feeder mice

[Snakefood]

ok, it's been a long time since I bred mice and in the beggining of Oct I got myself a 1:4 colony so I could supply my own pinks for Khuno.

So far not one baby or obvious pregnancy in the bunch! No visual sign of birth and/or cannabalism, (ie: not one spot of blood in the entire enclosure)

So what's my next step, I checked sexes tonight and the ratio is definately 1:4, but I can't see testicles on the male. I can't remember whether mouse testes are visible or not.

My first thought is to replace the male, but wanted some more input on what you all thought??

Much appreciated!!

[KORBIN5895]

You can see the testicles of a male if you lift his tail. He could've been castrated. I would change the male. Any idea of what the ages are.

[Snakefood]

females are 12 weeks (or were when I got them, so 18? weeks now) male was sold as a young adult.

[candyraver69]

Males have visible testicles but sometimes it takes a while for them to drop. Give him a little more time maybe before you give up on him. When you say young adult, is he larger than the females? He could also be too old, who knows. Mice are so temperamental with breeding. Try and make sure they are somewhere they feel safe, away from smells of other animals, a good temperature, quiet. Good luck!

[Snakefood]

He is much larger than the females.

for environment, they are in a large screen topped aquarium in my rodent shed. It is heated when needed by red heat lamps and thier nesting boxes are filled with rabbit fur and shredded tiolet paper. The only other animals in the shed is my rat breeding colony and 2 of my rabbits.

I never had these problems when I used to breed my himilayan and satin back mice

[candyraver69]

Depending on how domesticated and what line they are, the smell of rats could be a factor. I have my mice about two feet away from my rats with no problems, but I have heard of people that have issues with it. Rats eat mice in the wild and there might be some programming left in some individuals to be afraid if they smell them. I don't know about rabbits, I don't think those should hurt anything, they are vegetarians right?

Given that he is larger and his testicles haven't dropped yet, I would make the assumption that the issue is with him and not the rats for the time being and try to get a new male, but keep the rat idea in the background. You may need to do something to temporarily mask the rat smell until the colony is established and comfortable.

[Snakefood]

yes the rabbits are vegetarians.

So I`ll go get another male and we are in the process of making rat and mouse rack systems which will be further apart from each other than they are now (big shed)

Thank you for your input everyone, we`ll try this and see if we get success!!

[Snakefood]

well, we went and got the new male shortly after this thread was started, sucess!!
we now have one litter of 11 weaned, one litter born 5 days ago and another born last night/this morning!!

I have also aquired 2 more females of breeding age!! I am also keeping 2 females from the weaned litter and am going to start a second colony!!

The new rat racks are almost finished, so the mouse colonies are in large aquariums right now. But once hubby finishes the rat racks, he'll move on to the mouse racks!

[stephanbakir]

Mine wouldnt breed till I covered the sides and made it more secure, now I have babies everywhere.

[Snakefood]

I just put some old hides I don't use anymore in and they LOVE IT!! both mamma's gave birth in the one hide and when I cleaned out the other side of the tank, they moved them over into the other hide in the fresh side, so now I can clean the end they just moved the babies from!!

I need the whole first litter (minus 2 f I am keeping for future breeding) for my own babies!! and probably part of the second litter. I also need to get lots of day 1 pinkies stored up for the babies hopefully to come this spring!!

[beardeds4life]

I would go to the store and buy like 10+ more females and then just freeze all the beabies at different sizes so you ave a bunch of every size of mouse

[theapexgerman]

I would go to the store and buy like 10+ more females and then just freeze all the beabies at different sizes so you ave a bunch of every size of mouse
i like that idea

[beardeds4life]

ya and if they gets to many they can just freeze them because they will use them sooner or later

[stephanbakir]

Shame breeding rodents isnt like breeding dubias lol, you get too many and you feed em to the birds :P At least you can sell surplus rodents :)

[Snakefood]

I would go to the store and buy like 10+ more females and then just freeze all the beabies at different sizes so you ave a bunch of every size of mouse

That's the idea once the rack system for the mice is finished. right now I have limited space. 2 tanks with room for 4 f + 1 m, and all babies till weaned, and 2 grow out tanks one for f's and one for m's.

Since I don't know the exact age of the mice I have bought from the pet stores and off the classifieds, I am keeping 2 f's from each litter for the next gen of breeding.

[Snakefood]

Shame breeding rodents isnt like breeding dubias lol, you get too many and you feed em to the birds :P At least you can sell surplus rodents :)

Definately!!

the majority of my customer base is for larger prey, rabbits, chicken, guinea pigs and jumbo rats. But as I sell the planned on babies, I can get a customer base going for the smaller prey too (mice)

Until then I have 3 that take jumbo mice, 2 that take adult mice, and 1 that is on lrg pinkies and who will probably move up to fuzzy in the next month or so.

[exwizard]

Shame breeding rodents isnt like breeding dubias lol, you get too many and you feed em to the birds :P At least you can sell surplus rodents :)

Thats the whole idea. Use what we can and sell the surplus. It definitely helps to pay for the hobby. I have soimebody coming over right now to buy some snake food. I think its great.

