Where do you get rodents from?

[sattva]

I ordered my first online rodent purchase from Rodent Pro...
50 Rats: Fuzzies @ $.75 ($37.50)
20 Rats: Small @ $1.50 ($30.00)
20 Rats: Medium @ $1.75 ($35.00)

Sub-Total: $102.50

S&H: $29.00 (Cost of packing materials, dry ice, and insurance are included.)

Order Total: $131.50

I had been getting my rats from my local reptile store and last time they asked me to preorder my rats so I don't run them out... So I called last week and they said they could not take my order over the phone... Well.... I have been wanting to try Rodent Pro so they made it easy on me.... I didn't want to spend $131.50 this time of year but this will last me 4 to 5 months...

It got me think! Where is everybody else getting their rodents from?

[trailblazer295]

I've bought from local stores but now I stock up at expos. We don't have the same shipping options you do south of the border. Expos are much cheaper, last expo small rats were $1.75 and they are $6 at local store. So now I have a deep freeze in the basement for feeders and my own food lol

[bigsnakegirl785]

I usually get them from Big Cheese, but Big Cheese is currently out of all rats small or larger, and my back up Perfect Prey is also out of small rats...which is extremely inconvenient for me as I have 0 rodents atm thanks to a fridge failure. I can get everything BUT small rats at Perfect Prey, but the only other source I trust is Layne Labs and their prices are ridiculous. Just to order the small rats will give me an additional $170. I could probably get all of my food for half a year at Perfect Prey for right around $300 with the small rats included, but Layne Labs everything will run me over $500 for half a year.

With Christmas coming up if I don't order them this week, I won't be able to get any in until January, and many of my snakes will have gone a month without food now. :/

At this point I may have to trust Rodent Pro won't kill my snakes and get at least the small rats from them because $170 for a handful of small rats is excessive.

[ThirteenRavens]

If I order online, I order from Layne Labs (I think they're located in California) I can order smaller quantities of different types (mice and rats) since I have 7 snakes of various sizes...good quality, quick shipping with dry ice still in the box upon arrival (which is fun to play with!). Since I have moved back to my home state I've been getting my rodents from PetSmart (so expensive...) for the time being as both of my freezers are full of other things so I don't have room for big bulk orders atm.

[EL Ziggy]

Good luck with RP sattva. I didn't have the best experience with them. I use Perfect Prey as my primary supplier and I'm very happy with them. I only wish they carried quail. Big Cheese is great too but they're often sold out of the medium and large rats I need. Layne Labs was the first online supplier I bought from. They're top notch but a bit more expensive than the others.

[Minkness]

I am also a perfect prey advocate. Even tried to sell my local reptile store on them but they stay with RP because they get a killer deal and get massive loads. I goto them when I need to fill a gap, but mostly, Inonly go through Perfect Prey.

[Tsubaki]

And here I go driving for 3h to get my snakefood... :D

[sattva]

I usually get them from Big Cheese, but Big Cheese is currently out of all rats small or larger, and my back up Perfect Prey is also out of small rats...which is extremely inconvenient for me as I have 0 rodents atm thanks to a fridge failure. I can get everything BUT small rats at Perfect Prey, but the only other source I trust is Layne Labs and their prices are ridiculous. Just to order the small rats will give me an additional $170. I could probably get all of my food for half a year at Perfect Prey for right around $300 with the small rats included, but Layne Labs everything will run me over $500 for half a year.

With Christmas coming up if I don't order them this week, I won't be able to get any in until January, and many of my snakes will have gone a month without food now. :/

At this point I may have to trust Rodent Pro won't kill my snakes and get at least the small rats from them because $170 for a handful of small rats is excessive.
What do you mean when you said that you may have to trust Rodent Pro won't kill your snakes? Am I missing something here?

[dave himself]

Wow I didn't realise I lucky I am I just pick mine up any Saturday when I'm in the shop :eek:

[akane]

Local breeders. For now I don't use that much and my snakes are growing so I buy about 6 of a type at a time. Within the month they might be ready to go up a size or switch from mice to young rats.

