feeding issue

[Sita]

If the main reason you don't feed F/T is because it takes too long and/or it's easier, than breeding your own feeders is not the solution. The time and money you spend taking care of the feeders is way more than the time spent thawing. And unless you produce a lot of extra to sell, it's not going to save you any money either.

[MrLang]

I breed rats and started with 2.4 for 6 snakes. I wind up with 50+ rats from each set of litters. This has resulted in a fairly full freezer rather quickly. I will say that the rat breeders have become my buddies and I rather enjoy selecting new hold backs and looking at all the colors and patterns that pop out. I have even been able to sell some as pets for 15 bucks a pop. If you wind up with excess and only want to feed live, you could always gas the extras and sell them locally. At 2 bucks a pop you'll end up paying for all the food and bedding for free and the whole thing will cost you nothing but time.

[rossi46]

If the main reason you don't feed F/T is because it takes too long and/or it's easier, than breeding your own feeders is not the solution.

I'm glad this was pointed out!

If I read correctly, you have 4 snakes. If you're feeding them once a week, that's 4 thawed rodents per week. At least for me, thawing a single rodent takes about 30 seconds to pull the baggie out of the freezer, and lay the rodent on a paper towel to thaw. I usually do this right as I'm preparing dinner for myself and my girlfriend, so there's no "wasted time" waiting for the rodent to thaw.

In fact, I'll even use the heat of the oven (we seem to always be cooking something in the oven on Monday nights) to warm up the rodent to 100* right before going to the snake cage for feeding. My piebald eats every time with zero hesitation.

I'd imagine that doing this for 4 rodents instead of one might add, at the most, a few minutes to the complete process. IMHO, it seems hard to figure how tackling a rat breeding project would somehow take less time. Especially since the rest of the week, you'd spend exactly 0 minutes on "maintaining" the frozen rodents while they sit in the freezer.

[Lesserlove]

Interesting on the ASF maybe if I ever have the space I will breed those. I like less stink haha. Oh also, I have one snake right now that eats f/t and I hate the time it takes to thaw compared to live. But one thing that helped me a bit was putting the rat in the fridge the night before feeding day, then it pretty much thaws itself. Of course it's not at optimal temp but it's way faster than the original ratscicle.

[Sita]

To add another example of the time factor, on the weeks that every one of my snakes eat (7 total) it only takes 30 minutes max to feed everybody, and that's including the warming time. I put everything in the fridge the night before (1 minute), then when I'm ready to feed, the large rats go into warm water for about 10 minutes, then 5-10 more minutes in hot water, then feed (5 minutes). While that stuff is warming, the small rats/mice go into hot water for 5 minutes, then feed.

Compare that to the 6-7 hours per week of taking care of my feeder/breeder rats and mice: feeding, making sure they have water, cleaning cages, etc. Or even compare it to the time it takes to drive to the store every week, pick out feeders, check out, and drive home.

And yes, even though I breed my own, I only feed F/T or pre-killed (only 1 snake refuses F/T). That's because I don't want the slightest chance that someone could get bit, scratched, maimed, or heaven forbid, killed, by a feisty feeder.

[Kaorte]

It takes you 6 hours to take care of your rats during the week? I check on them a couple times a day and refill water like, 3 times a week. Weekly cleaning takes me MAX 2 hours.. So at most I spend 3 hours with my rats per week. It is probably less than that.

Everyone works differently I guess, but for me, thawing rats is the most annoying thing to do. Sure I put them in the fridge the night before... but the time consuming part happens when I have to dangle rats for 20+ snakes. Many of them don't strike right away so I am either dangling for 5 minutes per snake, or I leave it in overnight which results in some (not all) uneaten prey items. I don't refreeze any rats that I have already thawed out. Its just gross.

There comes a point in snake keeping where you either make the decision to breed your own feeders, or you just have a huge stock of F/T. Breeding works well for me because I always have the right size rat on hand. The only downside to breeding ASF is that I need to make sure any babies I produce will take a couple F/T rat pups before they are sold.

[Gerardo]

I feed live and it doesnt take 30 minutes. It takes about 5 minutes. And i dont mind caring for rats. I just find live feedings more convinient. Its the freshest food i can provide.

[Sita]

It takes you 6 hours to take care of your rats during the week? I check on them a couple times a day and refill water like, 3 times a week. Weekly cleaning takes me MAX 2 hours.. So at most I spend 3 hours with my rats per week. It is probably less than that.

Heh, I have a LOT of rats and mice! I breed not only for myself, but I sell extras to a friend of mine with 9 snakes, and whoever hits me up on Craigslist. I suppose some of that time is also spent deciding who to pair up next, as most of them are in a rotating system (instead of harem) for the health of the mothers.

I agree there comes a point when it IS worth the time and money spent breeding only for yourself. I suppose that number is different for everyone, but I'd think it's at least 10 snakes. Even if I had 7 snakes all the same size, it still wouldn't be worth it to breed my own if I wasn't selling extra.

the time consuming part happens when I have to dangle rats for 20+ snakes

I can understand the time factor of warming them up for a large number of snakes, but isn't the dangle time about the same amount of time it takes to supervise each feeding? One should never leave a live feeder and snake unattended until the rat is in coils and unable to bite.

[Kaorte]

I can understand the time factor of warming them up for a large number of snakes, but isn't the dangle time about the same amount of time it takes to supervise each feeding? One should never leave a live feeder and snake unattended until the rat is in coils and unable to bite.

That is debatable. I don't sit there and stare at each one until they strike. I go down the line and drop the rat in. I listen for a "THUNK" and then I check once to make sure the rat is gone. If I don't hear a strike I give the snake about 15 minutes. If it isn't eaten within 15 minutes, then I take it out and offer it to someone else or put it back in rat tub.

A rat is not just going to attack the snake out of nowhere. And it surely won't do enough damage in 15 minutes. I just don't have hours to spend sitting there watching my 30+ snakes eat.

I've had a rat bite the snake on occasion and let me tell you, it isn't a big deal. Sometimes I can't even find where on the snake it got bit because its not even noticeable. Bites heal within one shed cycle.