A question about feeders

Psyche · 02-26-12, 06:24 PM

Ok i wasnt sure where this was suppose to go and i'm sorry if general wasnt it. Anyway i know some people just breed their own feeders and i wanted to know if its hard and how you get started and stuff. I'm not saying i'm going to go do it for sure but its something ive considered. One of the biggest questions i have about it is how do you keep the number of mice/rats you have under control, assuming you can at all

theapexgerman · 02-26-12, 07:20 PM

I at one point was looking into breeding mice/rats but there's no need to I get any size mouse for 25 cents and any size rat for 50 cents each so its not worth it for me and the smell of all of the rodents would stink so I would invest in some good odor killer stuff

Psyche · 02-26-12, 07:23 PM

yea i shouldve figured haha i've had pet rats before and it does kinda smell up the place a little (had forgotten until just now) x.x i actually JUST found the only person in my area who breeds feeders today! i'm really happy about that because now i dont have to spend $11 for 4 mice for my BP ^_^

theapexgerman · 02-26-12, 07:33 PM

Now if you had like 20 some snakes I would go into the breeding but even still I rather pay than to deal with a lot of rats my girl would kill me if I started breeding mice and rats lol but coongrats on finding a breeder that has good price

Rogue628 · 02-26-12, 07:54 PM

I have 10 and with so many variations in their food sources (small adult mice, large adult mice, small rats, medium rats, large rats, and chicks and a few rabbit pinks for variation), I don't find it feasible to breed my own at this point. I spent about $200 for bulk feeders the last time and that will keep most of my animals fed for 3 months, a few a little longer.

Maybe if most at about the same thing it may be different. But then, I don't have room for breeding nor the time.

And not all of mine are on f/t. My rainbow still won't switch so she eats live and when my royals refuse f/t, I always run the next day to a mom and pop store nearby and pick up live...then they eat lol

Maybe once I get moved and settled I could start thinking about breeding.....

theapexgerman · 02-26-12, 07:57 PM

Guess I'm lucky all my eat live witch is fine for me and the person lives a few minutes away so makes me even more happy

Psyche · 02-26-12, 07:59 PM

ive only fed my bp f/t (shes a voracious eater) im afraid to try live with her

theapexgerman · 02-26-12, 08:04 PM

Ill switch my durmil to f/t when they get a lot older cause a big rat could do dammage but for now I'm not worried bout a mouse harming my snakes plus a lot cooler. To watch them stalk the prey my durmil will be hiding under his repti bark and all I will see a out line under the repti bark moving and bamm he hits his small rat pretty hard

Psyche · 02-26-12, 08:10 PM

that does sound interesting to watch, but my bp eats adult mice and compared to her size idk id rather not risk it

theapexgerman · 02-26-12, 08:18 PM

Yea feeding live is a risky thing its always better to feed f/t but that's not me I guess I'm kinda evile in that way but in my years of feeding live nothing ever happen to any of my snakes I did do a freshly kill mouse to my durmil he was still getting use to his home and it took a few feeding of him bein alone in his csge with the lights off but now he eats like a champ

Rogue628 · 02-26-12, 08:20 PM

The big thing with feeding live is to watch to make sure no harm comes to your animal. Naturally the bigger the prey the more likely the animal is to get a little scratch or something, but it's really not a big issue as long as you supervise. You'll know within the first few minutes if your animal is going to accept what you offered or not. If they don't want it, you just take it out. Most snakes are very quick at striking and wrapping their prey. It's very seldom that the prey will do enough damage to cause bleeding or other harm...at least I never experienced it and I used to feed nothing but live when I first kept snakes back in the late 90's.

Like I said, I still feed mine live if they won't take f/t. I refuse to let an animal go without just because they don't want what I offer. They're awesome to watch when feeding live. Some of mine like to sneak up on their food while others seem to get overly excited and launch themselves at it, sometimes hitting the other side of their tubs when they strike. My two favorites to watch eat are Eric's rainbow and my king

Psyche · 02-26-12, 08:24 PM

well i'm glad to know that you can try live if the snake goes off eating, i wouldnt have considered it honestly.

Gungirl · 02-26-12, 08:25 PM

If your snake takes f/t now don't offer live. If you give it live it might start to refuse F/t then you have to deal with live all the time along with the risk of bites and what not.

theapexgerman · 02-26-12, 08:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rogue628

The big thing with feeding live is to watch to make sure no harm comes to your animal. Naturally the bigger the prey the more likely the animal is to get a little scratch or something, but it's really not a big issue as long as you supervise. You'll know within the first few minutes if your animal is going to accept what you offered or not. If they don't want it, you just take it out. Most snakes are very quick at striking and wrapping their prey. It's very seldom that the prey will do enough damage to cause bleeding or other harm...at least I never experienced it and I used to feed nothing but live when I first kept snakes back in the late 90's.

Like I said, I still feed mine live if they won't take f/t. I refuse to let an animal go without just because they don't want what I offer. They're awesome to watch when feeding live. Some of mine like to sneak up on their food while others seem to get overly excited and launch themselves at it, sometimes hitting the other side of their tubs when they strike. My two favorites to watch eat are Eric's rainbow and my king

What he said sums it up

Rogue628 · 02-26-12, 08:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gungirl

If your snake takes f/t now don't offer live. If you give it live it might start to refuse F/t then you have to deal with live all the time along with the risk of bites and what not.

True. I only offer live when they won't eat f/t. Those that I feed live to when they refuse f/t, will eat f/t later.

My others only eat f/t, with the exception of the rainbow and she only will take live. I try offering her f/t each feeding but she always refuses so I go to the pet store the next day and get live for her (and food for my other royals that refuse to eat the f/t, which is like every other week). Come to think of it, the only ones that refuse f/t every so often are my royals. All my other animals eat every time food is offered, even during shed.