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First time breeder question(s)

eDenny

eDenny

New member
Yes, some of these questions may have been previously asked... anyway.

Since i recently just got my corn snake Lecter, i decided that continually going to the pet store for feeders is more than just in inconvenient it's not very cost effective. I already had a cage laying around and purchasing some good protein food was a cinch. My questions are pertaining to the mating process itself. I have 3 females and 1 male, the male is not very dominate and one of the females seems to get more action with other females than the male (I call her "Peek-a-boo Tranny", since she comes out of hiding runs up to another female, starts to try and ride her and then takes off into the dugout again). :-offtopic

I've seen him take a few rides... per say... but is there any actual way of knowing whether or not the females are pregnant? They all make nests sometimes, so I ruled that out... and no there are no other males I confirmed it. I figure nature must have times when there are a group of females pregnant and have babies around other females, but could it be better to move them to the locations I have set up before the birthing process? How do i really know if one of the females is pregnant?
and is this smiley for real??? -->:flames:

XD

-Denny
 
it takes awhile for the colony 2 get started when the females get pregnant they look like light bulbs how old is the colony?
 
As max stated they so look like lightbulbs, and you may not be able to tell until week 2 that they are knocked up. It takes 21-25 days for a knocked up mouse to give birth. Its normal for there to be a dominate female in a colony. I leave all my mice together. Often the females will share the care of the pinkies in the colony.
 
Not very old XD, I was just more curious than anything, I figured that would be the response, judging pregnancy by the belly. The colony is about 1 week old give or take a few days... I just wanted to know ahead of time XD.

Thanks for the reply

Denny
 
Just curious but why not buy several f/t when you go to the store instead of one or two? F/t thawed is usually cheaper and can be kept in the freezer. If you are wanting to feed live and raise them your self, it's a royal pain. You wont be able to feed all the live babies to one snake in enough time to keep the babies from getting too big. Once the snake needs larger food items you will have to wait for the mice to grow, which may lead to your snake waiting a while to eat. Of course this also depends on if mom decides to eat her babies or not. You will have to keep a few of the babies to replace mom and dad because after a few months mom will stop producing as many babies and dad will become less fertile. So now they need to be euthanize. You'll have to buy rodent food, bedding and constantly be changing cages. Raising mice for just a couple snakes isn't really worth all the trouble IMO.
 
I see your point, I'm not only raising mice for my snake however... I'm going to be selling them in the Ottawa area. :) They range from $4-7 a mouse here at pet shops and they run out of a couple dozen mice every 2 days... so i figured i would raise some and make some profit. You're right, unless you have lab cages your cleaning out their food bowls every day or so but I don't mind the up-keep, I'm slowly getting better equipment for them so it's a lot more than "just Lecter food" :p it's slowly becoming a hobby too :p

Thanks for your concern and thoughts though, you are right.
 
I live in BFE setting and it can be difficult to pay a lot for mice. And a cost of a mouse also depends on how far you go to get them. At first when I moved here it was 45-1 hr drive(gas isnt cheap). So I raise my own. And now with the little pet shop that opened in town I break even( I sell to her).... I would rethink making a profit. just break even where it cost nothing to feed your snake(s) should be your goal, anything else is just bonus.... Infact the mice bought me a gallon of milk and Oreos last night... Yummm

Here is the set up I have... You could build your own racks and save money over the lab cages....Dont get me wrong, I have lab cages and they work great but I find it easier to use the racks, as I have extra tubs and just switch the tubs out as clean, Then go outside and wash all the replaced tubs all at once.

snakephotoshoot110.jpg


I have since added Shelves in the open area and have a few more lab cages on them.

As far as cost my lab cages cost me around 30 bucks each with bottle, I got them from a friend who deals with a company that makes them. But the racks cost me about 40-45 bucks to make including the tubs.
 
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