Feeder Rodent Businesses Closing?

[KatStoverReptiles]

For awhile now I've been hearing "there's a shortage in rodents because a few big time suppliers have gone out of business." I know about Rodent Pro's issues with the zoonotic disease outbreak, but I haven't heard a peep about anybody else. There does seem to be a shortage out there, though. One website I went to posted that they're only accepting orders from current customers because demand is so high. Anybody know anything about this?

[carlson]

Right when I started breeding my own my buddy said I picked a good time to start cuz lot of businesses are going under he listed a few off

[Flikky]

I know the site you're talking about.. I buy from local people at shows so I haven't been paying attention to the big people

[wolfy-hound]

Rodent breeding as a business seems to go in cycles(like most things). While there's usually a few big names that stay around... and some small ones that also stick around... there's always some people who get into breeding rodents, figure they have enough to sell extra... need to expand because of demand... get too big, get overwhelmed, get tired of it, don't make enough money... and they leave. So for a while there will be lots of breeders and tons of available rodents. The price might drop some, because breeders are competing for business. As the price drops, the profit margins shrinks, and businesses shut down because they have to put too much money and effort into producing rodents that they barely make any profit off of. As some businesses close, the demand goes up, the price increases, and there's a shortage of rodents, and new people think "Hey, I should breed some extra rodents..." and the cycle begins again.

It's easy to see it locally, where I think about 4 different large breeders have come and gone in my general vicinity. None of them had a catastrophic issue, it was just that cleaning/feeding/etc for the lower profits just didn't make economic sense and they closed down. Some of the big companies tend to have contracts supplying places like zoos too, and that's a good steady income.

[West Coast Jungle]

IMO one of the reasons there is a shortage is because the reptile/snake industry has grown exponentially for years now and the feeder business has not. In other words every year you have more and more folks who get into snakes and start collections but you don't have the same growth with feeder rodents.

Breeding rodents takes a lot of work and there are no days off. They need food and water every day even if you have rack systems and watering systems they must be checked everyday or you could loose large numbers of rodents from floods or clogged lines or temperature spikes, etc.. I breed rodents and Christmas day before I went to see family I had to see my rodents, there are no days off. Luckily I have a partner so someone is always making sure everything is OK. As mentioned before many times someone new pops in and drops prices to pick up business only to soon realize it's a lot of work and isn't worth it. Costs of food and bedding keep rising but yet everyone wants the cheapest prices. I have heard of breeders who build up clients only to loose them to someone else who under cuts them and eventually both of them go out of business because the work is endless and the profits just aren't there. And again the demand keeps growing so in the long run the cheap prices aren't necessarily good when no one wants to do it anymore and rodent suppliers start vanishing.

[PatriotPythons]

Rodent breeding is a nightmare because the consumer is cheap. Everyone is thinking it. I said it.

If anyone knew what it cost to raise a rat from a pink to Jumbo size they would poop right in their pants.

The only way to be successful and profitable in breeding rodents is to put animals together when they are way to young to be breeding, keep them pumping out babies in the most high density system you can, accept a high mortality rate under those conditions, and then replace your breeding stock every four or five litters to keep up with the people that want large and jumbo rats.

It is a disgusting industry. FILTHY disgusting.

If you had any idea what a large scale, profitable rodent breeding facility looked like a lot of you would cry.

[wilomn]

Rodent breeding is a nightmare because the consumer is cheap. Everyone is thinking it. I said it.

If anyone knew what it cost to raise a rat from a pink to Jumbo size they would poop right in their pants.

The only way to be successful and profitable in breeding rodents is to put animals together when they are way to young to be breeding, keep them pumping out babies in the most high density system you can, accept a high mortality rate under those conditions, and then replace your breeding stock every four or five litters to keep up with the people that want large and jumbo rats.

It is a disgusting industry. FILTHY disgusting.

If you had any idea what a large scale, profitable rodent breeding facility looked like a lot of you would cry.

Have you got any personal experience with rodent raising or are you just passing along what you've gleaned off youtube? Do you or have you ever raised large number of rodents? How many for how long, if you have?

[satomi325]

Rodent breeding is a nightmare because the consumer is cheap. Everyone is thinking it. I said it.

If anyone knew what it cost to raise a rat from a pink to Jumbo size they would poop right in their pants.

The only way to be successful and profitable in breeding rodents is to put animals together when they are way to young to be breeding, keep them pumping out babies in the most high density system you can, accept a high mortality rate under those conditions, and then replace your breeding stock every four or five litters to keep up with the people that want large and jumbo rats.

