| |
Notices |
Welcome to the sSnakeSs community. You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community you will have access to post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join our community today! If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact contact us.
|
05-07-12, 04:09 PM
|
#1
|
Forum Moderator
Join Date: Feb-2010
Location: Ontario, Canada
Age: 37
Posts: 2,410
Country:
|
More or less economical to breed your own mice?
So I know I've said in the past that I didn't like the idea of feeding live prey, but after giving Boaz a few live mice I realized it doesn't bother me like I thought it would. Also he really seems to prefer the live prey, and I don't blame him, lol.
Anyway, I was wondering, would it be more economical for me to buy a couple cages and breed the mice myself? Or is that more expensive?
I'm not really sure how difficult it is to breed them since I haven't done my research yet. First I want to know if it's even worth it in the long run, money-wise.
Any ideas?
PS: To buy mice individually at my local pet store it costs me somewhere around $3.50 each.
|
|
|
05-07-12, 04:42 PM
|
#2
|
Lord of the Dums
Join Date: Sep-2011
Posts: 3,269
Country:
|
Re: More or less economical to breed your own mice?
It depends on what scale you want to operate on. I suppose even on a smaller scale, in the long run it is cheaper to breed your own especially when you consider pet store prices. However, if all youre feeding is one snake, you might want to consider finding a rodent breeder in your area. They generally are way cheaper than pet stores.
|
|
|
05-07-12, 05:28 PM
|
#3
|
Uncle Brady
Join Date: Feb-2012
Location: Sudbury
Posts: 1,157
Country:
|
Re: More or less economical to breed your own mice?
were abouts do you live in ontario mate!
__________________
The expert in anything was once a beginner
|
|
|
05-07-12, 07:16 PM
|
#4
|
Member
Join Date: Apr-2012
Location: Alabama
Posts: 1,850
Country:
|
Re: More or less economical to breed your own mice?
If you only have one or two snakes, I would probably say no. If you have a good roomful, then I would say it is definitely worth considering. If done right, breeding even a small group of mice can save you some money.
|
|
|
05-07-12, 07:24 PM
|
#5
|
mamma bear
Join Date: Jul-2011
Location: Mission, BC
Age: 49
Posts: 2,688
Country:
|
Re: More or less economical to breed your own mice?
one male, one female in a 20 gal tank will do you, you'll spend about 6-8 $$/mo on food and bedding.
With one snake, it's really up to you though
__________________
RIP Poitash
|
|
|
05-07-12, 07:26 PM
|
#6
|
Lord of the Dums
Join Date: Sep-2011
Posts: 3,269
Country:
|
Re: More or less economical to breed your own mice?
Breeding rodents has been rewarding both financially and otherwise. If I had it to do over again, I wouldn't change a thing.
|
|
|
05-07-12, 07:28 PM
|
#7
|
Member
Join Date: Apr-2012
Location: Colorado
Age: 27
Posts: 237
Country:
|
Re: More or less economical to breed your own mice?
Sorry for barging in here, but is there a certain number it'd be better(cheaper) to breed your own rats/mice rather than buying them online/at a petstore/etc.
Just curious.
__________________
1.0 Ball Python - Diamond
0.1 Corn Snake - Navajo
0.0.1 R. leachianus - Honey
0.1 Boa constrictor - Hikari
|
|
|
05-07-12, 07:45 PM
|
#8
|
Wandering Cricket
Join Date: Aug-2010
Location: 149.6 million kms left of a G2V
Posts: 1,776
Country:
|
Re: More or less economical to breed your own mice?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ivalynfyre
Sorry for barging in here, but is there a certain number it'd be better(cheaper) to breed your own rats/mice rather than buying them online/at a petstore/etc.
Just curious.
|
Yes what that number is, is a mathematical formula.
As an example
Number of snakes Over the number of feedings per month will equal the number of prey items needed.
Say 10 snakes requiring teo feeds a month equals 20 prey items.
Once we have this number we den need to calculate the cost of a set up.
How fast can a pair of breeder prey items generate the appropriate size prey items for the 20 prey items needed to feed 10 snakes a month V the price of 20 prey items at the stores.
Cost would be for a set up...
Tubs breeder animals (one time cost say $50)
General husbandry cost lets use the example of $40 per month (including power and all neccesary cost to prepare the prey items)
It takes two months for prey items to get up to size so now it's $80 bux before the snakes can coil up on them.
