Does anyone raise their own feeders?

[gsx2ts4u]

Does anyone raise their own mice for feeding?

Is it super hard? I have had mice before, as pets, so I know about taking care of them, but I have never had mice babies or anything like that.

too much work? or did you get totally loaded down with way too many?

I am guessing if I had too many i could share them.

Any experience with this?

I crave knowledge!

[xdeus]

Yes, there are quite a few people that breed their own feeders. Feel free to take a look at the forums designated for feeders here. (I went ahead and moved this message to the General Feeder forum) There is a ton of info already there.

To answer your questions... I don't think it's that difficult. It probably takes more work than caring for the snakes, but that's not saying much. As long as you have a good setup and routine, it's pretty easy... and fun.

[gsx2ts4u]

I am sorry!!! I guess I need to look a little better next time!!!

Thank you for moving this!

[Stewart_Reptiles]

I raise rats, asf, and mice

Is it work, yes it can be depending on the size of your colony.

Is it hard? Mice can be tricky to start but once you get started it is as easy as any other rodents.

The things to consider are whether or not it is worth it for you to breed; you also need to consider the time and the cost of breeding and as Lawrence mentioned you will find a lot of helpful info in our feeder section.

[Bettacreek]

If you've had pet mice before, I say go for it. I have a whole whopping 4 baby balls and one juvie corn, and I'm starting breeding, simply because I like rodents. Check your local petstores (don't bother with Petco or Petsmart) to see if you can trade excess mice in for store credit. This can cover your feed/bedding bill and probably extra mice later down the line for outcrossing. You could also probably sell some in the local classifieds for straight cash for whatever else.

[gsx2ts4u]

If I do decide to breed mice for feeding, I am not going to do it to save money.

Its kinda like why I make my own bread, just cause I can say, I made that, lol

We kinda like to diy around here, we make all our own cleaning stuff, diapers for the kids, our dogs eat a raw diet. stuff like that.

all our furniture my dh made, we are crafty people and sometimes it takes more money to diy then not to, but its just so we feel better about ourselves.. kwim?

[frankykeno]

We raise our own rats and african soft furred rats (never had much luck with mice). I like raising them partly for the cost savings, partly for the convenience of having so many sizes available to me to tailor to a particular snake's feeding needs that week but mostly because I love knowing the quality feeders that the snakes are getting.

I used to raise chickens, ducks and geese for our table much for the same reason. I really liked the idea that my kids were eating a chicken that I raised the way I wanted it raised for my table. Had a huge kitchen garden too, much for the same reasons. Wish I had the room to do that these days.

[greghall]

I raise asf's rats & mice,mice are tricky stinky devils they still eat their young alot hate them but my one ball is a mouser so I have to raise them.

[Bettacreek]

If I do decide to breed mice for feeding, I am not going to do it to save money.

Its kinda like why I make my own bread, just cause I can say, I made that, lol

We kinda like to diy around here, we make all our own cleaning stuff, diapers for the kids, our dogs eat a raw diet. stuff like that.

all our furniture my dh made, we are crafty people and sometimes it takes more money to diy then not to, but its just so we feel better about ourselves.. kwim?

Around here regular white bread is $1.25 per loaf. Homemade really is cheaper, but my husband refuses to eat it (only thing he won't eat that's homemade) and I'm not a bread eater, so, it's pointless here. Lol.

People are saying that mice eat their young a lot, however, I think a small time mouse breeder will be fine with this, especially if you're raising them for fun as well. The more handling a mouse gets, the less likely she's going to kill her litter because picking babies out for feeding isn't going to be as stressful on her as it may be for a mouse that never gets handled.

[Beardedragon]

Ive raised Gerbils, mice, rats, and asfs! So far all have been great. The rats of coarse grew well, but will soon out grow you even with alot of snakes should one male escape you( grow past med rat somehow) Mice grow slow and stink, but grew hugely in a short time. And asfs I have just started, stink less, and are nicely sized. Just have enough snakes to eat, nothing's worse than putting down ten+ rodents because you could not feed them off, I feel so bad doing so to put in the freezer once they start to get a little bit bigger than I want

Gerbil was a accident, bought her pregnant. Not really for balls but it is something they can eat that I have raised.