Getting the Ball Rolling

[CORBIN911]

Well mice, you dont want, bcz your snake will eat more then they can reproduce since such small meals, you want to get on Rats.. Secondly MOST big breeders feed live simply bcz they do have rats breeding, but iv pruchased a few live feeder snakes, and its not hard at all to make a transition, in the end they will eat to live, as they are opportunistic eaters, They wont starve themself to die...Like i said if your able to look for up coming Reptile Shows 1-2 hours away if not closer, Many people there feed F/T (it took me 1 live rat pup to transition my 1 250g bp to transfer from live mice to f/t rats aslong as u keep them dry wile thawing, warm the face up a lil more with a lightbulb/hair dryer and zombie walk it snake most likely will strike) but as i said at the reptile show alot of breeders there smaller ones feed F/T (from what iv found) as its easier to stockpile and worry free for snake... Although there are some snakes that well just never even look at F/T

[CORBIN911]

Well I am starting to wonder if I will even be able to buy a snake. Every snake I have looked at is eating live. Which would be awesome if I had a source for live prey here, but like I said the only option available to me for small prey is the frozen mice. Not sure what do next. But I clearly cant buy a snake that I can't feed. I have considered breeding mice, but I really don't want to go that way. From what I have read is I will have more baby mice then the 1 snake can eat and they will grow to a size they can not eat faster then the snake can eat them. Then what do you do with the larger mice? I really don't want a ton of rats/mice for pets! What am I missing?

Aswell you dont need to keep the mouse colony together, you can have separate tubs with males/females and a breeding tub when you need extra! IF you wanted to go that way.

[moorea]

I wish there were shows close to me. as it is the Grocery store is a 40 minute trip and everything else is even further. If I had to take a guess the closest show would be about 8 hours in the tacoma/seattle area. Maybe a little closer in spokane, but still a very long drive.

Well, maybe the issue with the guy I was looking at is he was slow to start feeding and is picky. So you are suggesting that if I purchase a snake that is eating live, it will not be hard to change it frozen. Will it be hard or unhealthy to then change it back to live once it is big enough to eat what they offer at petco that is live? If they accept both can you go back or forth in the event that petco is out of one or the other? Or is that unhealthy and confusing?

[CORBIN911]

I wish there were shows close to me. as it is the Grocery store is a 40 minute trip and everything else is even further. If I had to take a guess the closest show would be about 8 hours in the tacoma/seattle area. Maybe a little closer in spokane, but still a very long drive.

Well, maybe the issue with the guy I was looking at is he was slow to start feeding and is picky. So you are suggesting that if I purchase a snake that is eating live, it will not be hard to change it frozen. Will it be hard or unhealthy to then change it back to live once it is big enough to eat what they offer at petco that is live? If they accept both can you go back or forth in the event that petco is out of one or the other? Or is that unhealthy and confusing?

Neither of the two are healthy vs unhealthy, but BP's are finicky eaters i will say that, and once you get them on something it becomes a creature of habbit, Most will NEVER have a issue with live, this also helps entise them out of "feed strikes" so that in itself wont be an issue, but if you do try to get back to frozen its more of a "pain" once on frozen most people like to stay that way. Iv only ever had to buy a live here and there to attempt to break a hunger strike of fasting females id like to use sooner then later, then after 1-2 I can usually manage to get them back on to FT but, if you bounce to many times frozen maybe 100% not happen as they do like live more it seems.

[CORBIN911]

Just a suggestion if your not handy, these racks are inexpensive If you do choose this way

http://www.cserpents.com/C_Serpents_...Sub-Adult.html

http://www.apcages.com/home/

Just options, aswell they can make PVC cages if you do choose to go that route aswell. Or someone here could point you to a local reptile forum, (im canadian so mine is reptilescanada.ca but that will offer you little to no help)

[AlexisFitzy]

Well I am starting to wonder if I will even be able to buy a snake. Every snake I have looked at is eating live. Which would be awesome if I had a source for live prey here, but like I said the only option available to me for small prey is the frozen mice. Not sure what do next. But I clearly cant buy a snake that I can't feed. I have considered breeding mice, but I really don't want to go that way. From what I have read is I will have more baby mice then the 1 snake can eat and they will grow to a size they can not eat faster then the snake can eat them. Then what do you do with the larger mice? I really don't want a ton of rats/mice for pets! What am I missing?