[eminart]

I'm lucky enough to have a good local reptile store. They're nice people who do things the right way. I like supporting them and I really don't have enough snakes to make it worthwhile to order online anyway.

[serpentgirl123]

1st: Big Cheese
2nd: Reptile Deli
3rd: Rodent Pro
4th: Perfect Prey
5th: American Rodent
6th: Local Herp Show (only comes twice a year and others are States' over and not at convenient times for me).

[Minkness]

Why is rodent pro before perfect prey? Just curious. =)

[Aayrick]

I get mine a few at a time from a local store. Shipping them to Alaska through the suppliers others have mentioned is prohibitively expensive for me. Shipping is stupidly expensive when coming to Alaska. I looked into it, order itself was about $100.00, shipping was around $150.00.

[SWDK]

I only buy at the Hamburg reptile show. It's every other month so I need to buy enough to last 2 months at a time. I get some good prices so I don't try to buy elsewhere.

[Humble308]

I prefer Rodent Pro myself. I know their reputation is not highly regarded by alot of folks but they have provided clean rodents every time I've bought them.

I've tried Big Cheese twice and I was initially excited about them as I only live about 15 mins away from their facility, but I doubt I'll ever be using them again. In both cases when I opened up my bags the stench of urine was overwhelming. The rats were dirty as well and several had feces on their feet and fur. Not to mention local pickup is a major PITA mostly because of their odd business hours.

I had an order put together on Layne Labs and went to go check out only to find that shipping was around $70, which is ridiculous

RP seemed to be the only place that had everything I needed rodent wise as well as trying some quail.

All the best

[sattva]

I prefer Rodent Pro myself. I know their reputation is not highly regarded by alot of folks but they have provided clean rodents every time I've bought them.

I've tried Big Cheese twice and I was initially excited about them as I only live about 15 mins away from their facility, but I doubt I'll ever be using them again. In both cases when I opened up my bags the stench of urine was overwhelming. The rats were dirty as well and several had feces on their feet and fur. Not to mention local pickup is a major PITA mostly because of their odd business hours.

I had an order put together on Layne Labs and went to go check out only to find that shipping was around $70, which is ridiculous

RP seemed to be the only place that had everything I needed rodent wise as well as trying some quail.

All the best
I'm glad to hear some positive feedback... Ya I looked at Layne Labs and they wanted $45.oo for shipping and I only live a couple of hundred miles away... Come on! I guess I'll find out next week... As long as their clean and healthy I'll be happy... :)

[Piggybuns]

My first purchase on rodents was Rodent Pro. I had some dirt on my pinkies, which was kind of gross. After that I ordered from Perfect Prey because I heard nothing but good things about them, and their shipping was actually cheaper for me. So I only order from PP now. I take public transit and that + store price for rodents just isn't happening; I'd rather bulk order online and stock up my food that way.

I'll have to look into a few others mentioned in this thread so far. Big Cheese seems to be well received but for some reason I've never heard of them.

[Minkness]

I've tried to order from big cheese a few times but every time I go, they are lut of half of what I need. PP has never let me down and I love their vacuume sealee packaging.

[bigsnakegirl785]

What do you mean when you said that you may have to trust Rodent Pro won't kill your snakes? Am I missing something here?

They've had reports of zoonotic outbreaks that killed snakes, so I'm just supremely paranoid about using them. Some people say it's fake but when the other facilities I use have no such allegations I'd rather be safe than sorry. :)

I get mine a few at a time from a local store. Shipping them to Alaska through the suppliers others have mentioned is prohibitively expensive for me. Shipping is stupidly expensive when coming to Alaska. I looked into it, order itself was about $100.00, shipping was around $150.00.

I live in NC and that's about the average shipping cost I pay (except nearly double at Layne Labs). Then again I'm ordering for like 13 snakes. haha Not sure how much you're buying.

I prefer Rodent Pro myself. I know their reputation is not highly regarded by alot of folks but they have provided clean rodents every time I've bought them.

