Going to (hopefully) start breeding, need help!

Ok, so, I have two snakes, a BP and a corn. The BP is feeding on live adult mice, and the corn on fuzzies. I may consider adding another snake in the future as well.

Because the BP is feeding on live, I have to be going to the petstore every two feedings to get more mice. And along with getting mice for the corn, it's rather expensive.

Because of this, I am (hopefully)going to start breeding. I have an old "college-dorm" refrigerator that I have gutted and will put in my garage with 2 plastic shoebox tubs in it, one for a male breeder and one for a female breeder. There will also be a fan running every few hours for ventilation and a heat mad or flexwatt mounted on the door of the fridge for maintaining the proper temp. I will place the male in the female's tub until signs of pregnancy are determined in the female, and then the male will be returned into his own tub. The young will stay with the female until it's time to be weaned (unless they are already picked out to feed the corn), and then they will be separated into two 10 gallon tanks, one for each sex.

The fridge idea is just to maintain a constant temperature sense it will be in the garage, where smell won't be an issue.

I'm also having some problems with sexing mice from the petstore. It might just be that on my last try at it I had four females, and no male to compare.

Another thing, as far as water goes, is it okay to just put some water in a small dish instead of using a bottle?

Does this sound like an all right way to start breeding?

I will answer any questions about specifics.

there are some great links on here that will help you. check out those, and if you need more after that I have links to a bunch of info on breeding rodents.

your using the old fridge for breeding mice?
for a pair of mice i would just use a 10 gallon tanks for them
with a bottle simple setup.
how cold does it get in your garage?

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Originally Posted by nixer

your using the old fridge for breeding mice?
for a pair of mice i would just use a 10 gallon tanks for them
with a bottle simple setup.
how cold does it get in your garage?

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It gets really cold during the winter, as cold as it is outside, which can dip to around 0 degrees Fahrenheit at it's coldest. The fridge will help insulate heat put off by the heat pad or flexwatt.

water bottle or you will be dumping saw dust out of the dish a couple times a day
a mini fridge is good for an incubator but i don't know about a mouse house

Breeding for 3 snakes will be very costly and you will be over ran with feeders in 2-3 months. I would try to convert your ball over to frozen!

I agree you need alot more snakes to justify breeding feeders.

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Originally Posted by patm1313

Ok, so, I have two snakes, a BP and a corn. The BP is feeding on live adult mice, and the corn on fuzzies. I may consider adding another snake in the future as well.

Because the BP is feeding on live, I have to be going to the petstore every two feedings to get more mice. And along with getting mice for the corn, it's rather expensive.

Because of this, I am (hopefully)going to start breeding. I have an old "college-dorm" refrigerator that I have gutted and will put in my garage with 2 plastic shoebox tubs in it, one for a male breeder and one for a female breeder. There will also be a fan running every few hours for ventilation and a heat mad or flexwatt mounted on the door of the fridge for maintaining the proper temp. I will place the male in the female's tub until signs of pregnancy are determined in the female, and then the male will be returned into his own tub. The young will stay with the female until it's time to be weaned (unless they are already picked out to feed the corn), and then they will be separated into two 10 gallon tanks, one for each sex.

The fridge idea is just to maintain a constant temperature sense it will be in the garage, where smell won't be an issue.

I'm also having some problems with sexing mice from the petstore. It might just be that on my last try at it I had four females, and no male to compare.

Another thing, as far as water goes, is it okay to just put some water in a small dish instead of using a bottle?

Does this sound like an all right way to start breeding?

I will answer any questions about specifics.

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I was thinking of starting a small colony myself. I plan to find 1 proven breeding pair and just keeping one colony. When I house one or two mice in between snake feeding periods, I use an unused cough medicine cup for water. They can drink from it but not get in it. It works nicely. I didn't want to spend ridiculous money on feeder mice equipment at petco, so I made their jungle gym and hides from wood or cardboard. They seem to like it.

Inexpensive, easy to make, and I don't have to worry about them gnawing it to pieces since it's just cardboard and I can easily make a new one.

I'll have to get a pic sometime soon.

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Originally Posted by JamieC

there are some great links on here that will help you. check out those, and if you need more after that I have links to a bunch of info on breeding rodents.

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Think you would mind posting or PMing me those links? :bow:

Another thing is that mice do not thrive when kept alone. During the 5 weeks or so that the male is in another tub he will feel lonely, the female will also experience this until she delivers. And as the others said, it's not cost efficient by a long shot.

-D

Breeding for two snakes doesn't seem worth it. I'd try and convert yours to f/t.

But if you decide to go through with breeding check out this thread for some inspiration on how to house them, etc.

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showthread.php?t=80003

I have mine in my garage also but it is insulated and partly heated--only gets as cold as 50 degrees. They do fine in there with lots of nesting material.

when i started breeding mice i had 3 snakes ball, corn, king and my brother had 3 baby corns. i started with a couple mice and in no time a had mice everywhere. i had mice in my bedroom, living room, closet, anywhere i could fit a tank. i put an add in the paper and stated selling to a guy that had alot of snakes.
you will probably have more mice than 2 snakes can eat in no time if you keep them together.

shoot!! where'd you get ur mice from, i have about 20 mice right now in 2 tubs, and no prego in the last 2 months now, got them from petco, swapped out the males a bunch of times, the males chase for the 1st few days and then quit, females wont em do there magic

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Originally Posted by escomaya

shoot!! where'd you get ur mice from, i have about 20 mice right now in 2 tubs, and no prego in the last 2 months now, got them from petco, swapped out the males a bunch of times, the males chase for the 1st few days and then quit, females wont em do there magic

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if the females are not ready they wont let the male near them.
watch your females real close you can sometimes see if they are in heat or not sometimes there will be a tiny bit of blood and i mean tiny

also i dont separate my male from my females just let them do their thing and they will not breed if its dark 24 hours a day. rats will breed in total darkness.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by escomaya

shoot!! where'd you get ur mice from, i have about 20 mice right now in 2 tubs, and no prego in the last 2 months now, got them from petco, swapped out the males a bunch of times, the males chase for the 1st few days and then quit, females wont em do there magic

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petco mice and rats suck, they don't breed or are sick and die.
get your rodents from someone that breeds them or at a show.
that was a couple years ago. i kept my males and females together, i fed off the males and held back all females.
i just started breeding rodents again about a month ago. i already have 3 litters of rats, 2 litters of mice and alot of prego females. asf rats are next if i can find some.

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Originally Posted by escomaya

i have about 20 mice right now in 2 tubs, and no prego in the last 2 months

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i put 1 male with 2 to 4 females in a 10 gallon. 10 mice in a tub might be to many. if they are crowded they will eat the babies.