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Almost $500 feeder bill, NEED advice on several questions?? Please!

I don't like Rodent Pro because I always get feces and shavings in the bag, which I'm sure my snakes don't mind, but it grosses me out. I also hate the packaging, 100 mice from Rodent Pro takes up almost 3x the room in my freezer as the others. The adults are often frozen in weird positions so I can't tell the size until I thaw it and they do smell really strong. Last but not least, the packaging makes it hard to thaw them in the bag. I prefer to thaw in the bag so the mice stay dry, which is a lot less messy than wet mice. I guess I have so many to feed I've gotten picky.
 
IMO

It dont matter how much you pay or How customer service treats you really matters. I think what really matters is how healthy are the feeders for your animals. I know alot feel its ok to use any mouse or use any water.But since I havent been using any substrate but paper towels I can tell a big difference. What I have found is some mice get digested better then others,and thats a good sign of the quality rodents you use to feed them.While using just paper towels I have used 3 different sources to get my mice and finally have one now that my snakes do really well on.If you use aspen and such this is something that goes pretty much unnoticed.
 
Reading this thread is so weird to me. So many people that I absolutely trust with very different descriptions of their RP orders. Maybe myself and some others are overly sensitive about dirty mice?
I know what Kathy says about their customer service is true. I don't know if anybody remembers the thread where I complained and was told I should let them know about my dissatisfaction? Well I did, and they came through with a whole new order, even though I complained 4 months after the order was placed... That's pretty outstanding. Downside is that the new order was frankly somewhat gross to me too. White mice stained mostly yellow, LOTS of poo and stinky shavings.. I admit I have kept them, still feed them out. But compared to TMF, who sends me very clean mice with a very neutral odor and vacuum packed.. I know most of my snakes don't care, but my food goes in the same freezer as my mice. Maybe it's just that I do?
 
I'm sure TMF doesn't shampoo the mice before they package them, so their glowing white fur must be a reflection of their living conditions. Clean.
 
I order exclusively from RP and have for the past 4-5 years. Through the years I haven't had any complaints about any of my orders. They never smell, they're never excessively dirty, no yellow stains (that's gross). One thing I do notice that I see people complain about is the pinky's & fuzzy's sometimes have missing limbs or a head gets knocked off...I've seen it, but no big deal to me.
 
Nanci said:
I'm sure TMF doesn't shampoo the mice before they package them, so their glowing white fur must be a reflection of their living conditions. Clean.
Click to expand...
Would feces, shavings and urine be a reflection of their living condition? I'm really curious about that, and have asked the question before. How, through the natural process of mass death and dying, do they keep their mice so darn clean? It's a natural process to expel wastes upon death. Throw 10 mice into a bucket (heck throw 3 in there!) and C02 them. You will get urine and feces. :shrugs: I'd actually be more inclined to believe they do wash their mice afterwards. Do they kill each mouse individually in a grated floor cage? I can't believe their mice are that clean without some other additional intervention . . . which may be a reflection of their increased cost?!

I understand the reality of killing mass quantities of mice, so the random occurrences of feces and some urine and a shaving or two don't bother me in the least. In my experience, It certainly doesn't detract from the nutritional quality of the mice.

Just some thoughts . . .
D80
 
I used Rodent Pro for a few years, never really had a problem. I guess I just got used to the way they do things. Anyway, last year when it was time to order mice, Joe convinced me to try TMF, I tried it, and will never go to anyone else.

Rodent pro, you get what you pay for, and it seems to be a luck of the draw with them.

With TMF, you pay a little more, but you get what you pay for, and there quality is great.
 
I have never gotten dirty, stinky mice or rats from RP, although I certainly have heard about others who did. But I also wondered if the dirty mice just got dirty because a certain batch got killed in an overcrowded container, rather than reflecting living conditions. I really have no idea why a few people have gotten stinky mice, when most orders have been very clean - it is just speculation as to the cause.

I raise a few rodents myself, and have a CO2 set up for killing them. We have installed a raised wire mesh bottom so that the feces will fall through in the euthanization tank. But sometimes they come out cleaner than other times. I think it is when I overcrowd them that they get the dirtiest. Or possibly, they didn't get enough gas quickly enough, and had more time to soil themselves?
 
Drizzt80 said:
Would feces, shavings and urine be a reflection of their living condition? I'm really curious about that, and have asked the question before.
Click to expand...

I'm sure the mice keep themselves as clean as they can. Rodents spend time grooming. If their conditions are so filthy that they can't get themselves clean, I would wonder about other things, like overcrowding and diet.
 
kathylove said:
I have never gotten dirty, stinky mice or rats from RP, although I certainly have heard about others who did. But I also wondered if the dirty mice just got dirty because a certain batch got killed in an overcrowded container, rather than reflecting living conditions. I really have no idea why a few people have gotten stinky mice, when most orders have been very clean - it is just speculation as to the cause.

