So I'm gonna add a thrid member to my snake collection very soon. I'm now contemplating whether it would be cheaper for me keep a small breeding colony of rat to feed my growing collection. I want to breed my 2 female balls when they get up to size in about a year so there will be at least one more male to add to the collection + however many babies that will eventually come. I hope that by that time i will have a self sufficiant colony of rats and rat babies so I don't have to get rape at the pet store for their rats. But from my research it seems like breeding rats aint exactly cheap either, have to factor in their food and wood shaving.

Is there any way to keep down the cost of rat breeding? For example using something cheaper than wood shaving? Feeding the rat human food/my dog's food?

I'm currently pay about $4 for a small rat if I have time to drive out further, if not the closest pet store sells small rats for $6 which would be almost $20 a week just to feed 3 snakes, i'm hoping i can do better than that by breeding my own. And no buying bulk in f/t isn't an option yet as i don't have a big enough collection nor do i have a extra freezer to store the rats in.

I realize that it take sometime to get the colony started but if this is ultimately going to save my money I really want to do it.


I have had alot of hamster in my childhood days, it wasn't that high maintain but i still have to refil its food every other day and switch out the shaving every other week. But hamster is nowhere as messy and stinky as rats. How much extra work am i look at per week?


or should i just forget all this and get a mini freezer