Weighing feeders?

[ChristinaM]

When people say .....is eating 300gram whatevers..... I'm assuming you weigh after it is thawed? Or does it matter if it's frozen...?

yah I know, it's one of those, duhhhh questions LOL.

thanks.

[mykee]

I weigh after the food item is thawed and dried off.

[BoidKeeper]

I weigh after the food item is thawed and dried off.
Me too.
Trevot

[asphyxia]

You guys actually dry off Rats?
Do you blow dry or towel dry?, LMAO

I just thaw and serve, and in some cases thaw, soak in water and serve.

I am getting a scale for Xmas, in which case I will weigh frozen as to not mess up the scale with blood, gray matter and guts.

Brian

[ChristinaM]

Originally posted by asphyxia
You guys dry off Rats?
Do you blow dry or Towel Dry?, LMAO
Brian


ROTFLMAO.
Can always count on you guys for a laff.

Next feed, I'm going to weigh frozen, then weigh thawed (see if there's much of a diffrence ). But tis good to know the standard way of doing so...

Thx. :)

[BoidKeeper]

Do you blow dry or towel dry?,
Blow dry actually. I have a low temp heat gun in my room that I use to bring my feeders up to temp if they don't come out of the water hot enough. As a result if the bag leaked they get blow dried.
Geez Brian come on eh!
Trevor

[drewlowe]

i weigh mine while they are thawed. Easier for me and less of a mess on my scale since i use it to weigh several different things.

[asphyxia]

Trevor; When you come over will you blow one of my rats.

I will video tape it and send it to Ripley's Believe it or Not.

Now I've herd it all!, hey do you mouse your mice aswell. lol

Brian

[Linds]

If I weigh a rodent for one reason or another (which doesn't happen often), I weigh it while it is still alive or freshly killed. They lose weight (water) once frozen.

[jim mcallister]

Hey, On this note, i'm on the market for a scale, any ideas on best ones to get? Don't need nothin too fancy, just best bang for the buck?? thanks Jim

[BoidKeeper]

Jim,

Here is where I got mine. Digital Scales Canada (http://canadianweigh.com/)

Here's the one I got. KD 600 (http://canadianweigh.com/KD600.html)
Great scale and great price too.
Cheers,
Trevor
PS
Brian I don't think I want to come by any more. You really are a bad man!

[Lisa]

We got our scale from ebay. $40 i think.

[MouseKilla]

I just use a kitchen scale for this kind of thing, you don't need numbers that are down to the nearest 1/100th of a gram. They're rats for God's sake not bags of coke. lol! As for drying the thawed ones off I really don't understand why this could be necessary but it does make for some good "blow my rat" jokes. lol

[Ron]

I usually weigh my rats while they are frozen but I have 2 rats thawing on the heat mat and I'll weigh them once thawed and let you know if there is any difference. I don't think it will make much of a diffence. I actually saw a new digital kitchen scale at Walmart, it's made by Philips (if I recall correctly) and weighs up to 5 KG in 1 gram increments. I think it was only $58.00.

[Jayson]

Why would you weigh a rat??? Unless you are going to sell it.
Are you counting the snakes calories?LOL

The difference in the weight of a rat from f/k to f/t is small.

I dont say it is eating 300 gram rats i just say it is eating large rats. Which on my price list sais 200-300 Grams.

To answer the post , I weigh before i put it the freezer. I only do it because i sell them

[mykee]

Jayson, what you consider a large rat, the world does not necessarily agree with. I've seen "large" rats range anywhere from 150g at a pet store, up to 350g on an online feeder site. That's a BIG difference. When I say my snake ate a 231g rat, it ate a 231g rat. Size means nothing to me, weight does because I keep painfully accurate records of all weights regarding all of my balls. Example: Pre-eating weight of snake, weight of food item, weight of snake after poop, weight after shed, date of all meals, date of all sheds.... It allows me to know my snakes, and be more aware if a problem arises.

[Ron]

Well after thawing the 2 rats, they were exactly the same weight. My scale only measures in 1 gram increments so they could have changed in 10th's of a gram but who cares. So to avoid a mess I can safely say you can weigh your rats before thawing.

