to breed or not to breed?

[CntrlF8]

Well, here's my situation..

Right now I've got a total of 4 BP's, 1 eats ONLY live adult mice (2 per week), 2 will eat anything I give them, live or dead, and the 4th is too new to tell, but for sure will eat live fuzzy mice (he ate 2 last night as soon as I got him home.) Feeders around here are not cheap. I figure, if I went with mice only, I'd need 5-7 adults per week. At $2 each at the pet store, that's $10-14. If I drive to my local herp shop, which is 20 miles away, it's $1.50 each plus gas, which might as well be $2 each total. That's not even considering the price difference if I wanted to get rats for the ones who will eat them.

So, at a minimum of $10-14 per week, would it be economically feasible to just breed my mice, feed live to the ones that require it, and freeze the rest? I'm not sure what the cost of food and supplies is for mice, but it seems to me it's probably less than $40-60/mo...

[JLC]

Moved this to the "Feeder" forum for ya...you'll likely get more replies here than in the "For Sale" area.

[CntrlF8]

Moved this to the "Feeder" forum for ya...you'll likely get more replies here than in the "For Sale" area.

haha, oops...

[lord jackel]

So, at a minimum of $10-14 per week, would it be economically feasible to just breed my mice, feed live to the ones that require it, and freeze the rest? I'm not sure what the cost of food and supplies is for mice, but it seems to me it's probably less than $40-60/mo...

If you are able to feed live and then feed F/T when needed...then Yes breeding feeders would be a better option for you. Initially the cost of setup (housing, water bottles, food, bedding) will run you extra but once setup then the cost to maintain the breeding colony is relatively low (compared to buying mice each week)

I can tell you mice are not easy to breed (when compared to rats). You will basically need to put 1 male and 2-3 females together and then NOT mess with them till the girls are near to give birth. Then remove the male and again do NOT mess with them again till you are ready to feed off the babies. Mice have a tendency to eat their young when stressed and they stress easily.

If you have any questions just let us know and I am sure we can help get you started.

FWIW...I did the math and it would cost me about $400 in feeders each month (if I had to buy them) vs. $0.46 each to breed rats. (this is just to feed the 30 or so that I have)

[frankykeno]

Mice do have a strong smell so I wouldn't be wanting to breed them unless I had a basement or totally seperate room for them. Everytime I've tried to breed the little boogers either they ate their own young or they stunk up my nice rat area. Maybe I'm just really reactive to the smell of mice but to me...they stink big time no matter how often I change their bedding.

[lord jackel]

Mice do have a strong smell so I wouldn't be wanting to breed them unless I had a basement or totally seperate room for them. Everytime I've tried to breed the little boogers either they ate their own young or they stunk up my nice rat area. Maybe I'm just really reactive to the smell of mice but to me...they stink big time no matter how often I change their bedding.

Joanna...Have you tried Woody Pet? (or one of the other pine pellet litters)

My daughter has 4 pet mice (all boys) and I agree with you they stink...but once we switched to Pine Pellets the smell is basically gone (and these are in her bedroom with her)...all my rats are on this stuff now as well...just an idea.

[frankykeno]

Unfortunately Sean I can't seem to find that product in Toledo so I've been searching for something similar. Happily we now have all the snakes on rats.

[lord jackel]

Unfortunately Sean I can't seem to find that product in Toledo so I've been searching for something similar. Happily we now have all the snakes on rats.

An equivalent product is called Equine Fresh and is sold at Tractor Supply Stores. I have also heard that stove pellets are basically the same thing and I would think those would be available at home improvement stores once the weather changes.

But I agree rats are the way to go...for those few that don't like rats they LOVE ASF so I am covered either way.

[frankykeno]

Yep we're covered too or soon will be. One of our new ASF females is pretty much a round ball with a head and four legs sticking out LOL. We should be seeing our first ASF litter any day now.

[CntrlF8]

ASF? not familiar with that...