I bought a yellow belly female from Justin Kobylka Reptiles and he feeds his snakes live rats the he breeds himself and she is my best water of f/t rats in my collection. She hasn't missed a meal. I also have another snake the was fed live that switched to f/t. I recommend buying one from Justin he has a large variety of morphs to choose from and he has a very vast knowledge/understanding of ball pythons. You can ask him about anything/tell him your concerns and he will help you out he's a great guy. Check out his site.

http://www.jkobylkareptiles.com

Edit: Haha sorry just realized you already knew about him. Definitely go with go Justin you won't be disappointed.

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[moorea]

Neither of the two are healthy vs unhealthy, but BP's are finicky eaters i will say that, and once you get them on something it becomes a creature of habbit, Most will NEVER have a issue with live, this also helps entise them out of "feed strikes" so that in itself wont be an issue, but if you do try to get back to frozen its more of a "pain" once on frozen most people like to stay that way. Iv only ever had to buy a live here and there to attempt to break a hunger strike of fasting females id like to use sooner then later, then after 1-2 I can usually manage to get them back on to FT but, if you bounce to many times frozen maybe 100% not happen as they do like live more it seems.

Please excuse my ignorance here, but i am not 100% getting this. All of the breeders I am looking at are currently feeding live to whatever I get (in most cases pup rats) but I do not have access to anything that is live and small enough to eat. Only frozen baby mice. It sounds like your answer is saying that it is easier to go from frozen to live. So I will potentially have a problem feeding a young snake that has been eating live pup rats frozen mice. But will not have a problem switching him back to live once he is big enough to eat what is available to me (assuming he doesn't starve before he gets that big). I do not want to bounce to many times. I just want to be sure I can get a young snake who has been eating live to switch to frozen and when he is big enough to eat the live I do have access to switch to that.

[moorea]

Just a suggestion if your not handy, these racks are inexpensive If you do choose this way

http://www.cserpents.com/C_Serpents_...Sub-Adult.html

http://www.apcages.com/home/

Just options, aswell they can make PVC cages if you do choose to go that route aswell. Or someone here could point you to a local reptile forum, (im canadian so mine is reptilescanada.ca but that will offer you little to no help)

I'm getting some what frustrated as most of the breeders I have contacted have not replied and for the 2 that did 1 no longer had the snake and the other said that particular snake will not do well switching from live to frozen. BUT and this is of course assuming I find a snake, I have definitely decided to go with Constrictors Northwest for my cage and pro products has responded so I will be going with Radiant Heat. They say there is no reason to go with under tank heat as well.

- - - Updated - - -

I bought a yellow belly female from Justin Kobylka Reptiles and he feeds his snakes live rats the he breeds himself and she is my best water of f/t rats in my collection. She hasn't missed a meal. I also have another snake the was fed live that switched to f/t. I recommend buying one from Justin he has a large variety of morphs to choose from and he has a very vast knowledge/understanding of ball pythons. You can ask him about anything/tell him your concerns and he will help you out he's a great guy. Check out his site.

http://www.jkobylkareptiles.com

Edit: Haha sorry just realized you already knew about him. Definitely go with go Justin you won't be disappointed.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I have only read good things about Justin. He was my first choice. Now I am keeping my fingers crossed that he gets back to me!

[AlexisFitzy]

It may take a couple days for him to get back to you but he definitely will! he will hook you up with an amazing little snake!


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[CORBIN911]

Just specifically ask him for a Frozen eater, some breeders do have those, And reason they feed live, is its easier overall on them, and upper weights they switch to Pre killed i believe, bcz they have there own rat colony's. I do not understand what you mean tho you can only get frozen mice pinkies and only live "Xx" im sure if you ask to order them youll be able to get some, Aswell there are many Frozen rat places that deliver to your door! So you can feed frozen its entire life. Remember a frozen rat can hold its nutrition for over a year, And buying from them will be much cheaper then a pet store.... you could potentially plan ahead, and assume you can put on close to 50-100g month.. being 4 feeds a month. With someone like that you may also be able to ask if he can prepare it on F/T a local breeder does that for his customers who do payment plans. If they intend to feed F/T he "trains" them persay to do this, Now again this is different then a GIANT breeder like J.K but its worth a shot.

3 Months of rat pups=12 pups
3 months of rat weanlings=12 weanlings
X amount of Small rats = I feed all my males small this is when they stop being fed bigger, as they dont need to become HUGE like the females,

To make it simple you could do

20 pups
20 weanlings
10 Small

(50+ rats give nice deals and free packaging here)

You could rougly pick that up for close to 55+/-$+shipping so roughly 75$ tax's in

Thats 75$ that will feed your snake for 8+months! (assuming he doesnt hunger strike around 400-700g)