Thanks John! Im definitely going to start out with a small colony and see how it takes off.


Quote Originally Posted by littleindiangirl View Post
You can more than likely get away with two females and two males if you can feed FT and only have the 3 BP's.

http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...=809521#809521

If in case you've read that already, can you perhaps reform your questions a bit clearer? I dont quite understand what you are really all asking.
Connie, thanks for that link! I've read it before, but not too carefully. With them eating .83 lbs per week (not month... oops), it still seems to be cheaper than buying every week, especially with the pinkies I could feed my other snakes at the time being.
Also, quoting your thread,

Quote Originally Posted by littleindiangirl
To breed = $146
I assumed 12 breeder females (to produce 10 feeders per week) and 2 males * $4 = $56 + Monthly Food/Bedding = $15 * 6 month = $90 (and you have to buy/build housing for all of them = $??)
so it looks to me like the feeding cost for 14 rats is $15 a month-- not too shabby.

To rephrase my other questions:
-What is the maturation rate of ASF vs. regular rats (to full grown ASF, or medium rat size)
-why should you or should you not use shredded newspaper as a substrate?
-How much does it cost per rat (normal or ASF) per month? And how many babies can I expect of feeding size per cost of feeding the rats?

Thanks