feeder mice questionx2

"x2" bc my first question was to kno where to pick up live hoppers / feeder mice. since i have 2 babies who wont take f/t yet, and i want them to be bigger, and well fed before i attempt to try f/t, i want to kno a little about mice...


its a 1 hr commute to the feeder breeder who sold me some quality hoppers.. i cant make that drive every week lol. i def cant breed my own, i have no space and no confidence.

im wondering - if i pick up like 10 hoppers at a time to last for 5 weeks, how can i keep them? will they get too big by then? (idk growth rates), wut do i feed them to keep them healthy enough to feed my bp? is it safe to keep them in the same room as my snakes w/o risking pre-scenting? (i dont have space =s...), do they require a set temp? wut size enclosure would i have to keep them in? i would only temporarily house the 10 hoppers until i feed them to teh bps.

any suggestions? locations of feeder breeders? i live in the san fernando valley between woodland hills and burbank. does anyone know someone who is close to that who sells live feeder mice?

You dont ahve any big chain pet stores in the area?
You should try African Soft Furred Rats. Super easy to breed. All you need is a couple 20 gallon longs. One for the breeders and one for a grow out tank.
I breed my own and its simple. Want me to send you some pics of the setups?

I really dont think there gonna outgrow your snake. by BABY how small we talkin? adult mice only get about 20 or 30 grms according to a website I just looked at, and going by the 10 to 15 percent bodyweight feeding rule if your snakes are at least 200 grams they should be fine with adult mice as long as the girth isnt a problem.

currently they are accepting mice, and i dont rly want to try to change their diet to asfs. i want them to get more weight on to the point where i can feed em adult mice. then i want to try to transition them to f/t. but they're young atm, so i want them to eat b4 i experiment lol. u can msg me some pics of the setups, i'll think about it, and will consider it. thx

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Originally Posted by joshn6805

I really dont think there gonna outgrow your snake. by BABY how small we talkin? adult mice only get about 20 or 30 grms according to a website I just looked at, and going by the 10 to 15 percent bodyweight feeding rule if your snakes are at least 200 grams they should be fine with adult mice as long as the girth isnt a problem.

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i havent weighed them recently, but they were only about 80 - 90 grams when i got em. skipped a feeding the first week, they denied f/t twice, and i decided to just have them feeding first. they took live, and im gonna keep that up until i feel they're ready to experiment again.

is it possible to pick up different sizes of mice? like 4 hoppers and 6 weanlings?

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Originally Posted by joshn6805

is it possible to pick up different sizes of mice? like 4 hoppers and 6 weanlings?

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idk lol would they harm each other? can they be housed together?

remember, i only plan on keeping 10 at a time, and it will be reduced by 2 every week lol.

ok so i found this googling, i want to kno if its accurate about the growth rate of mice

http://www.petforums.co.uk/snakes/19...es-charts.html

I know absolutely nothing about mice, rats is a different story though. I guess im not much help here, only thing I can suggest is breeding them, which is very easy. If you ever give breeding a though I would breed rats though, your snake never outgrows a rat so you can stick to only one rat a feeding. your snake is gonna outgrow mice very quickly and its gonna start taking a couple every feeding to satisfy them every feeding. Breeding them is the only option I can tell you unless you find another feeder source.

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Originally Posted by joshn6805

I know absolutely nothing about mice, rats is a different story though. I guess im not much help here, only thing I can suggest is breeding them, which is very easy. If you ever give breeding a though I would breed rats though, your snake never outgrows a rat so you can stick to only one rat a feeding. your snake is gonna outgrow mice very quickly and its gonna start taking a couple every feeding to satisfy them every feeding. Breeding them is the only option I can tell you unless you find another feeder source.

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thanks. i kno they're gonna outgrow mice, but since they're young, im just gonna stick to mice until they're around 200g. then im gonna go head n experiment with rats and f.t. my norm pounds f/t like no tomorro, and i fear im gonna hafta switch her to rats lol. thats my goal with the babies =p

EDIT: still looking for more suggestions. i prefer locations of feeder breeders around my area.. =\

I think you are getting your self worked up over mice. BPs outgrow mice pretty quick. I have 2 BPs around 150g. They eat adult mice like nothing. When I do feed them adult mice, they seem to stay hungry. They keep on cruising around too much, like looking for more. When they eat apropiate size rats now, they just crawl into their hides.

Im just trying to say, dont work your self so hard over mice, Your BPs will outgrow it faster than all that trouble.

Is there a close by breeder/store that sells rat pups?

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Originally Posted by Danounet

I think you are getting your self worked up over mice. BPs outgrow mice pretty quick. I have 2 BPs around 150g. They eat adult mice like nothing. When I do feed them adult mice, they seem to stay hungry. They keep on cruising around too much, like looking for more. When they eat apropiate size rats now, they just crawl into their hides.

Im just trying to say, dont work your self so hard over mice, Your BPs will outgrow it faster than all that trouble.

Is there a close by breeder/store that sells rat pups?

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i dont want to make it seem like i need mice and only mice, im only asking about the current situation that im in now. i have 2 young bps that wont take f/t yet, and i just need to find a place that sells feeder breeders. by feeder breeders, it doesnt exclude rats. im going through trouble to find LIVE feeders. i dont have a store near me that sells LIVE anything, hence the post lol. thx for the insight

EDIT: i hav work tomorro so im goin to bed, i'll be back on this thread tomorrow round 7 pacific. thx for the suggestions, still need locations =\

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Originally Posted by Darkice

You dont ahve any big chain pet stores in the area?
You should try African Soft Furred Rats. Super easy to breed. All you need is a couple 20 gallon longs. One for the breeders and one for a grow out tank.
I breed my own and its simple. Want me to send you some pics of the setups?

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If he's in CA then ASFs are out of the option I believe. They were illegal here last time I checked.

As for the OP, what part of LA are you in? You can pm me and I'm sure I can help you figure something out.

Maybe you can buy a bunch of hoppers and their mom so they can stay alive till the next time your bp eats but then they will be a size bigger so then you will need to start breeding mice in order for your snakes to get the size they need.

finally home from work, instead of keeping this thread alive, if u have suggestions, just pm me please.

Correct me if I am wrong, someone on one of these forums stated that a Ball Python can eat an adult mouse from the egg.

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Originally Posted by jblaze

Correct me if I am wrong, someone on one of these forums stated that a Ball Python can eat an adult mouse from the egg.

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I don't have any first hand experience with this, but I doubt that this is true. If someone has feed a BP an adult right out of the egg, I'd be interested in hearing about it.

my understanding is that a BP starts off on small hoppers, then just regular sized hoppers for a few weeks, then small adult mice. but ive never read about a situation in which a baby was fed an adult mouse