Dinner Rack

So, it turns out that when you're buying a couple hundred live feeders at a time, you quickly find the need to go vertical. Thanks to Tim Bailey for the great walkthrough, Rich at RB for getting the watering supplies to us in no time flat, and the people at Fresh Step for shipping their cat litter in buckets with flat sides.

We've still got a couple maternity wards in larger sterilite tubs, but this condo can house a couple hundred modern-living young rodents, and if domestic disputes erupt, Tim (the garbage disposal) is on the other side of the glass door in the background :twisted:


http://sarah.digeratihost.com/images/mouserack.jpg

That thing makes my life sooo much easier! Thanks Jeff and Tim :D

Why do you buy so many live feeders at once?

Because at 100+, they cost 45 cents each, as opposed to $1.19 each at our local pet store. And it costs us $17 to make the drive to the supplier. Oh, and I can feed them all on about $10 a month, while at the same time I am getting litters of free feeders. It's all about economics :D

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Originally Posted by SarahMB

Because at 100+, they cost 45 cents each, as opposed to $1.19 each at our local pet store. And it costs us $17 to make the drive to the supplier. Oh, and I can feed them all on about $10 a month, while at the same time I am getting litters of free feeders. It's all about economics :D

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gotcha! At first, I was seeing that you were buying 100+ every few weeks so you can feed live but didn't think you were breeding much.

Yeah, I didn't have much luck with small breeding colonies at all. But since we started buying in bulk, I've got tons of litters happily growing, so I'm thrilled we found something that works for us finally!

Congrats Jeff and Sarah. That thing looks great. I am glad you have a new economical (Robin hates "cheap") way of housing your rodents. I love these racks.

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Originally Posted by muddoc

That thing looks great. I am glad you have a new economical (Robin hates "cheap") way of housing your rodents. I love these racks.

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Same here, was actually just talking about doubling up on it since it takes up so little room, and two of them would keep us in mice for 3-4 months at a time.

Have you ever considered rats instead?

That's a good lookin' rack ;) And I've even see it in person! :eek:

And tmlowe, when you have rats as pets, and you also have snakes that gain almost 1500g in a few months time on 2-3 mice a week, there's really no need for rats :)

Also, my snakes don't see rats as food(except for the boa who thinks everything is food...), so it's just not an issue for me and a few others who choose to feed mice. They grow equally well on either prey item. (plus the mice are only 45 cents apiece :) )

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Originally Posted by muddoc

Congrats Jeff and Sarah. That thing looks great. I am glad you have a new economical (Robin hates "cheap") way of housing your rodents. I love these racks.

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Economical just sounds so much better, wouldn't you agree? :D

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Originally Posted by rabernet

Economical just sounds so much better, wouldn't you agree? :D

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I like that .... I use to date some economical women in college.. Wow your right that make me sound way better thanks.. :D

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Originally Posted by Freakie_frog

I like that .... I use to date some economical women in college.. Wow your right that make me sound way better thanks.. :D

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Glad I could help! :sweeet:

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Originally Posted by rabernet

Glad I could help! :sweeet:

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EEEEH you know I love you girl..:hug:

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Originally Posted by tmlowe5704

Have you ever considered rats instead?

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We've got a couple rats as pets, and they're like little dogs. I like feeding mice because they're insufferable little bastards, and it's my way of making the world a nicer place.

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Originally Posted by ctrlfreq

We've got a couple rats as pets, and they're like little dogs. I like feeding mice because they're insufferable little bastards, and it's my way of making the world a nicer place.

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You are so eloquent, baby. :giggle:

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Originally Posted by tmlowe5704

gotcha! At first, I was seeing that you were buying 100+ every few weeks so you can feed live but didn't think you were breeding much.

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We were actually paying $2/ea for the adults locally, so a $200 rack that could hold a couple hundred mice and the cost of food still makes for a great discount when we're paying a quarter as much per mouse (and much less since they're popping out an average 30-40 pups a week).

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Originally Posted by SatanicIntention

That's a good lookin' rack ;) And I've even see it in person! :eek:

And tmlowe, when you have rats as pets, and you also have snakes that gain almost 1500g in a few months time on 2-3 mice a week, there's really no need for rats :)

Also, my snakes don't see rats as food(except for the boa who thinks everything is food...), so it's just not an issue for me and a few others who choose to feed mice. They grow equally well on either prey item. (plus the mice are only 45 cents apiece :) )

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I was not suggesting rats because they are better (which I think they are the same). I was suggesting them because Sarah said mouse breeding was not going as good as planned. I found rat breeding much easier.

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Originally Posted by tmlowe5704

I was suggesting them because Sarah said mouse breeding was not going as good as planned. I found rat breeding much easier.

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I think our problem was related more to not having a wide choice of breeders to work with. We would get 15-20 feeders each week, and hold back whatever Marc thought were cute and the snakes didn't eat, which wasn't necessecarially a good indicator of breeding habits.

Since we've started stocking up, we've had much better luck, because we can take out those who show themselves to be anti-social or baby-eaters, while keeping around those that successfully breed, feed, and wean babies in a maternity colony setting.

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Originally Posted by tmlowe5704

I was not suggesting rats because they are better (which I think they are the same). I was suggesting them because Sarah said mouse breeding was not going as good as planned. I found rat breeding much easier.

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Yeah, I thought about trying rats before I got a couple as pets, now I just couldn't stand to feed off rats, so it's just a personal preferance :D

Also, I don't like how much damage a rat can do to a snake. I've watched mice chew on snakes without even breaking the skin, but the one time we tried feeding a rat, it bit the heck out of the rescue burm we had. Left a horrible wound on that poor snake :(

Sweet rack! I am debating building one..
It would be Awesome to have a self-watering system.. changing water bottles is a pain in the arse. Tim was very helpful to me too in my incubator building quest, and Rich at RB can't be beat.
Congrats for finding a use for FS buckets; I try using them to haul horse water in the winter, and when I set them down, the handle drops way down into the snow! The taller square buckets work better, but those ones are great for cat food :)

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Originally Posted by Ginevive

Sweet rack! I am debating building one..
It would be Awesome to have a self-watering system.. changing water bottles is a pain in the arse. Tim was very helpful to me too in my incubator building quest, and Rich at RB can't be beat.

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Oh yeah, Rich is tops...the supplies we ordered from him got here a day before scheduled delivery...Amazing service!
Gin, you won't regret building one of these. It has made my life so much easier, I just can't gush enough about it.

Thanks again to Tim, for the excellent DIY section on your site!

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Originally Posted by SarahMB

Thanks again to Tim, for the excellent DIY section on your site!

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I am just overjoyed when I get to see the final product that someone else built and it works so great for them. I am glad we could help.