I have never seen the farming operations but I do get in a hundred or so farm hatched a year. I get them for resale and to hold some back for breeding. Out of the hundred most start feeding on hopper mice shortly after their first shed. A few of them have to be assist fed and I normally lose 2 or 3 for one reason or another. All of my breeder females were originally farm hatched and I have been working with some since 1998. In my opinion it is a good investment, I have had no more trouble with the farm hatched individuals than I have with my own captive hatched. Now this applies to ones that are hatched and shipped out immediately, usually before their first shed. This does not apply to ones that have sat around in some export facility. I haven't had this problem but have heard horror stories about it. It also doesn't apply to wild caught juvenile and adults, that's a whole different story.

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