More or less economical to breed your own mice?

**Pareeeee** · 05-07-12, 04:09 PM

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.

exwizard · 05-07-12, 04:42 PM

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.

Bradyloach · 05-07-12, 05:28 PM

were abouts do you live in ontario mate!

StudentoReptile · 05-07-12, 07:16 PM

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.

Snakefood · 05-07-12, 07:24 PM

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

exwizard · 05-07-12, 07:26 PM

Breeding rodents has been rewarding both financially and otherwise. If I had it to do over again, I wouldn't change a thing.

Ivalynfyre · 05-07-12, 07:28 PM

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.

red ink · 05-07-12, 07:45 PM

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.

exwizard · 05-07-12, 07:55 PM

Our operations actually made money.

Snakefood · 05-07-12, 08:43 PM

so does mine, and that's after feeding my 7 snakes

KORBIN5895 · 05-07-12, 09:08 PM

Mine did too.

Skits · 05-07-12, 10:18 PM

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$.

StudentoReptile · 05-08-12, 07:26 AM

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?

**Pareeeee** · 05-08-12, 07:59 AM

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.

exwizard · 05-08-12, 08:02 AM

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.