How to breed feeders

[BlueEyeExotics]

I have just entered into the idea of breeding pythons. My goal for the year is the infamous BEL. I know, I am not keeping my hopes up too high. I think the idea of attempting the goal would be good though. I have a lesser male at 1000 grams and a Butter female that is just tipping 800 grams. Since the snakes have grown larger I was thinking to breed mice for feeders. I once bred mice years ago that I sold as feeders so the concept of it all is familiar. I have limited space now and was thinking to just set up something small that would at least give me some rats here and there to help with cost. I have smaller snakes so I can feed anything from pinkies up to adult mice in my collection.
Does anyone have an idea of a good setup? I was considering a large sterilite tub that I could keep in a corner, but will they chew threw it?

[dustin860]

Over time you risk the potential of them chewing through . Many people prefer to use tanks or the concrete mixing tubs in a rack setup .. I do both


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[Nitewolfie]

I don't know about that but I breed my own rats, very easy since they basically do it all themselves(i don't know about mice though) and have been told mice stink more. I keep my females in a three story(ferret?) cage i got for $60 off CL, which may be too big for you, I use it now since I have four, and i may decide to keep the other female, so possibly five female rats in it. I had them in a smaller hamster three story cage(when I had one-two) I also got off CL, $50, but i had a lot of other supplied that came with it. I never trusted them in something plastic, but you could get a ten gallon aquarium, but I've read that their more prone to RI in them(so you'd have to clean them more often).
For mice to start out with, you could probably get a med-large kritter keeper or a small cage for $20-30 new.
I hope this helps!

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Ideally you will need more than a tub, stand alone tubs can be used but since you will need more than one it will take more space than having a rack with concrete tubs, stand alone tubs often have groves which are usually the starting point for a rat to chew.

There is no chew proof plastic setup the only chew proof setup are tanks which are very hard to clean, and do not offer much privacy.

A small rack setup is what you are looking for, you want a tub for breeding/birthing, one for the male when he is not with your females (I do not recommend to leave the male at all time, back to back breeding take it's toll quickly on the mother but also tend to yield smaller babies.) and finally a tub to grow your feeders once weaned at 3 to 4 weeks old.

The key to reduce chewing is to provide a chew block (simple piece of 2x4), have a zero tolerance policy (chewers and tub mates of chewers MUST be culled as they will teach others).

[stickyalvinroll]

Why do you need to breed feeders when you only have 2 snakes? Plus 1000 and 800 grams bps should be eating rats. 2 snakes at bulk rat prices is $2.50 a week, not worth the work to breed feeders imo.

[cchardwick]

Personally I like having live rodents on hand, even thought it's more work to clean and feed them. Of course I have 16 snakes now, but even a couple ball python breeders will quickly turn in to ten snakes in the first year of breeding, then holding some back for more breeders, you can see where this is going... I finally have my mouse production in full swing and I have had some snakes that wouldn't eat for months (a female Arizona Mountain King snake). I gave her a live pinky mouse and she gobbled it right up! Then I gave her a weanling mouse and she at that one too, I think it's the first live mouse she ever ate, seems she wanted live food and not a dead frozen thawed mouse. With live mice or fresh killed it seems like you can get even picky eaters to consistently eat, and that's what you want for breeders.

Even pro breeders will feed their female ball pythons live rats because the more they eat the more eggs they make and the more profitable the business. The other thing I like about having multiple breeder rodents is that I can have a bigger variety of sizes to choose from. Often times I need to find a mid sized mouse and won't have it frozen, or won't have it live and have to pull out the frozen. It's great to have both. Plus you can always freeze them at a certain point and freeze at the perfect size for later for your particular snake. That way you get the size just perfect. These are many of the benefits I didn't even consider when I started breeding rodents.

[BlueEyeExotics]

I have 13 snakes in all. My larger ball pythons are on rats and then it goes down to jumbo mice and so on. I have snakes ranging in size from young corn snakes to 4 year old corn snakes and pythons. My female I hope to breed this year is on rats and she needs to gain some more weight before I can decide if this is the year or not. My male is ready to go.

[kylearmbar]

I would go with 2 males and two females. And three tubs. One for the females and newborns, one for the males when they're not breeding, and a grow out cage for males. The female pups can be kept with the moms. I use large sterlite tubs with a large hole cut in the lid and put hardware cloth over the hole and secure it with wire. Occasionally they chew, but very rare. Next time in would also line the inside of the tub with hardware cloth as well. Plus gives them more to do. They love climbing.

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[For Goodness Snakes]

Here is a link to one of my 494 videos on YouTube, hopefully it will help you get started on the right foot with your rat breeding project.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82Jxn9Op3l0

If you have any questions feel free to give me a call me at 408-981-6694 or you can email me at fgsnakes@sbcglobal.net

Best of luck with the adventure.

Brian Gundy / For Goodness Snakes

[pariahdog]

I keep my rats in large sterilites. The key to not having rats chew through is to not have any traction for them to chew (completely flat sides - but I recommend having at least one hardware cloth window, make sure its larger than the window in the plastic so they can't reach it), distractions (cardboard, etc things you WANT them to chew), and to cull chewers.

You can keep just one tub but your females are going to constantly be pregnant. You're going to want to want at least one extra tub for potential fights, sickness, giving your females a break, etc.