Is it worth it to switch??

[Mike Cavanaugh]

gotta ask. have you considered ASF's?

From what you describe... especially the cleaning part, rats aren't going to be much better. in my opinion, rats smell even worse then mice, because they are bigger, so there is a lot more pee and poop compared to mice! ASF tubs can go at least 2 - 3 weeks before needing to be cleaned. and when they do need to be cleaned, they still don't stink.

I have 8 ball pythons, a kingsnake, and a cornsnake. they ALL love the asf's! plus even when full grown they are not to0 big for a 800+ gram ball python.... so u can continue to feed live or prekilled.

they are the best moms / dads in the world!

[Argentra]

ASFs are too expensive to procure here (since there isn't a big time breeder of them that I know of) and they are too mean. Thanks for asking tho.

Oh, and another question on the rats: Is it alright to have just one female per tub? They would get attention during cleaning and food/water check times, but since they're such social animals I thought I'd make sure they'd be ok singly. I can't get bigger tubs since they wouldn't fit on that shelving.

[Safari777]

We switched a few months ago to rats and have not regretted it one iota. It has actually been quite entertaining. We actually end up with quite a few more than we need. Ten times more rats with ten times less odor. We're feeding a Rosy and 4 200-400g. Balls. The rates grow so fast there is only a small window before they are to big for our snakes. Litters have been 8-16. We are still working out the kinks, but I have not bought food for months.

[littleindiangirl]

Oh, and another question on the rats: Is it alright to have just one female per tub? They would get attention during cleaning and food/water check times, but since they're such social animals I thought I'd make sure they'd be ok singly. I can't get bigger tubs since they wouldn't fit on that shelving.

Good question, something i overlooked.

It is best to keep them in a social setting where ever possible. Now my original "layout" is sorta bust!

Only kidding. While the 2 females are waiting for males or resting, I would just stick them both into one tub or the other.

Remember, you can try different methods of nursing. Some people swear 2 females nursing to a tub works, but I see no need to add to the stress of raising a litter, much less having to deal with an over protective mother, or unmotivated, or baby stealer, or just crap in general.

My mothers do excellent raising a litter by themselves.

[Argentra]

That's pretty much what I figured. Thanks for the confirmation, tho. I thought they would be ok alone while raising a litter, but while resting they would be lonely.
Oh, and my snakes are all used to pre-killed not live, so that's one step closer to FT. And the corns don't care as long as it's a warm rodent.

Ok, I've figured out how to get the supplies for a CO2 chamber cheaply... now to figure out how to get the snakes onto rats. I suppose I could change the adult mice on my feeder card at the store to rats...