Is it worth it?

[BPboy]

I have been thinking about breeding mice or rats for feeders but I'm not sure if it's worth the cost and trouble or not. The reason why I'm not sure if it's worth it is because I only have one snake. However my snake does eat f/t so I could raise the feeders to a certain size then freeze them. I pay 5 dollars per adult mouse now which is the norm around where I live. So basically I'm not sure if it's worth it to breed feeders or just keep paying for mice from the pet store. Any advice or wisdom is greatly appreciated.

[LaFilleClochette]

for one snake, i dont think its worth breeding feeders yourself. I would think that you can prolly find an online place to buy frozen that would be cheaper then breeding and feeding a whole bunch of mice....just my 2cents

[BPboy]

for one snake, i dont think its worth breeding feeders yourself. I would think that you can prolly find an online place to buy frozen that would be cheaper then breeding and feeding a whole bunch of mice....just my 2cents

thanks for the imput. I'm now looking at canadian breeders online and its a heck of a lot cheaper then pet stores!

[unrezt]

for one snake, i dont think its worth breeding feeders yourself. I would think that you can prolly find an online place to buy frozen that would be cheaper then breeding and feeding a whole bunch of mice....just my 2cents

I don't know about the costs of feeding mice up to adult size, but if you have a smaller ball python the cost is next to nothing apart housing your two new pet rats. Frozen mice at my local pet store cost about $20 for a dozen. Our rat just had her first litter(flock? lol) of pups(and a HUGE one at that, 12 pups!) and they were large enough for food after a week and a half, and they feed off of the mother in that time.

[DustinB]

Wow, and I thought the $2.10 I pay per adult live mouse was expensive. You can get quality f/t if your snake will take them for around $19 per 50 from rodentpro I believe.

[BPboy]

After finding some Canadian breeders where i can buy adult mice for $.80 I'm assuming its cheaper to buy them and get them shipped to my house. But I'm planning on starting to feed rats so I'm not sure which would be more cost efficient, I'm also taking into account that if i do breed my own feeders i will know exactly what I'm getting.

[BigLu]

i say breed em its nasty as hell imo to have some frozen mice in your freezer. and if you gonna buy a freezer for that then just build a rack. simple as hell to do and then you know exactly what your feeding your animals because you saw where it came from. what is expensive about breeding mice or even rats?

[PghBall]

I started to breed my own rats and mice after my 4th ball python. I now have 7 and in my opinion it is cheaper for me to breed my own feeders. My snakes eat live though. Rats are anywhere from $7-14 at the pet store and mice are now $3 each.

[Jay_Bunny]

I'm only just getting started with my breeding colony of mice. I have 12 snakes to feed and the feeding bill per week is over $30 if everyone takes a meal. Thats over $100 a month! Now for me to breed my own, it might cost me a little more than half that a month.

But you also have to take into consideration, the space needed to breed your own and the time to clean and feed everyone. I get up an hour early just to go through the animal room and feed and water everyone and spot clean and I just barely make it in time to get ready for work.

For one snake, I say breeding your own isn't worth it unless you want to breed so you know where your snake's food is coming from (quality feeders vs getting them from the store).