Cost of prey items at the shop for 20 appropriate size prey at $3.50 each = $75
Cost of upkeep $80 so your $5 in the red, not counting labour...
In this case personally, I'd rather buy them than deal with the time and effort of having my own prey items. Apply the sums to your needs and see how it works out for you.
There are also other factors such as prey items dying off or having a surplus, if you have a suplus you can sell them off to re-coup some money back which would lower the cost.
__________________
Some days you're the dog on others you're the fire hydrant...
Just always remember, hydrants are for a greater purpose and every dog has it's day
|
|
|
05-07-12, 07:55 PM
|
#9
|
Lord of the Dums
Join Date: Sep-2011
Posts: 3,269
Country:
|
Re: More or less economical to breed your own mice?
Our operations actually made money.
|
|
|
05-07-12, 08:43 PM
|
#10
|
mamma bear
Join Date: Jul-2011
Location: Mission, BC
Age: 49
Posts: 2,688
Country:
|
Re: More or less economical to breed your own mice?
so does mine, and that's after feeding my 7 snakes
__________________
RIP Poitash
|
|
|
05-07-12, 09:08 PM
|
#11
|
Village Idiot
Join Date: Oct-2011
Age: 39
Posts: 7,360
Country:
|
Re: More or less economical to breed your own mice?
Mine did too.
__________________
I used to be a nice guy but that don't get you anywhere. So now I'm just a piece of ****, idiot,
who's too stupid to care.
|
|
|
05-07-12, 10:18 PM
|
#12
|
Member
Join Date: Feb-2012
Location: Montreal
Age: 30
Posts: 450
Country:
|
Re: More or less economical to breed your own mice?
I would just buy a bin, have a few female in there with one male and they'll just breed on their own. Rodent food is about a huge bag for 6-7$, bedding can be 15$ for a bag that will last a lifetime.
I'm currently attempting to have a small rat colony, and I'm sure it's going to be a lot cheaper than in the petstores. To feed my 9 snakes monthly is almost 40-50$.
__________________
3.0.0 dogs - 6.3.0 cats - 2.5.8 tarantulas - 0.1.0 skink - 1.0.0 beardie - 1.1.7 snakes - 0.0.3 scorpions - 0.1.0 leopard geckos - 0.0.1 crested - 1.1.0 golden geckos - 2.0.0 uros - 3.2.0 turtles - 0.1.0 toad - 0.0.3 black moors
|
|
|
05-08-12, 07:26 AM
|
#13
|
Member
Join Date: Apr-2012
Location: Alabama
Posts: 1,850
Country:
|
Re: More or less economical to breed your own mice?
What I did was set-up two cages of two female mice, and rotated one male stud between the two every 2 weeks or so. This ensured that I always had pinkies available for all the smaller snakes. Sure I had a little surplus of fuzzies and hoppers at times, but I would just either give a few to local friends who needed a live one every so often, or outright sell the surplus.
Now I HATE taking care of rodents and once I sold most of my baby colubrids or eventually got them on f/t, I just quit breeding mice. But it can save you a little money. Again, you have to evaluate the number of snakes you have, and the expense of keeping X number of rodents, as well as your own "human" factors": are you up for caring for rodents? Can you take the odor? and are you okay with feeding live to your snakes?
|
|
|
05-08-12, 07:59 AM
|
#14
|
Forum Moderator
Join Date: Feb-2010
Location: Ontario, Canada
Age: 37
Posts: 2,410
Country:
|
Re: More or less economical to breed your own mice?
Wow, thanks for all the information.
I only have one snake, so, I guess if I were to do this I would only need one tub with two females and one male, correct?
Boaz is the adult male rosy boa - currently I'm doing one mouse every 7 days, even though I've heard that one mouse every 14 days is sufficient...if he gets too heavy I will back off the feeding schedule.
|
|
|
05-08-12, 08:02 AM
|
#15
|
Lord of the Dums
Join Date: Sep-2011
Posts: 3,269
Country:
|
Re: More or less economical to breed your own mice?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pareeeee
Wow, thanks for all the information.
I only have one snake, so, I guess if I were to do this I would only need one tub with two females and one male, correct?
|
I would go with at least four females to that one male.
|
|
|
Posting Rules
|
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
HTML code is Off
|
|
|
All times are GMT -6. The time now is 05:48 AM.
Powered by vBulletin® ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright © 2002-2023, Hobby Solutions.
|
|