[exwizard]

Definately!!

the majority of my customer base is for larger prey, rabbits, chicken, guinea pigs and jumbo rats. But as I sell the planned on babies, I can get a customer base going for the smaller prey too (mice)

Until then I have 3 that take jumbo mice, 2 that take adult mice, and 1 that is on lrg pinkies and who will probably move up to fuzzy in the next month or so.

Our customer base usually gets mice of all sizes and rats up to small size althogh a few get mediums. If they get past that stage, we have a customer who gets 24 jumbos at a time. That small prey customer base comes sure in handy.

[Snakefood]

Our customer base usually gets mice of all sizes and rats up to small size althogh a few get mediums. If they get past that stage, we have a customer who gets 24 jumbos at a time. That small prey customer base comes sure in handy.

and that was what it was like in our area before I started to breed rabbits and such. I originally was breeding meat rabbits for my freezer alone, but had a first time mother not "pluck" and so her babies froze (winter litter), I put them up on the net as frozen snake food and it went from there. I got so many responses hoping I bred rabbits for snake food, so I got a few more F rabbits and did so. These guys pay $10 for a 4-6 week rabbit and more for anything bigger!! So I found a previously non existant niche to fit into to earn a little extra $$ and it's how I became interested in having my own snakes!!

I figure as I sell my baby snakes, I'll just let people know they can come to me for food for thier snakes too, and will build the small prey customer base from there.

[beardeds4life]

Ya would I be able to do that with other feeders (crickets and worms) becuase I currently can not keep snakes :'( but have tons and tons and tons of worms and stuff

[exwizard]

and that was what it was like in our area before I started to breed rabbits and such. I originally was breeding meat rabbits for my freezer alone, but had a first time mother not "pluck" and so her babies froze (winter litter), I put them up on the net as frozen snake food and it went from there. I got so many responses hoping I bred rabbits for snake food, so I got a few more F rabbits and did so. These guys pay $10 for a 4-6 week rabbit and more for anything bigger!! So I found a previously non existant niche to fit into to earn a little extra $$ and it's how I became interested in having my own snakes!!

I figure as I sell my baby snakes, I'll just let people know they can come to me for food for thier snakes too, and will build the small prey customer base from there.

I think its great that you got into keeping snakes as a result of breeding feeders. With us, we got into breeding feeders as a result of keeping snakes. I think though, because of the maket here and the Des Moines 6' limit, we are better suited for rats and mice as opposed to anything larger. I am impressed with your ability to find that niche with the larger prey items and I hope that goes well for you as well.

[exwizard]

Ya would I be able to do that with other feeders (crickets and worms) becuase I currently can not keep snakes :'( but have tons and tons and tons of worms and stuff

Im not sure where you live and what the market is like there but my guess is that you will be able to find people who need feeders like worms and dubias, especially if there are a lot of lizard people who live where you are and some smaller snakes will eat these as well. The best place to start finding people is forums like this. Thats where we got our start and right now, our contact info is getting passed around. We get people calling us for rats or mice whom we never heard from before.

We are considering dubias for the lizard people we know, since we dont keep any ourselves, but only time will tell.

[beardeds4life]

I cant keep dubia eiher but i see sooooo many people do that is my area who charge outrageous prices $20 for 1,000 mealworms AND that does not include shipping because it is local. I might make a website and I sell them for $12 shipped I have no idea who in the world pays that I know I wouldnt

[Snakefood]

Definately make the website, but don't forget to advertise in the free classifieds online. That is where I get most of my business. After my last post I went back to kijiji to put up a new ad, and have already gotten one new response.

[exwizard]

There's also Craigslist but Id be careful with the clientele that produces. Definitely meet new people at a neutral location (store parking lots, parks etc)

[Snakefood]

I have a personal boycott going against craigslist. I have always been a part of dog rescue and every time I put a bully breed up for adoption on CL, it get's flagged and removed, but all other non-bully dogs I list, from the same rescue, same adoption fee, ect gets to stay up!!

Problem with CL is that, it only takes 3 "flags" to remove a post, and that is without any moderator. So 3 people don't like bully breeds and flag the posts, and those dogs adoption ad is GONE!! and IMO thats BS!!

[theapexgerman]

i buy a lot of stuff on CL

[exwizard]

I have a personal boycott going against craigslist. I have always been a part of dog rescue and every time I put a bully breed up for adoption on CL, it get's flagged and removed, but all other non-bully dogs I list, from the same rescue, same adoption fee, ect gets to stay up!!

Problem with CL is that, it only takes 3 "flags" to remove a post, and that is without any moderator. So 3 people don't like bully breeds and flag the posts, and those dogs adoption ad is GONE!! and IMO thats BS!!

I understand that and personally I dont have a lot of faith in people I meet on CL but there are some who are friends of mine now since I got to know them. Its just an option among many.

[Snakefood]

Yes, I use kijiji and have gotten a couple regular customers and a couple on again, off again customers. So I just keep going that way.