I've tried Big Cheese twice and I was initially excited about them as I only live about 15 mins away from their facility, but I doubt I'll ever be using them again. In both cases when I opened up my bags the stench of urine was overwhelming. The rats were dirty as well and several had feces on their feet and fur. Not to mention local pickup is a major PITA mostly because of their odd business hours.

I had an order put together on Layne Labs and went to go check out only to find that shipping was around $70, which is ridiculous

RP seemed to be the only place that had everything I needed rodent wise as well as trying some quail.

All the best

Yeah, variations in experience with companies seems to vary a lot from what I've seen....

I usually order from BC, but when I had to order rats BC was out so I used PP. The rats smelled heavily of urine and had feces on them, which I don't like too much but it's whatever. I just washed them off. After a few months the smell went away. I've never had even a whiff of urine or a drop of feces in my BC orders, but as others say they're out of rats A LOT and most of my snakes are on rats now that they've grown some.


I ended up ordering a small order of rodents from Perfect Prey because with the holidays coming up I won't have a chance until they start shipping again in January. Layne Labs is too expensive to justify, and Big Cheese is out of the things I need most: rats. We'll see how this order turns out!

[aaron_cg]

Searching for a local source would be your best bet. If there are local facebook groups for reptiles in your area, that's how I connected with my source.

Right now I have a small collection of 4 snakes, but I would estimate I spend $200 a year to feed all of them by buying in bulk from this guy.

Keep in mind that any online retailer will have big shipping cost due to having to overnight ship as well as having to pack ice-packs to insure your feeders don't defrost.

[aaron_cg]

They've had reports of zoonotic outbreaks that killed snakes, so I'm just supremely paranoid about using them. Some people say it's fake but when the other facilities I use have no such allegations I'd rather be safe than sorry. :)

Right now the most common Zoonotic is Strep Zoo. Unfortunately its going around the shelters right now and there is no cure.

[NeverLift]

I stock up at the reptile expo, there are a few dealers but I always stick with the local guys who have been there the longest- komodo reptiles.
I've got it down to a science how much to buy. I used to run out have have to buy expensive feeder rats from the pet store, if they even had any available.

[Thatjanelady]

I just got mine from petco but I am only feeding one snake.

[serpentgirl123]

Why is rodent pro before perfect prey? Just curious. =)


No worries :) For me, it is mostly a shipping and sometimes a price cost thing. Nothing to do with the quality of their products. I have gotten excellent rodents from all of them. Rodentpro and Big Cheese are closer in shipping for me given where I live and tend to have more "deals." Also Perfect Prey tends to sell out faster on what I normally need (small, medium, and large rats).

[sattva]

Well... Bigsnakegirl got me reading... I guess you all pretty much know all this but it turns out that back in 2012 RodentPro learned that a portion of the mouse breeding colonies {around 20%} at one of its suppliers tested positive for Lymphocytic Choriomeningitis virus, known as LCMV. It never infected the rats or any of their other animals... Only 14 orders went out before they caught it... They eradicated their entire mouse population and started over... They seem to take care of the problem right away... So I'm not to worried... As far as the urine smell goes isn't that like chocolate on strawberries to them?

[cameronlyt]

Please do not use the online company Perfectprey! the products are horribly inconsistent in size and quality and the staff is extremely rude when you try to express your concerns. Do not waste your time or money because if you do get lucky and receive halfway decent feeders it takes a week to receive them. I am located in Florida as are they and about 2 hours away from their shipping location and after paying the ridiculous $17.50 for overnight delivery on December 14 it is now December 20 and i have not received my order. When i contacted them they said that while the website says it is next day that doesn't really mean next day. Do not post information on your websites shipping page if you know it is inaccurate. My order was placed before end of business day on Wednesday as per their policy i was told that i should have sent it out earlier in the day as if i am a mind reader! if there is a cut off time to order then post that information on your shipping policy page. To make things worse they decided to wait until the following Monday to even send it to fed ex instead of utilizing the 3 other normal delivery days that fed ex ships on. Anyone who has purchased frozen feeders know they are time sensitive and when you order them its for a reason, THIS IS MY PETS FOOD! not like i can run to the corner store and grab some and if i did have a local pet food store i really wouldn't have thought there was a need seeing how the website says it is next day. Maybe a courtesy email telling me that do to time constraints i would not receive my order for 6 days so i could cancel and purchase them elsewhere!

