14 ball pythons

[Argentra]

Actually, rats are a LOT cleaner than mice. The smell is less (unless you have a ton of males and you don't clean regularly), and they are typically easier to handle.

However, unless you have a source that can buy up extras or your snakes mostly take frozen/thawed prey, rats aren't as worth raising since they get too big as adults for any but the largest female BP.

If you have access to ASFs and don't mind territorial, bitey little monsters, then those would be a great option for you to breed.

[greghall]

I raise ASF's now almost exclusively.mice stink they musk up their cages rats also stink badd! ASF's hardly smell I clean every three days & never ever smell them only after a week you can smell them.they breed fast but grow slow like mice.

[TheShortBus]

ASF's ftw!

[MDB]

I am located in northeastern, Pa. Is there anybody close to me willing to sell me asf 1.5 breeding colony let me know. Thank you all for your input, it helped alot.

[Doxster]

I have 20 ball pythons in a variety of sizes. I decided to start breeding my own feeders and i chose mice since I can fit more of them in the same space than I would with rats. I got three colonies of 1.5 and it's looking promising, however I don't know if it will be enough, I will keep buying frozen in bulk though as mice takes time to grow. That's the major downside of mice in my oppinion...

[greghall]

only thing with mice ,is get a mouser its hard to change them over.at least my one mouser is.Trying to get her on asf's now ate one last week for the first time but refused this week was going to get some mice but Im gonna wait another week & try another ASF.

[MDB]

yeh I am going to go ahead with the asf rats when I do start a breeding colony

[Doxster]

only thing with mice ,is get a mouser its hard to change them over.at least my one mouser is.Trying to get her on asf's now ate one last week for the first time but refused this week was going to get some mice but Im gonna wait another week & try another ASF.

When you try to convert your snake do you feed frozen or live prey? I will try to convert all my ball pythons when I got the space to breed rats, wich will be in about a year or two (I think).

In my world it would be easier to convert them to rats if offered live prey?

[Argentra]

Depends on what type of mouse they're eating. If the snake is taking FT mice, try offering a PK rat of equivalent size. I wouldn't go all the way back to live, since you'd just have to get them back up to FT later.

All my snakes take either pre-killed or frozen/thawed prey. I have 5 ratters out of 15, and I'm pretty confident that my young corns will readily take rat pups once they're big enough for them (so that's three more on rats).
I've converted three snakes so far that were mousers to rats. Two took the rat the first try and haven't looked back since, the third took a bit of convincing to take the rat but now is going strong. I've tried a few times with two others, but to no avail as of yet. The key to any conversion of prey is patience and consistency. Don't just give in and offer a mouse because they don't take the rat - be strong and wait the week, then offer another rat. Tough love seems to work best.

[BallPython17]

also do you know what would be the best substrate to you to keep the smell in control? I plan on cleaning their tubs 2-3times a week, with high hopes of no odor,lol.

I put some drops of vanilla extract in their water and it works awesome. the cages don't even stank up the room.