Amount of rats

[Morke]

Hi everyone

I was wondering
How many rat families would you need if you wanted to provide a constant supply of rats to, let's say, 1 adult ball python?


If this is not the forum, please forgive me.

[Kokorobosoi]

Generally I say one female rat per ball python.

[PitOnTheProwl]

Can depend on the snake and time of year.
If you only have one snake I would just find a rodent breeder in your area.

[ItsAllNew2Me!]

+1 to Pit. For 1 bp there is really no need to breed your own. You really won't be able to justify the costs. Also say you did get 1 breeder female and male. She drops 8 babies. You cant feed you bp all 8 babies when they get to eating size. So then you would need to get a euthanasia setup and freeze the excess. Not to mention the female will get pregnant right away again if the male and female are housed together. lol you would be overrun. Not to mention feed and housing and cleaning of the rodents. I do have a setup and it actually does not even fully support my snakes at the moment and it is pretty hard to justify it until I expand more (besides the fact that i know they are quality). Get a bulk order of frozen thawed or buy some off a local breeder would be the best way to go IMO.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Usually you need one female rat per snake to feed.

In your case you need to make sure that your BP eats F/T because obviously rats grow very fast and when they are the proper size to feed this mean all of them are.

Breeding rodent with one snake is not gonna be a huge saving however it will give you the satisfaction to know what you are feeding, be in control and not depends on others.

If you only do it for financial purposes in my experience it becomes to be worth it when you have 10 snakes to feed.

[Morke]

Oh, no no, the 1 ball python it's just an hypothetical number to calculate.
I have more than 1 ball python. In fact, I have 17 snakes (6 adult ball pythons and 1 juvenile).
I've been breeding mice for a couple of years now and feeding my other snakes with them, but now that I have adult ball pythons I want to start breeding rats.
The main problem is waiting the rats to grow to proper size for adult ball pythons.

So, in theory, 6 female rats should be enough for 6 ball pythons, then?

[PitOnTheProwl]

4 to 6 female rats should be good. It is hard to wait the 21+ days LoL

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Oh, no no, the 1 ball python it's just an hypothetical number to calculate.
I have more than 1 ball python. In fact, I have 17 snakes (6 adult ball pythons and 1 juvenile).
I've been breeding mice for a couple of years now and feeding my other snakes with them, but now that I have adult ball pythons I want to start breeding rats.
The main problem is waiting the rats to grow to proper size for adult ball pythons.

So, in theory, 6 female rats should be enough for 6 ball pythons, then?

Yes 6 in rotation will be good if you have 6 snakes, rotation is about 7 to 8 weeks from breeding to birthing to weaning the babies.

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