[bigsnakegirl785]

Please do not use the online company Perfectprey! the products are horribly inconsistent in size and quality and the staff is extremely rude when you try to express your concerns. Do not waste your time or money because if you do get lucky and receive halfway decent feeders it takes a week to receive them. I am located in Florida as are they and about 2 hours away from their shipping location and after paying the ridiculous $17.50 for overnight delivery on December 14 it is now December 20 and i have not received my order. When i contacted them they said that while the website says it is next day that doesn't really mean next day. Do not post information on your websites shipping page if you know it is inaccurate. My order was placed before end of business day on Wednesday as per their policy i was told that i should have sent it out earlier in the day as if i am a mind reader! if there is a cut off time to order then post that information on your shipping policy page. To make things worse they decided to wait until the following Monday to even send it to fed ex instead of utilizing the 3 other normal delivery days that fed ex ships on. Anyone who has purchased frozen feeders know they are time sensitive and when you order them its for a reason, THIS IS MY PETS FOOD! not like i can run to the corner store and grab some and if i did have a local pet food store i really wouldn't have thought there was a need seeing how the website says it is next day. Maybe a courtesy email telling me that do to time constraints i would not receive my order for 6 days so i could cancel and purchase them elsewhere!

1) $17.50 is actually ridiculously CHEAP for overnight shipping on dry ice. You're either only getting a handful of rodents or it's cheaper because you're in-state.

2) They ship Mondays and Tuesdays. If you ordered it last Wednesday they won't have shipped it until yesterday. They only ship orders on Mondays if the order was made by a certain time, just because you ordered it last Wed doesn't mean you're going to get it that Thursday or even Friday. If you're getting 2-3 day shipping times like me, expect the package to arrive this Wed or Thurs. Did you not get a Fedex tracking number in an e-mail?

THIS IS IN THEIR INFORMATION PAGE.

Shipping - Feeder Rodents: Frozen Feeder Rodents - PerfectPrey.com (http://www.perfectprey.com/shipping/)

"Our orders may require a one, two or three day transit time by FedEx, depending on the destination. For example, if your order is shipped out Monday with a 2 day transit time, it should arrive on Wednesday."

"To ensure that all packages arrive by Friday, we utilize the following shipping schedule:

3-Day Packages: Mondays only (for delivery Thursday)
2-Day Packages: Mondays and Tuesdays (for delivery Wednesday and Thursday, respectively)
1-Day Packages: Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays (for delivery Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, respectively)"

"To guarantee your order will go out on these days, it must be placed by 11:00 PM on Sunday. If it is received after this time, it is possible that it may still be shipped out that week, but it is not guaranteed."

The order has to be placed by that SUNDAY, not that Wednesday. So, when you ordered last Wednesday, that order was for next week. You would have had to have ordered your rodents by 11pm on Dec 11 to have gotten your rodents last week.

Your order is on time.

(I suppose if you had ordered last Monday or Tuesday you MAY have gotten it last week, but ordering the day of on their last shipping day doesn't give them time to process and ship out your order.)

[aaron_cg]

Please do not use the online company Perfectprey! the products are horribly inconsistent in size and quality and the staff is extremely rude when you try to express your concerns. Do not waste your time or money because if you do get lucky and receive halfway decent feeders it takes a week to receive them. I am located in Florida as are they and about 2 hours away from their shipping location and after paying the ridiculous $17.50 for overnight delivery on December 14 it is now December 20 and i have not received my order. When i contacted them they said that while the website says it is next day that doesn't really mean next day. Do not post information on your websites shipping page if you know it is inaccurate. My order was placed before end of business day on Wednesday as per their policy i was told that i should have sent it out earlier in the day as if i am a mind reader! if there is a cut off time to order then post that information on your shipping policy page. To make things worse they decided to wait until the following Monday to even send it to fed ex instead of utilizing the 3 other normal delivery days that fed ex ships on. Anyone who has purchased frozen feeders know they are time sensitive and when you order them its for a reason, THIS IS MY PETS FOOD! not like i can run to the corner store and grab some and if i did have a local pet food store i really wouldn't have thought there was a need seeing how the website says it is next day. Maybe a courtesy email telling me that do to time constraints i would not receive my order for 6 days so i could cancel and purchase them elsewhere!

