Should I start?

[Clear]

I have 2 small carpets about 20" long. I bought them from the Raleigh expo and the breeder was feeding live pinkies, so he said. Should I try to breed my own or start buying froozen and see if they will eat them. Will breeding save me the hassle and money?

I already breed and sell roaches so another species of breeding wont be troublesome for me.

Chris

[blackcrystal22]

Breeding can save you more money than buying live, but not necessarily from buying frozen, unless you have a lot of varied sized snakes.. which you do not.

I like the convenience of breeding my own, less hassle I think.. but I still need to freeze some for specific sizes and such.

[Clear]

Ok I think I have read ever post in the feeder section!

Tomorrow I am going to design a rack system to fit into my room and work on a breeding sheet. I will probably get a few more snakes in the future (2 or 3 more) so I think I will start with 8 females and 2 males and randomly breed them and store the extra for when I get the other snakes.

Where/Who is the best person to buy live rats from?

[littleindiangirl]

Have you considered mice or ASF? I say this because breeding rats is often more expensive if you were to just buy frozen online, and they grow very quickly, being too large to feed in only a week or two.

If you were to freeze all your prey and feed frozen thawed, you could get away with 2 females and 2 male rats instead of 8. Breed both females at the same time, then you have two litters you can gas and freeze at various stages for your snakes.

Less mouths to feed and less stink.
http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showthread.php?t=69076

[Clear]

Thats what I was thinking, But I was thinking 3.2 So that I can rotate the females around. Both eat f/t pinky mice right now but I want to change over to rats asap. As far as the cost of breeding my own I am fine with that, I know that my snakes will get a better quality feeder.

Instead of doing a complete rack system, I have a metel shelf that has nothing on it right now, so I will go buy some tubs and screen in the tops. With the 3.2 how many tubs do you think I will need at what size? 6?

1: Male Breeders
2: Female Breeders (RR)
3: Mating
4: Nursery
5: Extra Females
6: Extra Males

[littleindiangirl]

Thats what I was thinking, But I was thinking 3.2 So that I can rotate the females around. Both eat f/t pinky mice right now but I want to change over to rats asap. As far as the cost of breeding my own I am fine with that, I know that my snakes will get a better quality feeder.

Instead of doing a complete rack system, I have a metel shelf that has nothing on it right now, so I will go buy some tubs and screen in the tops. With the 3.2 how many tubs do you think I will need at what size? 6?

1: Male Breeders
2: Female Breeders (RR)
3: Mating
4: Nursery
5: Extra Females
6: Extra Males

How often are you going to be breeding here?

Putting two females in at one time will give you any where from 18-32 rats in one go. Your feeding pinks right? That's 9 to 16 weeks of food right there for your 2 snakes, or you could plan ahead, freeze say 5 weeks worth of pinks, and then a week later freeze the rest at the chubb size.

Your not going to need to breed them a lot for only 2 snakes.

Even if you do plan on getting a few more snakes, then you will be increasing your production margin by just putting those two females back in with males more often.

If you really want to just jump right in with a bunch of rats, that's fine I guess, I just don't see the need for it with only 2 snakes taking mice pinks.


Females don't need to be rotated like you want to do. You can successfully breed those same rats for over a year. Then, when you feel you need replacements, you hold back 2 new females.

I guess I'm just trying to save you some time and money here. Raising rats for 2 snakes shouldnt be so intense like your talking about.

BTW, I usually say 2.2, because no rat is ever alone by themselves, which is just cruel to do to them. They need to have a partner at all times, being the highly social animal they are.

[littleindiangirl]

how many tubs do you think I will need at what size? 6?

1: Male Breeders
2: Female Breeders (RR)
3: Mating
4: Nursery
5: Extra Females
6: Extra Males

Like I said before, if your feeding FT, the best way to get your rats all set is to put the females together in with a male at the same time.

You can decide to do a 1.2, while your other 2 males are just hanging out. Your in a sense waisting space just to hold these 2 other males. (That's why I say 2 males and 2 females)

Then, once the females are pregnant (approx 3 weeks with the males), pull them out and put them into their own tubs. Wild rats prefer to nest alone, and it is documented that there is a higher survival rate when nursing alone.

Some people swear on communal nesting, but I don't see the need to add the stress of having another female around because of all the ways it can go wrong.

Once the females have their litters, freeze the pinks. Voila, snake food.

Now the females can go back into one tub to hang out until you need more snake food.

During breeding:
1 tub for the 2 males just hanging out
1 tub for the 1 male and 2 females

Once pregnant:
1 tub for males, 2 tubs for the nursing females

After they have the litter:
1 tub for females, 1 tub for males.

[Clear]

so after you remove the babies from the moms you can put all the males together?

[littleindiangirl]

So after you remove the babies from the moms you can put all the males together?

No, that's not what I wrote.

You dont want the females and males together when she has her litter.

Females are with males for 3 weeks.

After 3 weeks with the males, the females are taken away from males.

Females are put into their own tub for each girl. (1 tub per female)

while the females are with their litter, all the males will be together

after the females have their litters, the females can go back together.

[lunajl97]

I keep 1 male 2 female, the females can be housed together with the babies, they will help each other, this is great, as one of mine consistently has 17-20, and one has about 10, so it helps out the one with all the pups