14 ball pythons

Hi I am considering breeding my own mice. And I was wondering if someone could tell me about how many breeding pairs I should have? I am only looking to raise enough to feed my current ball pythons. I dont want to have a ton of extra running around, but also at the same time want to make sure I have enough to feed my snakes. I was thinking about doing only 1 male and 5 females. Do you think that they would produce enough offspring to keep up with feeding my current collection? Any input on this matter is greatly appreciated.

Well, I have 15 snakes, 5 on rats, and I have three 1.2 breeding groups of mice. This number seems to work best.

Know, though, that no matter how many you have you will always have times when you won't have the size you need and will have to supplement. It never fails. :)

also do you know what would be the best substrate to you to keep the smell in control? I plan on cleaning their tubs 2-3times a week, with high hopes of no odor,lol.

I use aspen and it works just fine. :) Reduced smell and it looks nice to boot.

Do NOT use Cedar or Pine on rodents! Pine is alright for snakes if it's well milled, but since rodents are more prone to respiratory problems and sometimes chew on substrate, Pine is a no-no for them.
Carefresh should be avoided as well, as it is very dusty and horrid to clean up when wet.
Equinefresh and Woody pet (pellet bedding) are also fine to use...just not with moms and babies so I've heard.

I use aspen for all the animals in the house. For the mice, I just give them shredded paper towel or phone book pages for nests as well as toilet paper tubes to shred and they're happy.

think Im gonna give it a shot sometime this week thanks

keep in mind that mice don't get much bigger than 50 grams(from my limited experience at least), and larger BPs will either need to eat multiple full grown adults for a meal or be switched to a larger rodent.

adults on a mouse diet sounds impractical to me.

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Originally Posted by mainbutter

keep in mind that mice don't get much bigger than 50 grams(from my limited experience at least), and larger BPs will either need to eat multiple full grown adults for a meal or be switched to a larger rodent.

adults on a mouse diet sounds impractical to me.

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for my larger adults I would feed them rats instead, but my subadult/small adults and smaller ballz, multiple mice each feeding has been doing the trick for me.

I would think you need more than that at less two groups of 1.5 mice .It takes at least 6 weeks to put any weight on them. You will run out of mice very quickly.

yeh I guess I realy need to sit down and figure out how many Im going to raise, and how Im going to go about doing all of this. I thought about raising rats instead but my personal opinion of them is they are so much more dirtier, than mice. Would a colony of 1.5 breeding rats, smell worsed than a breeding colony of 1.5 mice? Thanks

Have you concidered ASF's??? I bred domestic rats and mice before and because of the smell and having to clean almost every other day i stopped. But my ASF's are awesome.... Thanks again Mike (sorry for the plug).

Actually, rats are a LOT cleaner than mice. The smell is less (unless you have a ton of males and you don't clean regularly), and they are typically easier to handle.

However, unless you have a source that can buy up extras or your snakes mostly take frozen/thawed prey, rats aren't as worth raising since they get too big as adults for any but the largest female BP.

If you have access to ASFs and don't mind territorial, bitey little monsters, then those would be a great option for you to breed. :D

I raise ASF's now almost exclusively.mice stink they musk up their cages rats also stink badd! ASF's hardly smell I clean every three days & never ever smell them only after a week you can smell them.they breed fast but grow slow like mice.

ASF's ftw!

I am located in northeastern, Pa. Is there anybody close to me willing to sell me asf 1.5 breeding colony let me know. Thank you all for your input, it helped alot.

I have 20 ball pythons in a variety of sizes. I decided to start breeding my own feeders and i chose mice since I can fit more of them in the same space than I would with rats. I got three colonies of 1.5 and it's looking promising, however I don't know if it will be enough, I will keep buying frozen in bulk though as mice takes time to grow. That's the major downside of mice in my oppinion...

only thing with mice ,is get a mouser its hard to change them over.at least my one mouser is.Trying to get her on asf's now ate one last week for the first time but refused this week was going to get some mice but Im gonna wait another week & try another ASF.

yeh I am going to go ahead with the asf rats when I do start a breeding colony

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Originally Posted by greghall

only thing with mice ,is get a mouser its hard to change them over.at least my one mouser is.Trying to get her on asf's now ate one last week for the first time but refused this week was going to get some mice but Im gonna wait another week & try another ASF.

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When you try to convert your snake do you feed frozen or live prey? I will try to convert all my ball pythons when I got the space to breed rats, wich will be in about a year or two (I think).

In my world it would be easier to convert them to rats if offered live prey?

Depends on what type of mouse they're eating. If the snake is taking FT mice, try offering a PK rat of equivalent size. I wouldn't go all the way back to live, since you'd just have to get them back up to FT later.

All my snakes take either pre-killed or frozen/thawed prey. I have 5 ratters out of 15, and I'm pretty confident that my young corns will readily take rat pups once they're big enough for them (so that's three more on rats).
I've converted three snakes so far that were mousers to rats. Two took the rat the first try and haven't looked back since, the third took a bit of convincing to take the rat but now is going strong. I've tried a few times with two others, but to no avail as of yet. The key to any conversion of prey is patience and consistency. Don't just give in and offer a mouse because they don't take the rat - be strong and wait the week, then offer another rat. Tough love seems to work best. :)

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Originally Posted by MDB

also do you know what would be the best substrate to you to keep the smell in control? I plan on cleaning their tubs 2-3times a week, with high hopes of no odor,lol.

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I put some drops of vanilla extract in their water and it works awesome. the cages don't even stank up the room. :gj: :gj:

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Originally Posted by BallPython17

I put some drops of vanilla extract in their water and it works awesome. the cages don't even stank up the room. :gj: :gj:

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thanks:gj:

My mouser took two ASF weaners today!!:banana:.Im well on my way to get her away from mice,I only have two snakes that will take F/T & when they refuse its a waste,they take pre killed & live rats also. I breed my own so live it is now its more consistant & my feeding proplems are or almost solved.all are growing fast now on ASF's.

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Originally Posted by greghall

My mouser took two ASF weaners today!!:banana:.Im well on my way to get her away from mice,I only have two snakes that will take F/T & when they refuse its a waste,they take pre killed & live rats also. I breed my own so live it is now its more consistant & my feeding proplems are or almost solved.all are growing fast now on ASF's.

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errr must be nice lol, I have some problem feeders, they drive me insane but I love them

If you keep them at some steady temps & don't mess with them much & keep a feeding schedule the feeding proplems will go away,had lots of feeding proplems since I got started a year ago but now everything is going pretty smooth.