I raise a few rodents myself, and have a CO2 set up for killing them. We have installed a raised wire mesh bottom so that the feces will fall through in the euthanization tank. But sometimes they come out cleaner than other times. I think it is when I overcrowd them that they get the dirtiest. Or possibly, they didn't get enough gas quickly enough, and had more time to soil themselves?
Click to expand...

I do wonder.....

Anyone think it's possible that when a company like RP sees an order from Kathy Love or Rich Z they pay extra special attention to that order?
 
Who knows, if thats what they do.. Could care less really, I found a place that satysfies my needs when I order and I am quite happy about the way Edna has treated us.. Yes Brent, as nutty as it sounds, TMF has some seriously well groomed mice.. How ever they could use a pedicure.. *lol*

I know where Stephen gets some of his adult mice from, and well I have got them from the same supplier too, excellent qaulity but a bit of a drive for me.. 2 1/2 hours... With gas prices the way they are, I have no choice but to switch to a local guy for now..

Regards.. Tim of T and J
 
Great point joejr14
Anyone think it's possible that when a company like RP sees an order from Kathy Love or Rich Z they pay extra special attention to that order?
Click to expand...
It would ONLY suprise me if they DIDN'T pay extra special,special attention:)
 
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Joejr14 said:
I do wonder.....

Anyone think it's possible that when a company like RP sees an order from Kathy Love or Rich Z they pay extra special attention to that order?
Click to expand...


I guess anything's possible, but I have a modest 12 snake inventory and get great service and quality mice. I guess I'm just extra good looking.
 
I received my first order of Rodent Pro mice yesterday. My order was for 100 fuzzy mice but after counting them I only received 98. They responded within 24 hours with an offer to refund me $0.38 for the two missing mice. I told them to forget it. I'll just be going back to the Mouse Factory for my future orders. I've had no complaints with their shipments and they pack their product much better than Rodent Pro.
:nope:
 
I used Big Cheese for 2 years. In that time I tried one order of Rodent Pro. The order wasn't so pretty, I wasn't impressed with the packaging and I couldn't get a hold of anyone on the phone, pricing was REALLY NICE though! lol! So I stuck with Big Cheese.

Big Cheese customer service then unfortunately, dropped way down. They were constantly bumping my orders or wanting to send parial orders which kills me on shipping. I order about $1000 a month sometimes more. I have many others buying their mice from me and I risk losing regular customers when I constantly ran out of certain sizes.

I called around wanting to go with a different company and saw a number of good recommendations for Rodent Pro. I called them up and spoke to someone telling them of my concerns, my previous bad order and not being able to reach customer service over the phone. I also told them my sizes of orders and how I hope the orders would continue to grow much larger.

Well, they bent over backwards for me and sent me four boxes of spit shined mice! lol!! What great treatment! This was MUCH better! So now I've been with them for about 3 months and ALL orders have been clean and well packed. I was also able to easily do all orders by phone! YAY RODENTPRO! :)

Rebecca
 
I've used them all....The Mouse Factory, RodentPro, Big Cheese, Mice Direct, Cajun Mice, American Rodent and a few others. They all have pretty good mice. I haven't really noticed a big difference in many of of them. I must say, however, Cajun Mice, Big Cheese, and TMF have great packaging whereas the 'bigger' guys (Mice Direct and Rodent Pro) have the ziploc bag mice.

Currently, I order from American Rodent, Mice Direct, and RodentPro and am happy the quality mice I've received. Mice Direct has certain advantages for me as I can pick-up my order and don't have to pay shipping. American Rodent has free shipping deals and when I ordered 1000 mice it was a nice budget saver...now, however, they've upped their adult prices so it is no longer the saver it was. RodentPro has always been good quality and I've not noticed any bad mice and my snakes seem to being doing fine. I did have one bag of mis-sized mice shipped but they took care of it immediately.

In the end, price is a big factor for me due to the amount of feeding I have to do. For example, take just the adults I go through: On average, I use about 1000 adults a month (more in pre-breeding season, less in egg laying season). Ordering in 1000 lots to get the price breaks, I'm looking at $410 from RodentPro, $430 from Mice Direct and $600 from the Mouse Factory. TMF would cost me $170-190 more a month...and that is taking only adults into consideration. Just yesterday I fed out 150 weaned, 100 fuzzies, and 200 pinks. Financially, I cannot justify the added cost for well packaged mice. PLUS, the smaller companies usually cannot get me the numbers I need which also makes it problematic to get my full orders.

All of this being said, however, I will not sacrifice my snakes health for a cheap price. If the mice were not good quality, I wouldn't feed them to my snakes but I have yet to receive 'bad' mice from any company. The mice from RodentPro and Mice Direct are packaged in ziplocs and not all in a line...but I feed out bags at a time so I thaw the entire bag and it is not a problem. Other then that, I haven't noticed a huge difference. Yes, every once in a while there is a small amount of feces or a shaving particle but I don't feed the shavings to my snakes...just the mice. ;)

Just my 2 cents...
 
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