not allowed to breed - The rodent thread

mommanessy247 · 04-12-10, 05:32 PM

i had it all figured out, written down, everything down to a breeding schedule.
then my hubby said "nope, not gonna happen."

now im gonna have to spend $62 on mice, food & bedding every month.
i tried to get him to see how costly thats gonna be, but he wont budge.

Will0W783 · 04-12-10, 06:03 PM

For one snake (don't you have just one?), trust me, you do NOT want to go through the trouble of breeding your own mice. They are smelly, dirty and they tend to eat their young if conditions are not perfect. I tried breeding mice for a while, and it was a disaster. I have cats, and they meowed constantly because they smelled the mice and wanted them. The mothers ate their babies and beheaded and ate the male one night. I will never try it again.

mommanessy247 · 04-12-10, 06:14 PM

i dont actually have any pets yet. i will be getting the snake in august.

Feebo · 04-12-10, 07:08 PM

Yep, totally unecessary!

The best way to keep the food bill down is don`t get a snake lol or don`t have too many. It now costs me about £25 every time I feed my snakes, and that`s WITH the discount I get for keeping the local herp shop going....

Will0W783 · 04-12-10, 07:12 PM

Ah, well with only the one snake I would really stick with just buying it food. Mice are some seriously smelly buggers and a good colony of rats take up a lot of space. If your BP will eat f/t you will save a lot of money ordering in bulk from sites like RodentPro.com or buying a lot at shows. I have a bunch of snakes, and I buy a large supply of various sizes of frozen feeders at shows. I stock up about once every other month, and spend about $100-150, depending on how much I buy. That lasts me two months, for a lot more than one snake. You can easily feed your snake on a $30 bag of medium rats for several months if you buy at shows. The trick is getting it to reliably eat frozen/thawed, if it doesn't already. Where are you getting your ball python? Make sure you find out if it's already been being fed on f/t.

mommanessy247 · 04-13-10, 04:02 AM

i am getting my ball python from a breeder in north carolina. im in south carolina & he's the only breeder close enough to me. i want to avoid buying at the pet store since pet store snakes are not reliably healthy & most often then not, are wild caught.
the breeder feeds his snakes live prey, so i was thinking i'd keep it the same here at my home.

infernalis · 04-13-10, 05:36 AM

Its best for the snake if you can get it switched over to F/T.....

F/T is more convenient, safer (Dead mice don't bite) and so much cheaper.

shaunyboy · 04-13-10, 07:00 AM

its all pretty much been covered so i'll just tell you my personal preference.i buy 2 months of food at a time from a local breeder that breeds all food items at his house.i would never breed my own food as imo i would spend more time and work on the food than i'd ever have to put in on my snakes.also they stink and make loads of noise.probably attract wild rats,mice,etc.then as willow pointed out with mice they have a bad habit of eating each other.oh and its that bad i'll mention it twice they stink.i have a friend who has an industrial unit out in the country that breeds every type of snake food.before she even opens the door of her unit all you can smell is the amonia from the urine.it actually catches your breath for the first few minutes after going inside the building.its gross.....!!! if you want to fund your hobby after you've got a few years experience under your belt why not breed pythons.
cheers shaun

mommanessy247 · 04-13-10, 07:24 AM

eh im really not looking to breed anything as im still only a beginner. i just dont have that level of interest. also what would i do with all those snakes? what if no one bought them? then i'd end up being like the hoarders on the news with too many animals to care for properly...no way man, not me.

Will0W783 · 04-13-10, 08:08 AM

Lol. Yeah, breeding reptiles is not for everyone. The idea is that if you breed, you sell the offspring to help pay for the care of the adults. It's time-consuming, and there is always the risk of losing a female to egg-binding or other pregnancy complications. I intend to breed on a small scale- maybe 2-3 clutches of my favorite species a year. Nothing ridiculous, just something to help fund the hobby.

shaunyboy · 04-13-10, 09:24 AM

my plan exactly willow,i hope to produce enough of my favorite snake to keep a few hold backs.if i could then sell the rest and make my hobby break even i'd be chuffed to bits.i'm not looking to make a profit but it would be really good if my hobby supported itself financially.
cheers shaun

infernalis · 04-13-10, 09:39 AM

Watch out it turns into an obsession real quick

Baby snakes are addicting.

Will0W783 · 04-13-10, 09:41 AM

I'm not a snake addict. I can quite whenever I want. Really, I can.....

infernalis · 04-13-10, 09:43 AM

were going to be swarmed with baby garters again this year.

**Aaron_S** · 04-13-10, 03:43 PM

Back to the original topic...

Could you list how you're getting $62 a month for a single snake? I'm sure there's a way I or some of us could lower that. Biggest chunk would be buying frozen RATS (not mice) from a supplier like rodentpro.com You could buy 2 months worth at a time. Really, that's only about 8 rats at a time to buy. Fairly cost effective.