I am also renting a table at the next show, hopefully I'll have some baby snakes to sell that weekend, but if not, I'll still have a freezer of food, my artsy and natural backgrounds and hand made hides and climbs!!

[KORBIN5895]

I cant keep dubia eiher but i see sooooo many people do that is my area who charge outrageous prices $20 for 1,000 mealworms AND that does not include shipping because it is local. I might make a website and I sell them for $12 shipped I have no idea who in the world pays that I know I wouldnt

Honestly you make me giggle! 1000 superworms would cost $200 here. So I look at 1000 mealies for $20 as a kicking deal! Also look into shipping cost cause if it cost $6 to ship you're only making $6 per thousand. Something tells me it takes awhile to get 1000 meal worms.

[KORBIN5895]

I have a small frozen feeder business going right now. I just had a response to my kijiji ad from a pet store 5+ hours away looking to do bi- weekly orders!

[Snakefood]

Nice!! The guy who answered my ad was looking for far more than I can produce at this time!! But as I just put 2 new ads up, I am hoping for more responses in the next couple of days.

[beardeds4life]

Honestly you make me giggle! 1000 superworms would cost $200 here. So I look at 1000 mealies for $20 as a kicking deal! Also look into shipping cost cause if it cost $6 to ship you're only making $6 per thousand. Something tells me it takes awhile to get 1000 meal worms.

wow that is insane!!! and it only costs 5 to ship :) but I might raise the prize to 13 because forgot to include the proces of boxes...

[beardeds4life]

I have a small frozen feeder business going right now. I just had a response to my kijiji ad from a pet store 5+ hours away looking to do bi- weekly orders!

excuse my ignorance but what is kijiji? I see a lot of stuff on craigslist to and also get a lot of stuff off there and there are many animals I would rescue from there if I could...

[beardeds4life]

nevermind I figured it out :) but what section would I post it in?

[KORBIN5895]

It's similar to Cl. Personally I would go fifteen shipped twelve delivered to a neutral location. You're still beating the competition by 40% and that's delivered.

[beardeds4life]

Ok :) I would just need to sell 1 set of 1,000 a month to support my whole collection for that month and if I sell more than that we are purely into profit :)

[exwizard]

Yes, I use kijiji and have gotten a couple regular customers and a couple on again, off again customers. So I just keep going that way.

I am also renting a table at the next show, hopefully I'll have some baby snakes to sell that weekend, but if not, I'll still have a freezer of food, my artsy and natural backgrounds and hand made hides and climbs!!

Yeah getting a table at a reptile show is an awesome way to get exposure as well. If you have business cards to hand out, before long, people you never heard of before start calling you needing feeders. We also had our table lined on each end with brand new 5-tub rat racks like what you see below and that caught peoples attn as well.

[Snakefood]

Yeah getting a table at a reptile show is an awesome way to get exposure as well. If you have business cards to hand out, before long, people you never heard of before start calling you needing feeders. We also had our table lined on each end with brand new 5-tub rat racks and that caught peoples attn as well.

I like that idea and will mention it to hubby when he gets home!! The next show here is in May, so I have some time to get a couple other things together!!:cool:

[beardeds4life]

Good luck with having babies buy then! you could also consider wholesaleing from a very large well known breeder

[exwizard]

I think thats plenty of time getting enough stock built up. Right now, thats what we're doing (getting both our rat colonies built up). Mice... no problem with supply there as we have hundreds in 9 colonies plus growouts. Yeah we occasionally use a rat wholesaler but its far better to breed your own. I think you'll do very well.

[KORBIN5895]

I would like to see your climbs and hides.

[beardeds4life]

I would to

[Snakefood]

I'll unpack the finished ones and get pics as soon as I can for you guys

[KORBIN5895]

I am looking for something for my larger boas ......... hint hint.$$$$$$$

[Snakefood]

I am looking for something for my larger boas ......... hint hint.$$$$$$$


Exactly HOW large?? I'll do custom requests too!!! And are we talking climb or hide?

[KORBIN5895]

Exactly HOW large?? I'll do custom requests too!!! And are we talking climb or hide?

Hide. I will let you know when my female comes in.

[Snakefood]

I'll be here!

[beardeds4life]

but do you ship to the U.S.????

[Snakefood]

I haven't yet, but am willing to. I don't think anything I make would be hard to pop into the mail. We'd just have to find out shipping costs which depend on how large the hide you want is, ans how small of a box it will fit into!!

[beardeds4life]

ahhh I might be interested to hint hint if I get more show cages... which is kind of inevitable....

[Snakefood]

yeah, figure out everything you need for all your cages, then we`ll talk more. Shipping everything all at once will probably be less expensive.

[beardeds4life]

ok but it will be at least a year and I make my own so I would only buy one if they were like super amazing (which Im sure they are!)

[Snakefood]

thx!! Most right now are all the very natural looking ones as that is what I like, so that's where I started. But I have 12 lbs of clay and 10 lbs of plaster of paris to play around with and see what comes up?? I don't know, maybe try something abstract next?

I also want to make heavy corner pots, deep enough to plant safe but live plants in. I'll be doing water dishes too!!