTW: I kept some of the mice when Baby first wouldn't eat, and they stunk (stank??) to high heaven :mad: in just a couple of days, but the rat tanks don't start to have any odor until about 7-10 days. So RATS, definitely!

In a recent forum here, I was trying to remember that protein rash name...Scabs. Thank You.

:confused: I really don't think that is what it is, it's just what our male rat has.....Hmmm DD is a HUGE fan of Harry P, so of course when instead of Baby food he became a pet, he got named Scabbers Rat.

Any one else have any additional ideas of what might help me improve his coat and get rid of the small sores/scabs all over?? I haven't seen/found fleas :worry: but he had gotten rid of the sore spots for a while, now their baaaaaaack. PPTHTHTHTHT :P

Thanks!

RuLyn

It is an overload of protein. Get a vitamin supplement for his water and cut down on any food that has extra protein in it.

I feed mine one scoop of high quality dog food (Nutro brand Lite variets is great.. only 14% protein vs 22% in most dog foods) and one scoop of cereal mix.. the mix contains:

puffed rice/wheat
cheerios
raw oats
tri color pasta

No scabbies.. you may want to check real closely for lice though, they're quite a bit smaller than fleas. If you find any, you can buy a mite/louse spray meant for birds to use.

My 2 snakes refuse to eat thawed mice, I tried and tired. As soon as they see a live one coming they start slithering around like crazy. I just decided to feed live. One thing I do is I never put a live one straight in, unless I put the mice in a bag and give him a few circles to make him dizzy. That way when I put him in he is dazed and by then its too late.

I hate to start another debate, but, what exactly was your answer for why you would switch a snake already on FT to live? Silly if you ask my opinion (or even if you don't). What is the upside?