Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am getting a corn snake in about a month. I've been looking at mouse suppliers, and honestly, it would cost me the same amount to go to a petshop and buy a mouse once a week and kill it myself. Actually, it could even be less. It's not any trouble for me to go out and buy the mouse because I am in the area of the petshop anyway. However, I was considering that it could be cheaper to breed my own mice. I could allow them to grow to the size I need and then kill and freeze them. I don't know that I would want to be constantly breeding mice, as I think I would have too many that way, but I could breed for a while and then feed my pair or trio off. I have a friend with a ball python that eats adult mice, so it is possible I could sell the adults to her cheaply when I had enough of a stock. I am going to check and see at one more place if they sell bulk frozen mice. If they don't is this plan worth it? I do of course understand there are setup and maintenance costs, but am I right in thinking that in the end i'll come out ahead? If you think it's a feasible plan, I would appreciate any tips you may have for me. Thanks in advance

Yes, it is worth it. However, for only one cornsnake, it depends on how much effort you want to put into it. It's a lot less time consuming to deal with a frozen mouse or two than to keep a breeding group going. But, yes...it is a lot cheaper to grow your own than to buy them.

We breed our own mice and we only have the one snake (a Florida King). Not only will you sav a little bit of money, but it is way more conveneient. If you're going to be pre-killing them at the correct size and then freezing them (we don't have a freezer so I trade with the pet store for the apporopriate size when I don't have any) I would go with rats as soon as you can and just freeze them younger. A pair of rats will not only smell ten times less, but they are nicer and tend to be better moms.
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Rats are better moms and by the time a rat pup is 4 weeks old, it is the size of a large mouse. You'll get more food in a shorter amount of time. So, unless your corn is so small that you need teeny-tiny pinks, I'd go with rats all the way.

I've had a small rat colony going for 20 years and the smell never bothered me...mice on the other hand have an undescribable stench and I can't stand them. Rats have an odor too but not like mice.

Well, then I think it sounds like what i'm going to do. Thanks for the tip on rats, though it could be a while until I need that size. I will be sure to switch over as soon as I can. For the mice though, I don't know that I would need to be breeding all the time. I could build up a supply them freeze or feed my pair off. After pinks, the feeds are 7-10 days, so a few litters will last a while. If I wanted to, could I feed/freze off the male (since from what I read they stink the most) and keep the female and introduce another male later on. Also, for those who do freeze, how long on average will mice keep so I know about how much to produce.

I think it's generally recommended that you keep mice frozen for 3-6 months, but if you pack them really well, or even vacuum seal them they will last for over a year.
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alstiver@hotmail.com

1.0 '01 Hypo snow cornsnake (Tesla)
0.1 '02 Ghost (pastel) cornsnake (Banshee)
1.1 '02 Bloodred cornsnakes (Desi and Luci Too)
0.0.3 Goldfish (Kabuki, Isamu, and Yuki)
1.0 American Eskimo mutt (Rusty)

I meant to say that they are generally kept frozen for AT MOST 3-6 months.
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alstiver@hotmail.com

1.0 '01 Hypo snow cornsnake (Tesla)
0.1 '02 Ghost (pastel) cornsnake (Banshee)
1.1 '02 Bloodred cornsnakes (Desi and Luci Too)
0.0.3 Goldfish (Kabuki, Isamu, and Yuki)
1.0 American Eskimo mutt (Rusty)

one reason rats are easier than mice is that with mice it's not easy to introduce new mice . males are hard females are darn near impossible, they grow up in a colony and that's it . i keep the males in with females all the time so there's never any down time just one litter after another

I'm waiting for reply from the store where I plan to get my snake. If his price is just as bad as the others, i'll be out next week getting my supplies.

IT sure isn't easy to introduce new mice! After SEVERAL mistakes, I have finally learned not even to try. I have had some success with removing a pregnant mom from the group and then re-integrating her after she gives birth. But only if I put her back in the same group she came from, and only if she was only gone for a couple of days. The problems have come when I try to add a new mouse (male or female) to the group. Frequently, the others immediately attack the newcomer, and if I left the new ones in, thinking "they're just being shown who's dominent", they were dead by the next day. To keep the colony going I usually only feed off about 1/2 of the pinks from each litter (I have 5 snakes that are still eating only pinks, F/T.) Once the remainders have reached fuzzy-size I sex them. If I need fuzzies or hoppers, I only take the males, leaving the females for future breeding stock. If there are any remaining males I will let them get to "full-size" and either feed them all off, or replace my male breeder with one of them and then feed him off too. This way, the colony continues on, and I rarely (it is not good to say never) discover a headless corpse where once a mouse was.

IT sure isn't easy to introduce new mice! After SEVERAL mistakes, I have finally learned not even to try. I have had some success with removing a pregnant mom from the group and then re-integrating her after she gives birth. But only if I put her back in the same group she came from, and only if she was only gone for a couple of days. The problems have come when I try to add a new mouse (male or female) to the group. Frequently, the others immediately attack the newcomer, and if I left the new ones in, thinking "they're just being shown who's dominent", they were dead by the next day. To keep the colony going I usually only feed off about 1/2 of the pinks from each litter (I have 5 snakes that are still eating only pinks, F/T.) Once the remainders have reached fuzzy-size I sex them. If I need fuzzies or hoppers, I only take the males, leaving the females for future breeding stock. If there are any remaining males I will let them get to "full-size" and either feed them all off, or replace my male breeder with one of them and then feed him off too. This way, the colony continues on, and I rarely (it is not good to say never) discover a headless corpse where once a mouse was.

with one snake i wouldn't bother breeding . i only do it because i needed pinkies and they're hard to come by. now i supply our local pet store with pinks but it's not like i'm getting rich at it . i figure when my k.s.can eat adult mice i'll probably give it up

Well, I don't think i'll have much access to pinks either. I am pretty sure at one store a sign that they didn't sell them, but i've never seen them in the other stores either. At about $50 a year, it really would be cheaper now that i've calculated it. Even with setup and maintenance it's still gonna be worth it. If I can sell a my breeders when I was done with them, or possibly even sell some mice to my friend, it makes it an even better deal.

i wasn't trying to discourage you and once you get started it's easy, i would suggest doing it outside because the smell is awful but it's nice to have feeders pretty much whenever you want one . i was trying to make a fat buck here but my small town can hardly keep up with my girls and getting about a hundred pinks a month now , gonna have to scale back some by winter well keep us posted

I don't really think it will work well outside in the winter. My friend thinks i'm nuts for doing it and the petstores don't rip you off. Umm... a dollar a mouse when I can get frozen at $.25 each, the shipping is the only problem with that option. I'm guessing that people who get mice at shows get them cheaper then $1 each. My thought is that if I can do it cheaper i'm going to. It's money better spent elsewhere.