What to Breed?

[Moofins07]

I just scanned over a thread asking for the pros and cons between ASFs and rats, and it made me consider a few things. I want to start breeding my own "food", but here's the catch: I only have ONE BP. Kinda lame, I know. She's reaching for 250 grams now, and she's having to eat multiple mice in one sitting. She's on a 5-day schedule.

I do NOT want to breed mice. They stink, they're needy (IMO), and I just plain don't like them.

So. For a single-snake owner, is it possible, or is there even a purpose to start a 1.1 breeding situation? And if so, rats or ASFs? Taking the snake's size and schedule into consideration, how many rodents would I have left before they get too big to feed off?

I appreciate any and all comments! Thanks!

[sassy-pants]

With just one snake, it'd cost you more to breed your own than to buy frozen or fresh every week. Its not really cost effective until you have around 5 snakes or more, IMO.

If you're really set on breeding, go with ASFs. They'll never outgrow your snake, like a rat will. If you want to do rats, be prepared to euthanize and freeze the extras as they reach your snake's proper food size.

[steveboos]

Yeah i would definitely wait untill you can find a way to feed off the 12-19 babies per litter for EACH of your females. What you really need to look at is how the babies would be fed off, what the general sizes of your snakes are and do you really want to have that many babies? You will also need a breeding tub, a weanling tub for each males and females and be able to sex them appropriatley. These are the exact reasons why i waited so long to make the decision to breed mice. I will have 5 snakes come this weekend and probably 6 by January. I also have a 1200 gram female, a 240 gram female, a 150 gram male, then 2 more 300-450 gram snakes. I will be able to feed off the bigger rats to the bigger snakes and the younger snakes will get fed appropriately. But i will only have a 1.2, i'm still deciding how i want to do it though.

But to answer your question, rats are more readily availble and people would be more interested in buying a snake that eats rats instead of ASF's exclusively as they are harder to come by.