ordering bulk food dilema - Page 2

kelzerman · 01-03-14, 10:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by infernalis

Best order ever...

wow.... simply amazing

**Aaron_S** · 01-03-14, 10:35 AM

How about re-selling all the extras on craigslist if you don't need 100.

sharthun · 01-03-14, 10:41 AM

You can order smaller quantities at Layne Labs. I'm very satisfied with rodentpro.

CK SandBoas · 01-03-14, 12:45 PM

You can try ordering from Loxahatchee Rodents....I know their bags of pinkies and fuzzies were 50 per bag, the last I knew.....

CosmicOwl · 01-03-14, 01:02 PM

You can always just feed two fuzzies and finish off the supply. You don't NEED to immediately move from fuzzies to hoppers. In the wild, snakes aren't eating perfectly sized prey items, yet they grow fine. There are also some suppliers that sell smaller quantities. I bought 50 large pinkies and 50 fuzzies from Big Cheese Rodents. The quality seems good, and it was a better fit than rodentpro.

LiL Zap · 01-03-14, 03:54 PM

Everyone else pretty much nailed it. You're either gonna want to A)Go to a reptile show or B)Order online. I buy from reptile shows.

KORBIN5895 · 01-03-14, 04:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by infernalis

Before anyone says anything...

Shipping seems steep, but I'll break it down so it makes sense.

Dry Ice - frozen carbon dioxide gas, available only from a very few sources, roughly $15 of the normal shipping charges applied by anyone is the block of dry ice inside the box.

Insulation - that's right, to keep the contents frozen, the box MUST be insulated, effective insulation will be multiple layers thick, factor another $10 for the insulation.

Express handling - can't take chances on slow moving parcels thawing out in transit, so priority handling charges will always apply. factor in another $20-30

The laws of business mandate that a supplier who is attempting to stay open and turn any profit at all, MUST pass the shipping expense along to the buyer.

Dry ice is $4 a kilo here and that is for the crappy pellets. You need 2 kg a day to keep them frozen. Shipping anything with over 2kg of dry ice will be charged a dangerous materials fee when shipped air. I also will ship ground or second day and just pack accordingly. I reuse boxes from work and insulation to save on that expense.

ilovemysnake · 01-03-14, 06:21 PM

Do you guys think it would be more cost effective to just breed when i get an apartment, or to order in bulk?
and with breeding, i heard you can feed the breeder and feeder mice dog kibble, since it's high in protein and you get more for your dollar, it'll last longer. what's your opinion on that??

Sharlynn93 · 01-03-14, 06:36 PM

My mice won't touch dog food...I tried...haven't tried it on the rats yet...breeding for just 2 snakes may not be the best route..you may end up with more than you need...unless you have multiple tanks to separate them into...I have 3 mouse tanks and 2 rat tubs right now...going to set up a 3rd soon for separating purposes...they take up alot of room...hubby is working on adding heat to our basement so we can move the rodent operation down there and maybe expand since there is no where within a 45 min drive for people to buy feeders around here...not looking to make money, just help out fellow keepers

infernalis · 01-03-14, 07:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ilovemysnake

Do you guys think it would be more cost effective to just breed when i get an apartment, or to order in bulk?
and with breeding, i heard you can feed the breeder and feeder mice dog kibble, since it's high in protein and you get more for your dollar, it'll last longer. what's your opinion on that??

I bred mice and rats for years, it's smelly, time consuming, and difficult to feed them off when you have raised them and cared for them.

It got out of hand, I was selling mice to the pet stores, hardly making back the feeding expense, I finally just took ALL of them to the pet shop, traded for frozen ones, and ended it.

Keeping a bunch in the freezer is easier, cheaper and NO connection to live animals when feeding.

**Aaron_S** · 01-03-14, 09:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ilovemysnake

Do you guys think it would be more cost effective to just breed when i get an apartment, or to order in bulk?
and with breeding, i heard you can feed the breeder and feeder mice dog kibble, since it's high in protein and you get more for your dollar, it'll last longer. what's your opinion on that??

Gross. You would really feed that horrible type of food to your snakes?

Don't forget what goes into your feeders goes into your snakes.

Feed them mazuri.

Stop looking for the cheapest way possible. Look for the best option but cost effective.

spyderk · 01-03-14, 10:52 PM

I buy from Big Cheese Rodents. I think my last order of 250 mice worked out to be .32 a mouse. I bought large pinkies to weanlings, 50 mice per bag. I've always been happy with them and have ordered 3 times now.

KORBIN5895 · 01-03-14, 10:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ilovemysnake

Do you guys think it would be more cost effective to just breed when i get an apartment, or to order in bulk?
and with breeding, i heard you can feed the breeder and feeder mice dog kibble, since it's high in protein and you get more for your dollar, it'll last longer. what's your opinion on that??

I highly doubt it would be worth you time to breed as they stink, have a high rate of cannibalism and are just gross.

Who ever recommended dog food gave you terrible advice. Higher levels of protein is thought to lead to higher rates of cancer. Me and a friend got our breeding stock from the same source. He feed his mostly dog and cat food while I fed mine a scrap diet supplemented with seeds. He had many rodents with cancer and tumors and their coats were disgusting and oily. I had maybe one with cancer and I was producing about 50 a week.

ilovemysnake · 01-04-14, 12:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KORBIN5895

I highly doubt it would be worth you time to breed as they stink, have a high rate of cannibalism and are just gross.

Who ever recommended dog food gave you terrible advice. Higher levels of protein is thought to lead to higher rates of cancer. Me and a friend got our breeding stock from the same source. He feed his mostly dog and cat food while I fed mine a scrap diet supplemented with seeds. He had many rodents with cancer and tumors and their coats were disgusting and oily. I had maybe one with cancer and I was producing about 50 a week.

will they always stink? i like to keep things very clean, so the cage would always be clean. i also trained my hamsters to go to the bathroom in a "litter box" so i might be able to do that with mice. is it just the urine and fecal matter, because that i could work with.
& what was in the 'scrap diet' you fed them?

KORBIN5895 · 01-04-14, 01:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ilovemysnake

will they always stink? i like to keep things very clean, so the cage would always be clean. i also trained my hamsters to go to the bathroom in a "litter box" so i might be able to do that with mice. is it just the urine and fecal matter, because that i could work with.
& what was in the 'scrap diet' you fed them?

If you are seriously working 17 hours a day you don't want to clean cages everyday. As far as the scrap diet I feed them a lot of fruits and veggies I got from my local grocery that they were throwing away, they loved pop corn I used to get from the movie theater and breads from a local bakery. I had two males and 33 female breeders in on enclosure plus all of the off spring smaller than adult size. They could eat me out of house and home for a joke. I would only give them protein sparingly.