Breeding Feeder Mice For Your BP

[gold217]

I have a really picky eater here (not really surprised though) and I don't think I want to make stops at the reptile store 30 mins away every week for a live mouse, because my bp won't even smell a f/t hopper. Does anyone breed their own mice, rats, gerbils, etc....?? And is it time and $ consuming?

[J.Coils]

i've wanted to before but i cant stand the way mice smell..

[gold217]

same here and I just hate rodents in general..

[snakesRkewl]

LOL @ hating rodents.....Mice bedding does smell but I'm pretty sure most people let their bedding get nasty before that smell is bad.
Keep the bedding clean and they won't smell so bad

If you have a way to get rid of the extra babies then setting up a tank of mice to breed would be ok but keep in mind one snake can't eat all of the babies a mouse or rat makes so you will have extras.

[Nektu]

They do smell pretty bad. I was given this tip today and am going to try it out for myself.

Get some cat box deodorizer, sprinkle some on the bottom of the tub, then cover with news paper, then the bedding. You'll still need to check on them everyday, but it should help with the odor.

[ogdentrece]

Actually, I only have a few BPs and since I'm not allowed to touch a freezer I have to keep them live at home (also cos I can't drive to the pet store every week). Anyway they happened to start multiplying and I got a whole cycle going on here now. I only have 2 breeding tubs, placed at the back of my house, they don't smell all that horrible after I got rid of all the males. I change bedding maybe once a week? Of course if you would be keeping them in an enclosed area it might be a little worse, but I don't smell much until i stick my face into their tubs. Oh and I find carefresh odorfree MUCH better than any wood substrate.

Basically I have 5 females in 2 tubs. The rest of the tubs are for growing up. Each time I bring a male back I leave them with the females about a couple of weeks. Then they get fed off once all my females are pregnant. Once I can spot the male babies with their balls dangling out they are fed to my smaller guy. The rest of the females are allowed to grow a month or two to nearly 30g and then fed off. Then once I'm half way through them I get another male and the cycle begins again. This way I have minimal stench (males are the really smelly ones I think) and I run to the pet store once every couple of months only? You could do this with more females if you need more mice. But this way I get less smell, and dont have to take note of which mice are related to which to prevent inbreeding. With the new male every few months theres very little chance of it. And one male can do all the females there.

Well I really used to hate my mice, they kept getting out making a mess and were such a hassle, but now I treat my breeding females like second pets. I guess the trick is to find a way to ensure the noise and any possible smell does not affect you, by putting it somewhere else. And get a schedule or routine going for their care. They really are quite cute and smart, and females don't create a mess so I don't mind them. Especially after I watched this video of trained mice, I just put up a thread on it a couple of days back, so I'm gonna start trying to do that too. Of course there are a couple which end up being real problems, male OR female, but if I hate them they're fed off:p

[mommanessy247]

i thought about breeding my own feeders but with only 1 bp i would end up with more rats then she could eat. i used to buy enough live rats for the month which was 4-5 at a time but was running into the problem of the last 1 or 2 rats growing too big for my girl (she's super picky about the size she'll take). so now i'm buying a rat every feeding day which is approximately every 10 days.
As far as the smell goes, i was doing complete cleanings of the rat tank every week and even with 5 rats in the 10 gallon tank the smell never got really bad. by complete cleaning, i mean emptying it, washing it with hot water & soap and putting in completely clean bedding. i hardly noticed any smell unless i had my face directly over the tank.
buying a rat every feeding day is kind of a pain cuz the store is 1/2 an hour away in another state but we'd rather do that then end up with a rat thats too big and causing a refusal & end up having to go to the store anyways to trade it...

[corgigirl9]

I breed my own rats, mice, and unfortunately (because of super picky eaters) also currently working on an ASF colony. I also have mealie colonies going on. Time consuming but cheaper then gas, always have what I want, and I know they aren't diseased. Also as far as the smell goes, regular cleaning keeps it under control. I have heard of someone using non chemical charcoal near the tubs to help with smell.

[gold217]

Thanks everyone! I might give it a try once I get a larger bp collection going...

[ogdentrece]

i thought about breeding my own feeders but with only 1 bp i would end up with more rats then she could eat. i used to buy enough live rats for the month which was 4-5 at a time but was running into the problem of the last 1 or 2 rats growing too big for my girl (she's super picky about the size she'll take). so now i'm buying a rat every feeding day which is approximately every 10 days.
As far as the smell goes, i was doing complete cleanings of the rat tank every week and even with 5 rats in the 10 gallon tank the smell never got really bad. by complete cleaning, i mean emptying it, washing it with hot water & soap and putting in completely clean bedding. i hardly noticed any smell unless i had my face directly over the tank.
buying a rat every feeding day is kind of a pain cuz the store is 1/2 an hour away in another state but we'd rather do that then end up with a rat thats too big and causing a refusal & end up having to go to the store anyways to trade it...

Yea I have run into the same problem, even if I buy rats small, feed multiples the first couple of weeks until they're grown to appropriate size, then just feed one, they outgrow that appropriate size range really quickly. And given that BP's eat like, one a week.. Thats why when it comes to keeping live or breeding its only mice. Rats have to be bought regularly if bought live. Otherwise frozen would be perfect.