Is it worth it? Rats or mice?

[XoKarma]

Rat pups are basically impossible to find, they don't sell them as feeders and can only be purchased as adults. The quality of mice I've found is beyond poor. Half starved scraggly little balls of skin, bones and fur.. My bp only eats live and is currently eating adult mice. . Would it be worth my time to buy a pair of females and a male mouse? (one litter at a time alternating females, no power breeding) The time and money invested would be minimal, considering the left over supplies from my deceased hamster. In your opinion would this be a better option than paying 3–5 dollars a week for starved feeder mice? I originally considered rats but with one snake only big enough to eat the weaning, they would be too big too fast to be any use to me at the moment. Upon my bp reaching rat eating size I could start the rat breeding and feed off the mice???

[Kaorte]

Have you considered African Soft Furred rats? I personally hate mice because they smell awful. Doesn't matter how much you clean, they always have a stench. ASFs are fairly easy to come by and stay pretty small (about the size of a small rat). They also have good sized back to back litters which makes feeders plentiful.

Breeding food for one snake might be a little overkill, but a 1.2 colony would provide a good amount of food assuming your snake eats like a pig . You might have to euthanize some though...

But yeah, I am a big fan of ASFs for ball pythons. They barely smell and they have big litters. Weaned babies are a great size for my hatchling/juveniles and with 3 colonies I have plenty to feed them every 5 days or so.

[MisterKyte]

Not to mention that I hear BPs really enjoy the ASFs.

[BFE Pets]

Ive been breeding rats to feed my balls for awhile but now I'm running into problems with having the right size for sub adults. Asf's was my first choice when I realized this. I know have one colony of 1.3 Asf's and I've always got the right size now. I do still breed rats but have cut back on the quanity so I don't get over run. The soft furs are epic breeders and much less oder than mice. So after all that rambling my vote would be soft furs. Lol

Edit: op I just realized you are in Salem Ohio. Don't waste your time looking in pet stores for poor quality feeders. Goto BoManleys rattery. He's in Salem and has quality mice and rats at reasonable rates. You can find him on facebook or pm me and ill hook you up with his #

[XoKarma]

I'm not sure of his eating habits yet, hes a recent rescue. But he was definitely rearing and ready to go Saturday when I fed him. He struck the glass upon seeing the mouse outside of the tank and had it wrapped before my hand left the tank after dropping it in. I think he's going to prove to be quite a hog.. Hes a little underweight but overall healthy. I haven't seen any asfs in the pet shop, but I will look into it. He's about 4 months old and a few inches shy of 2ft, how old would the asfs be before they were too big for him to eat or will they get to big for him to eat and do they require any special housing needs or just the basic rat/mouse/hamster setup? Btw that's him as my avatar, about 5 inches of him was hanging off my hand.

[BFE Pets]

Asf's are slow growers so I'd guess about 3 to 4 months before they are to big for him. Hoppers and weanlings will still be to small for him imo. But go with the 10 - 15% rule for prey items. Good luck and seriously check out BoManleys until you get breeding your own.

[XoKarma]

Thank you, going to call him tomorrow. I'm sure Koba thanks you too, his next meal will be much better.