Advice on breeding rats for 1 BP.

My BP currently eats mice from the pet store which cost $1.29 each, so I figured it'd be cheaper to breed my own and use the fuzzies as feeders. Since rats are less smelly than mice, I bought a male and a female to start the colony (the female is pregnant already.)

My question is, how fast do baby rats grow? My BP generally eats 2-3 mice per week. Would it be reasonable to assume my BP could eat the entire litter of rats before they grow too big? He can't eat anything much larger than a white fuzzy mouse at this point, and I don't want an over abundance of rats. Also, he will not eat pinky rats, so I would have to wait until they grow fur to feed them to him.

No one Ball will not eat a whole litter if its eating 3 mice a week thats like a small rat a week. So a 4-6 week old rat say the mom has 10 babies at 4-6 weeks old by the time their big enough to feed your looking at 3-4 weeks before they are to big for your ball. Now your stuck with 7 rats that are to big for your snake.

For one snake jsut by them your going to get the right size every time and the hassle of breeding and keeping them isn't there.

They will probably never be the perfect size, as they tend to grow pretty fast...

I don't have numbers, but... for one snake, you may get in over your head unless you want to freeze them.

I do know of a few people who will buy the rats my BP is unable to eat.

Heather is right I breed for 18-20 snakes and there are time I get more than I can use so I sell mine to the local feeder store. :D

Highly unpractical for only 1 snake. Rats grow fast, at 3 weeks old (weaned) they are 50+ grams, 4 weeks they can be anywhere from 70-120 grams.

I know you want to save money, but how is buying food, bedding, and housing 2 rats + babies any cheaper?

This is how I would do this to get the most out of your money and the best for the rat's health.

Buy 2 more rats, 1 male, 1 female. (For the buddy system, rats are highly social and should always be paired together.)

Breed both mothers at the same time. Pull the males at 3 weeks and put them together in a nice big tub. Let the mothers raise the litter to 4 weeks, then CO2 the entire litters and freeze.

You'd only be raising 4 rats at any time, and you would have a very nice stock pile of F/T rats for months. When you get down to 5 or 6 rats left, put the females back together and you should have 2 new litters in 3 1/2 weeks. Easy as pie right?

Rats average between 9-14 pups a litter, even on a small scale, you'd have 18 weeks of food from only 2 litters. Best bang for your buck!

So, think if this is really the way you want to go. Otherwise, your rats will be the perfect size one week, and be too large the next. Your wallet will feel the difference considerably, but freezing the litter and giving the mom's time off will benefit her and keep the feeders your feeding in top condition.

Raising feeders is only a reasonable solution if you're operating on a certain scale, or you have a plan for how to recoup the costs for raising excess feeders (since you're wanting to use rats). If you are going to be spending money on bedding and food, you want to make sure it won't cost you more than your snake's current $5/wk mouse habit.

Now, if you are driving 20 miles to pick up those feeders, it may make more sense considering gas being around $3.10/gal, but do the math first before jumping into something that is far from the free lunch it seems like on the surface.

The pet store is about 15 miles from my house, and by the time I get the mice home, they usually chew through the cardboard box. By the time I pay for the gas to get there and the mice themselves, I've already spent well over what I'd be paying if I were to buy 2 rats and the necessary supplies to breed them myself.

Do you think it'd be better in my situation if I bred mice instead of rats? My primary concern is that the rats will get too big too fast and my BP won't be able to eat them. Is it as easy to breed mice as it is to breed rats?

Some people have had success with mice, while others have given up entirely due to cannibalism. Why not switch him to FT and buy in bulk? That really is the financially sound decision.

I would buy a big tub, convert it to a mouse cage, and buy enough mice to last a few weeks. This way you only have to go to the store once a month or so, and if they breed, great, if not, oh well.

I bought 275 live adult mice last time I went. I've fed off 75 of them so far, and am feeding/watering/cleaning the remaining. This ensures that they are eating quality food, are hydrated and are stress-free when introduced to my snakes.

Buying 20 or so mice a month, or switching to f/t, will be the most financially sound decision.

I'm looking at this from a completely financial point. Initial cost of set up will cost you the most, after that, you will get of cheaper, but I still don't see it as being close to what you pay now to breed yourself.

Initial set up cost of tubs and equipment.

1 tub for breeder mice
1 tub for females after weaning
1 tub for males after weaning

3 52 qt tubs from walmart I believe was 5$.

$15 for tubs

1/4" hardware cloth 8$

3 water bottles and hides
Depending on brand, 6-8 ea.
24-38$

Total so far: 47-61$

Now food costs, what size and brand of feed will you buy?

Mazuri 9F is an excellent food choice and available from most Purina dealers. I always recommend giving your animals the best feed, the best that goes into your rat/mouse will be the best in your snake.

Kaytee brand is mostly crap, as well as any mixed feeds (seeds, corn, colored kibble) For breeding mice, I recommend a nice lab block to use in a hopper for the mice to free feed. Less waste and you know it is a good food source and complete nutrition.

Mazuri, small 3 lb bag from petsmart costs 8$ here.
A 40 lb bag of Mazuri 6F from my supplier is 22$ Make your own decision on how much you want to buy compared to how much you will use.

Total so far: 68-83$

Bedding, aspen is best. No cedar, or pine, it is poisonous to small animals and especially for your snake.
Aspen bale is 12$ from petsmart, and will last you a long time.

Total so far: 79-94$

Then, cost of mice. 2$ each.

83-98$ Total.

This is for the initial set up cost that you wont even come close to spending in 3 months of just buying your mice from the supplier.

I'm just estimating with all of it, considering I raise only rats, and they take a dent out of my wallet every week, but it is actually better for me to breed my own. It would cost more or less however you decide to do it.

Edit: I also really like Becky's system, she's got it down :gj:

If you concern is to save money, let’s face It breeding for 1 snake is not gonna save you that much if it even saves you any money.

By the time you buy the feed, bedding etc, and you provide for multiple mice until they are fed off your cost will likely be around the same than buying from the store.

Now if your concern is to offer the best quality feeder you can offer and don’t mind the cost and the work than go for it.

Remember breeding rats for one snake will be an issue as rats grow big very quick, so your options are to either euthanize and froze them when they are proper size (this require that your snake already takes F/T) or you can sell the surplus to your pet store (maybe).

Breeding mice is not easy some have tried failed and gave up, it took me 3 months to get started with mice and now my colony is thriving but I was really thinking about giving up as well.

Note: I started breeding feeders when I reached 10 snakes.

Hope this helps you make your decision, and if you need help on mice breeding I will be more than happy to help.

im cleaning out all of my mice and rats right now as it seems like none of them want to breed:confused:

at $3.50 per mouse i think its worth it for me to breed rats. :rolleyes: thats $28 per month for one snake!

my snake refuses to eat f/t so i must use live. the only way to feed f/t is to let her almost finish the first mouse and then put the dead mouse in her mouth so she will continue swallowing it.

the pet shop likely pays 50 cents for each mouse:rolleyes:

Find a big supplier, sheesh. I pay a whole $0.45 per adult mouse from Big Cheese. Even with the gas, they still cost under $1 per mouse(I drive to Dallas once a month or so to pick them up).