First post and this is what you say? Seems a bit fishy to me.

[sattva]

Well I got my order today guys and I have to say I pretty happy... Their clean, with uniform sizes, well packed and frozen... If I had any complaint it would be it took 11 days to get it, but that could be the time of year... Either way if I know this ahead of time it's no big deal... :yes:

[Piggybuns]

I'm not even going to quote "cameronlyt's" post to dignify a response to it, mostly because they only have 1 post on the whole forum which I find strange, but I'm going to back up everything bigsnakegirl785 just said about PerfectPrey because they are a FANTASTIC company to order from! And also chip in some opinions and notes myself!

People with complaints like theirs is why I quit working in retail, and call centers. :eyeroll: So I'mma say something here I don't get to say at work and enjoy it. B) (Guilty pleasures, lol)



1. They only ship Monday and Tuesday. Literally everything bigsnakegirl said. So the only way any one wouldn't know that, is if they simply did not read. I'm actually pretty sure this rule is for almost EVERY website, because I think RodenPro was the same for me. It's just better to ship out frozen orders at the beginning of the week; it's a safety net to be sure things STAY frozen in transit. :3

2. If I were 2 hours away from a facility like that, I'd be glad to pay $18 for an order. My shipping (personaly to me, I don't know about anyone else because it goes by distance!) is about $60, and that's cheaper to me than RodentPro, another reason I simply use PP over RP. That's just shipping; that's not also the cost of my rodents. I only have 2 snakes, so that's pretty steep; BUT their quality is...

3. ...absolutely great! While I had some dirt on my pinkies from RP, it was nothing I couldn't simply wash off, but everything from PP has been super clean, and... I don't know why this was a complaint, but all of the rodents I got from their packaging WERE the exact same size in consistency. None of my rodents are drastically larger or smaller than the rest; some may slightly fluctuate between leaner and fatter, but that's just nature. Animals are never 100% perfect, but it's nothing that would vex my snake's diet.

4. It's the owner's responsibility to ration out the snake's food to work and match with what a website says their shipping dates are. There are no ifs ands or buts about this. This is NOT the company's responsibility, or a valid reason to tarnish their reputation. If they only ship Mon and Tues (which they said they didn't see even tho bigsnakegirl and I are both aware of this fact because their website does in fact TELL them that despite their complaining they shouldn't put "false" information on their website) then you account FOR that when feeding day comes for your pets. Worse comes to worse, you could always just go to the pet store and get just even 1 mouse/rat for a snake to tide them over; even if it's too small. Something is better than nothing, snakes can go a long time without food anyway even if you didn't, AND it'd only be a week. Max. Anyway. So.... weird complaint.



All in all, PP is an awesome place to order from. I've never had to call in to complain about something, so I can't speak for their customer service, but if anyone else has, they can chime in.

[bigsnakegirl785]

Yup the shipping pretty standard, as you said it helps ensure the rodents remain frozen on delivery.

I usually buy from Big Cheese and they have a flat rate $29 shipping fee, and my PP order was just over $30 to buy food for 13 snakes. A few snakes will have enough to last a year, the others will only have food for a few months but I needed something before they shut down shipping. lol Didn't want my snakes to wait until sometime in January to eat when they'd already gone over a month without food (our fridge failed and we had to find someone to transport a chest freezer).

This is only my second time ordering from PP, and the other time I just bought a few rats, and the sizing is definitely really consistent. The first order smelled heavily of urine, but this order is much cleaner. There's really not much to complain about here tbqh.

[macandchz]

i buy one live one at a time from my local petco. i know it's a pain, is expensive, and so on but i can't raise anything in an apartment and have no freezer access. mac's worth it though!