[BoidKeeper]

Try this, wack a rat. Weigh it, freez it. Weigh it again. Thaw it and then weigh it again.
Oh and by the way I don't "blow" dry the rats. I heat them with a heat gun and they dry off as a result. It's not like they get a style and a set or anything. Besides using a heat gun and a reytek is a great way to get balls switched over to frozen thawed. You take a live rat and measure it's surface temp with the reytek. Then you thaw out a rat and heat it up to that temp with the heat gun. Dangle, dangle and bang! Ball takes first frozen thawed.
Cheers,
Trevor

[Jayson]

mykee I didnt mean to offend you if i did. Its just that when i bought my feeders i would hand pick them by looking at them not by the weight, And once i had them i didnt care what the weight was.

I do keep track of the snakes weight, feeding records, sheds and poops and i also give regular visual check ups which are recorded. however I dont care if the feed item is 150 grams or 200 grams.

If i tried to keep your records I would have to live in my snake room.

Again If i offended you I am sorry Jason

[mykee]

Jayson, pshaw! You didn't offend me. Admittedly, not too many people keep the records I do. I'm terribly anal-retentive so keeping these records satisfies my illness...

[reverendsterlin]

I buy my feeders from a place that gives actual gram weights, I know what the animals ~weight is. Other places sell by small med lg pink fuzzy ect, well my size estimation and the size estimation of non-weighed animals bought would short me by many grams if not kilos. I estimated the size vs weight of 2 different companies and the same 600 count order had a 13.5lb difference in weight. Tell me grams, I know grams, whats a 'juvi' weight to you?

[Jayson]

Cool LOL

[Jayson]

Maybe rodent breeders should sell by the gram. Then you get what you pay for??

[reverendsterlin]

rodentpro does, but they are US based. They do make a great comparison site to see how your spending is going (100 large rats $100, how sweet it can be lol).

[Jayson]

I am a rat breeder ( small scale ) and can not raise 100 large rats for $100. Of coarse retired females have made their money!!

[mykee]

I also raise my own rats so the weight thing is not really an issue for me there, BUT when I head out to a pet store when I don't have enough, the frustration starts. $4 for a 120g rat that THEY call a medium adult? I WISH for a day when there is are standards set for rat sizes based on weight rather than name.

[mykee]

Jayson, you can't raise 100 rats to adulthood on $100? Food and bedding being the only two factors, sounds do-able to me. I'll figure it out....

[Jayson]

Actually food is the only factor for me. I figured out that one adult rat eats approx. $.50/month worth of food I feed mazuri 6f @19.95 per 50 bag. I figure they eat more then that before adulthood which is about 12-18 weeks of age

[mykee]

I feed my rats the same and after thinking about it, I would figure you're right.

[Linds]

Originally posted by jim mcallister
Hey, On this note, i'm on the market for a scale, any ideas on best ones to get? Don't need nothin too fancy, just best bang for the buck?? thanks Jim

I'm in love with <a href="http://myweigh.com/mediumscales_3001.html">this scale</a>! I have the 6001 model. IMHO you can't get a better scale for the price. Scales that are similar in comparison run quite a few hundred :/

Originally posted by mykee
I keep painfully accurate records of all weights regarding all of my balls. Example: Pre-eating weight of snake, weight of food item, weight of snake after poop, weight after shed, date of all meals, date of all sheds...

You weren't kidding when you said "painfully accurate", I've never heard of such detailed records before! The cards must look like little science projects! :p I don't even bother keeping weight records on mine (in fact only time they see a scale is if I'm bored and curious, or if they need to be medicated) :p Each to their own, as long as it works :)

[mykee]

Linds; it's a sickness, really it is. And the scale that you linked to is wonderful. I have two (I'm sick, remember) and I LOVE them.

[reverendsterlin]

birth, death, water change, clean cage, defication, egg hatch, environment, general observe, measurement, feeding, mating attempt, ovulation, post ovulation shed, food refusal, sold, species, temps (DTT NTT), humidity, age, person/location recieved, feeder type, lineage, life span expected, natural environment, special features(hets, pattern, or color), and feeding intervals are the records I keep.

[northernsnake]

You know I was laughen my a$$ off when I started reading this thread but I think getting a scale would be a way for things to stay fair and then every buddy will be happy that way.

[MouseKilla]

Yeah the stupid size names for feeders is just about as frustrating and stupid as all the names different corn morphs have. I wish both of those things would go away and we could all use names based on the animal's actual features. There isn't any such thing as a "medium" rat so why use that crap when you can say this is a 200g rat instead? Makes no sense.