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How hard is it?

Forcedexile

Forcedexile

New member
Well I'd like to start breeding my own mice due to the fact that petco charges $5 for 3 pinkies and i don't even know if they have other sizes of feeder mice.

So I was just wondering how hard it would to breed my own feeder mice. Basically what I'm looking for is a how to guide to breed feeder mice for 1 snake. I mean I imagine it would just be like 1 male, 1 female, a small tank, bedding, and mouse food right? I would of course only breed what I need so I don't think i would need more than that right?
 
Forcedexile said:
I mean I imagine it would just be like 1 male, 1 female, a small tank, bedding, and mouse food right? I would of course only breed what I need so I don't think i would need more than that right?
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Minimum for breeding mice is 1 male to 3 females, most people say 4 females.
 
EDIT: Obviously another concern of mine is the cost of breeding for just 1 snake needs to be less than the cost of just buying them. So if all the materials don't eventually cost less than just buying the F/T mice then I wouldn't want to do it.
 
I could never get them to breed. I think with 1 snake you are better off buy F/T already at Petco or buy it in bulk online. IMO
 
TheJadeReptile said:
I could never get them to breed. I think with 1 snake you are better off buy F/T already at Petco or buy it in bulk online. IMO
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But thats also a problem. I don't want to buy 50 or 100 pinkies and then have my snake need fuzzies. Then I've got like a bunch of pinkies that I cant use. or the same with the fuzzies. And I dont want to buy from petco either because I'd like to not have my pinkies not cost me $1.75ea. It's not a big deal I'm just trying to save as much money as possible.
 
Forcedexile said:
Well I'd like to start breeding my own mice due to the fact that petco charges $5 for 3 pinkies and i don't even know if they have other sizes of feeder mice.

So I was just wondering how hard it would to breed my own feeder mice. Basically what I'm looking for is a how to guide to breed feeder mice for 1 snake. I mean I imagine it would just be like 1 male, 1 female, a small tank, bedding, and mouse food right? I would of course only breed what I need so I don't think i would need more than that right?
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If you have only one snake the cheapest way to buy is a local rodent breeder who sells them for feeders. The second cheapest way is from an online rodent breeder but you have to buy a years supply to make it a good deal.
 
Forcedexile said:
But thats also a problem. I don't want to buy 50 or 100 pinkies and then have my snake need fuzzies. That is why you feed double or triple pinkies to use them up before switching to a fuzzy. Then I've got like a bunch of pinkies that I cant use. or the same with the fuzzies. And I dont want to buy from petco either because I'd like to not have my pinkies not cost me $1.75ea. It's not a big deal I'm just trying to save as much money as possible.
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Cost of buying online average price for pinky .18 + shipping = .32 if you buy fuzzy, hoppers, and small adult at the same time. The trick is you have to fill the box up to save money on shipping.

Even if you have to feed three pinkies at a time to use them up the cost is only .96 each feeding.

You can even go to reptile shows and buy in bulk there and save money over Petco prices.
 
You could always get another snake to eat up those other pinkies. :D

Honestly, the best thing to do is to go to an Expo. There is ALWAYS mice/rat breeders there. I bought 8 pinkies two weeks ago for $2.10. It is not going to be economical to breed mice to feed one snake. I'm up to 5 snakes and I'm thinking it might BARELY be worthwhile. You have to think about housing, bedding, food, water, time, possible escapees/cannibalism vs gas, cost of mouse.
 
There are lots of people here (in Utah) who breed and sell mice, and a few locally owned pet stores that do. The guy I usually buy from sells pinkies for $0.30, adults for 80 cents. I get the mice all nicely packaged from him. It rocks. There has to be someone near you that breeds and sells mice. Start talking to local snake people and go to local pet stores and ask the employees.
 
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I am guessing if you breed the mice, you'll have way too many babies, well I guess unless you keep the male separate.

ITA, the petshops are insanely expensive. I got lucky and found a person on the forum that went in together with me for our feeders, we were able to order 1100 various sizes and it came out to about $115 each but that will last us a long time.

It's hard to calculate just what you'll need, but the friend of mine that went in with me said if she gets too many of a certain size, she'll try to sell the balance on craigslist which was a great idea.
 
...Kathy, what happened to your other parakeets? I just noticed your signature. And selling dead animals, be it food or not is not permitted on craigslist. You could probably sell it on hoobly.com though.
 
It might not be "permitted" but it is done. I'd buy them from there, but most of the time its frozen rats or asf's.

Thread topic: It would cost you more to breed mice, than to buy. Adults cost more, then housing, propper diet, etc...would add up to being more than buying. All you have is one snake, if you had several then breeding could be cheaper.
 
I agree with the rest on here, for one snake you are much better off just to buy f/t. I raise my own feeders but it was a major pain to find breeders that would not eat the babies. It took me about five months or so to get a group that not only bred really well but didn't eat the pinks as soon as they popped out. Between the rats and mice here it costs me about $30 a month to feed them and a little more to keep clean bedding. Good luck with which ever you decide to do.
 
yeah thats what i'll do then. found out petco only carries pinkies, hoppers, and adults. where as petsmart carries alot more sizes. i'll just buy them from petsmart for now.

oh and replies to everyone else: no reptile shows in my area, no breeders that i know of, nothing on craigslist, yada yada yada searched every available option. one of my friend breeds rats for his 9ft red tail boa or python, i can't remember which, and i told him if he sees that he's going to end up with too many rats for him to handle then to save me some pinkies. rat pinkies are = mouse fuzzies right?
 
Just a forewarning, rats have a higher fat content than mice and it may be a bit difficult for your corn to digest it properly. Try Hoobly.com for mice. Its like craigslist, but better. Seems like your best option though, is to buy frozen in bulk online. ARS has discounted shipping rates to NY.
 
Destarte said:
Just a forewarning, rats have a higher fat content than mice and it may be a bit difficult for your corn to digest it properly. Try Hoobly.com for mice. Its like craigslist, but better. Seems like your best option though, is to buy frozen in bulk online. ARS has discounted shipping rates to NY.
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I am sorry but I just don't agree with the part on rats. I feed both here and don't have an issue with them or digestion. I can switch back and forth from rats to mice with no problems. And I may be wrong has happened before but to me a little more fat for growing snakes is a good thing. Adults need to be slacked down on or they get fat on the rats.
Take care all
 
I didn't see the post as mean. You do, obviously have more experience. I've only been handling snakes for a few months. Everyone has their own opinion on everything! I do know personally, I'll stick to mice. They're cheaper anyway. :D
 
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