Little food question.

[CptJack]

Here is your problem with breeding food for live feeders.

They grow. It takes 3 weeks for them to gestate, how big it takes them to get to size depends on what size you need, and then they keep growing the four (six, seven, ten, however many babies) weeks between the first meal and the last one. If you're feeding, for instance, pups now that first pup will be ready at 2-3 weeks. Unfortunately, the fourth will then be bigger than your snake can handle. If you end up with a larger litter and don't cull down, the ninth and tenth will certainly be. If you're feeding larger rats, you'll have longer to wait and unless you're feeding VERY large rats now, they're still going to outgrow your snake. Then there's the gap for gestation and growth where they're too SMALL and you have to go out and buy more food, anyway.

This is why most people who breed rodents for their snakes have multiple snakes and multiple litters, or pre-kill and freeze themselves. The practicals don't work for a single snake. You're either going to end up with more rats than you can feed when they're the right size, or with 6 weeks or so gap of having to go to the petstore anyway, with a week or two of 'in house' food. Or, realistically, both. Too many rats AND going to the petstore to buy food for 6 out of 8 or so weeks anyway.

No, nothing else is going to be any faster, and they probably will be more expensive. You might do better with mice, but only in as much as they won't outgrow your snake and you can feed multiples. Downside? You have to wait for them to get to size and that's still a good 6 weeks or so.