Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I want to get a quantity of frozen pinky mice for my cali kingsnake but they only come in small amounts and are of poor quality at my local petsmart. My last little tin of artic mice were not even developed, like 90% goo with little faces like the mommymouse had a miscairage.
I was wondering if anybody had any recommendations? I looked at rodentpro, but they want $33 to ship one bag of pinkies to me because they only have one size box. I was considering another website that I saw on the kinigsnake.com main page, called bigcheeserodents.com, and their mice are vaccum packed and they have a lot of different boxes. Anybody have any experience with them? I only want mice that are safe for my snake, who's name is Mr. Snakey Butt, and that were euthanised humanely.

Thanks,
Chris

And they seem to be about the same. Shipping gets you either way.

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www.Wood-N-Snakes.com

REALLY nice work on those carvings!! I have been to your site in the past and I really like your artwork and your attention to detail. I would love to see them in person somday.

I cant even imagine how many hours of work you have in to each one of them. ~ Mike

but the thing is I can never catch up enough to have several sticks to take to a show. I have people that want me to do craft shows and cant. Maybe one day I will be able to. If you like the pictures of them I know you would love them in person. And yeah as far as the hours I cant even guess. I usually have several going at one time so it would be hard to keep up with the hours.
Thanks for the compliments.
Toby

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www.Wood-N-Snakes.com

Hi

I've used them both also. If you want VS, you can never go wrong with big cheese or mouse factory. Both have excellent products. You may want to ask them how many pinkies can you get for your order to maximize the smallest box that they have. Increasing the quantity, esp. for just pinkies, does not make the box a whole lot heavier. So getting the max that the shipping cost would allow would make each unit cheaper. Hope this helps.
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Jonel @ Selective Propagations
www.spsnakes.com

I just received an order from BigCheese on Wednesday. The order cost $284.00 with shipping. I compared the price to Rodentpro, whom I have dealt with before. Rodentpro was $271.00 before shipping. I like Bigcheese better because their mice look much cleaner. They vacuum pack in smaller amounts, and they use meat trays for the bigger mice. Rodentpro puts 100 mice in a ziploc, and they don't look as nice. Rodentpro does have sales all the time, and that would make their shipment cheaper.

I also breed mice and sell them. With that in mind. Pinkies do not stay frozen for long, they thaw out very quickly. So shipping is a problem. You either have to offer very large quanities, like I do. 900 per box. Or you have to add so much weight to keep smaller amounts frozen, then the cost is the same. Its sorta six of one, half dozen of the other.

We pack 800 to 900 solidly in a reusable box. In layers. This box when shipped overnight, stays frozen. We use two full inchs of insulation. Smaller amounts will not stay frozen. In the winter we can ship second day. In the summer we must ship overnight(pinkies only)

Whats odd is, people would rather pay for shipping and dry ice or ice packs, then extra pinkies. We can get you pinkies delivered for $.12 each. And you will have extra. Whoops sorry for the rant.

The problem is the same for all shippers of pinkies. Its difficult to ship small amounts. Try thinking about buying larger amounts and splitting them with others. Cheers

Your Cal King won't be eating pinkies forever. If the company you go with vacuum seals them, they will last up to 2 years in the freezer. You could get some of their larger mice for later. It will probably be eating hoppers soon. That way you'll not have to pay for shipping as often. They are still much cheaper than any pet store, even with shipping. Derek

I received my first shipment of frozen rodents on Wednesday from Big Cheese Rodents. I ordered weanling rats (30 to 50 grams), and they arrived frozen solid and looking good. My only concern right now is that they are mostly solid gray rats, and my ball python has never taken anything but a predominantly white rat. I've heard that some ball pythons can be picky about color.

Based on my first experience, I can recommend Big Cheese Rodents. I've also read here on Kingsnake.com about others who've had very good experiences with them and order from them exclusively.

Bill
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It's not how many snakes you have. It's how happy and healthy you can keep them.

WOW THANKS EVERYBODY! I'm definitely going to stick around! I have not ever been on a forum, with the exception of jag-lovers.org, that has been even close to as helpful as you all have been! When I get my paycheck I'm ordering from Bigcheese, thanks to the positive affirmations that I've heard. I'll probably order about 100 large pinkies and a few hoppers too. I'm glad Mr. SnakeyButt will not be eating rats, as my girlfriend and I keep rats (not for food, for pets.) I realize that to many of you they are just food, but I'd never be able to breed my own just to kill them. I'd end up naming them and then I'd have a problem. Actually, the wacky grab bag of pets that I own is quite humerous. I have two ratties that live with the other 6 that my girlfriend has, two hamsters that live with me, a kitty cat, a dwarf rabbit, and of course, Mr. SnakeyButt. My girlfriend has like 6 cats. We love animals, but this is our first reptile. My parents wouldn't let me keep a snake but now that I live on my own, hehehe!

Thanks for all the help!
Chris and Mr. SnakeyButt

PS I am taking him to a herper who raises at any given time two to three giant anacondas and about twenty other snakes to get him looked at professionally to see if he needs anything special besides love. This guy raises the anacondas and other big snakes then gives them to Zoo Atlanta when they get to big and fat to take care of any more.

have used mouse factory for years, never a problem, and good people to deal with.