It is a disgusting industry. FILTHY disgusting.

If you had any idea what a large scale, profitable rodent breeding facility looked like a lot of you would cry.

You're complaining about the one or two exceptions.
And I really don't think you know what you're talking about either.


More than half the people here on this forum breed their own rodents.
And while I don't do this, the most preferable method is harem breeding. No one has had any of the issues you are saying regarding the health of the animals in general(give or take the stray exception here and there). I'm inclined to say, the rats probably live better than most pet rats. And general rule of thumb is to breed a female for about a year or until you see a decrease in her litter size.

And Wrong! It is not the most profitable to start animals too young for breeding. Quite the opposite really. Smaller and younger rats don't produce enough pups or any at all. And if they do, you're right, the mortality rate is high. No body wants a breeder that isn't producing any feedable feeders. That's counter productive. Breeding larger females is always better. They have larger litters more successfully. The pup mortality rate is low.

I don't breed on a huge scale, but its large enough that requires me to have a litter once a week or two. I breed pet quality animals and specialize in certain coats,colors, and ears. I never had issues selling my rats. I refuse to sell my rats at feeder prices actually. My asking price is reasonable and still cheaper than pet store pet rats, but people still pay more. The last guy who picked up 2 dumbos gave me $30 when I asked for half of that.

I sell pet rats to pay for my breeding operation. Selling $30 worth of pets is enough to pay for the supplies and food. 50# bag of food is $27 a month. Bedding is $3 a month. The rats pay for themselves, thus my snakes eat for free(not including my time and effort maintaining the colony).

The rest of the rats not sold are fed to my snakes and ferrets. I breed my own rats because its easier and cheaper than buying from a supplier. Plus I feed live. I also choose to breed my own because I want my snakes to get quality food. I know what goes into my rats, thus I know what goes into my snakes.


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[Mrl249]

I agree with satomi,

We breed out rats on a small scale, well I guess you can say its growing... At the moment we have about 150 pinkys, and about..... 25 breeders, (about 1.4 ratio)
Each mom is placed in an individual tub once she is recognizably pregnant.We believe this to definitely lower the mortality rate and stress level on both the babies/mom.

My wife sells rats (colors, hairless, dumbos, you name it she probably has it). She sells them locally as pets. We also have enough to feed all 17 of our snakes. Plus,i just got my little ASF project started.

We (when I say we, I mean I clean out all the cages once a week. Which usually takes about two hours altogether. Not bad for being able to enjoy our snakes

All this started off as a way to save money and its really really helped. I can GUARANTEE if I did not breed rats, we would not be able to keep snakes. I also think we benefit because we know what the rats are eating, what conditions they are kept in and what is eventually going into our snakes, instead of just hoping the rodents you just bought we're properly taken care of and don't carry something. :/


Every Month 1/2:

Aspen --(4.38 compressed cubic feet)
$14.00

Bag of quality dog food (40 lbs)
$20.00

We do just fine on a small budget. I have never paid attention to the big time rat breeders. (Except for Rodent Pro's outbreak it was all over the forum). I guess we just have no need to, the rats pay for themselves.

[PatriotPythons]

I had a whole big long post typed out, but its not worth posting. If you guys want to kill the messenger than so be it.

Just remember, I didn't name names. I didn't call anyone out. I just pointed out what I've seen with my own two eyes.

I went out to Pennsylvania dutch country a few years back to buy a guy out of rats. He was keeping them on turkey bedding, about the dirtiest pine known to man, and all he fed them was hard corn. That is not an isolated incident. It happens all over the place.

Has anyone ever bought frozen jumbos and thawed them out to find out that they had their throats slit? I won't say all, because I can't verify it, but a lot of those rats are from labs. They experiment on them, then they give the carcasses away if you know who to talk to. These rats are very often sold as feeders at reptile shows. Its not cool in my book, but I don't have to live with the guilt of doing it because I don't do it.

Its a thankless industry and highly competitive and people cut corners all the time for the sake of making an extra ten cents per rat.

I am at full production if I have 180 pairs running. That would be 30 racks full of rats for me. I don't venture into the sales end because of what I have seen. I could never compete with the factory farms.

I thank you guys for your concern, but please don't shoot the messenger. I'm not the bad guy here.

I breed just enough rats to feed my retics and supply a few close friends with food for their snakes, bird, dogs etc and some people do buy rats from me as pets. I only breed them in pairs. I probably do it the least cost efficient way that there is LOL, but I like to keep track of the production and improve the species while I am at it.