Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I fed one of my het ghost females a left over live mouse last week and she usually eats f/t and she took both now when I tried to feed her a f/t today she refused it and she has never refused food while in my care until now. WILL THE MADNESS EVER END?? and my other het ghost female wont take f/t at all its like shes afraid of it but as soon as she sees something live BANG its over and done with. ANY SUGGESTIONS

Don't worry about it and feed live - that's what most prefer .

Christy

but why feed live if they will eat f/t plus frozen is 1/3 of the price of live

Hi there,

I think the feeding response with live food is "killer!" I guess if you do not raise your own and have a small collection feeding f/t makes sense because of price. Give your girl a week to get hungry I bet she'll go back to f/t. Good luck!

Christy

Please explain how F/T is 1/3 cheaper then live? Is there people selling frozen rodents cheaper then they sell live?
Why would someone discount frozen, UNLESS it's just surplus unwanted, lab animals? Don't even get me started with lab rodents vs. fresh live farm grown rodents!!
All I can say, speaking for your animals.... you get what you pay for. You have to ask yourself why they don't want that frozen white carcass, while they attack a live healthy rodent.
There is going to be a time, that this battle will come to the for front. The pros and cons of Frozen vs. Live. Lab rodents vs. Rodent Breeder rodents.
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Ron Billingsley
www.ronbillingsleyreptiles.com

I would never use lab rodents!
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RicK @ BbI

Ball Boutique,Inc.
Proud sponsor of this forum

The rodents most people buy frozen come from very reputable dealers (rodentpro, etc.). They ARE NOT surplus lab animals. They are bred specifically for feed. And yes, they are much cheaper than most people can buy live at their local pet stores. The reason they are cheaper is simple economics. They produce on such a large scale. My local pet store sells small rats at 3.99 live, and mice at 1.50. Compare that to some on-line dealers and you can get rats for under a buck and mice under 50 cents. Even with shipping, which is very high, its still much cheaper than running to the pet store and paying retail. The frozen feeders I have purchased (from three different on-line distributers, have been clean and fresh. Having said that, I do feed frozen but am not "in love" with the method. Thawing is a huge hassle, among other negatives...

I agree. Buying rodents from a pet store is the last place you would want to get your feeders. They are not set up to supply hobbyists. They sell to optiuntic buyers, one's that don't know any better. They usually buy from private breeders, mark up the rodents by 100% to 300% and sell them. It's much better to go directly to the source for rodents. Now, your online frozen rodent breeders....... have you asked where their supply comes from? ..............
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Ron Billingsley
www.ronbillingsleyreptiles.com

They all breed their own, strictly for the pet food trade. CHeck out Rodentpro.com....you'll be impressed.

Sorry, you have been misinformed. The largest internet suppliers of rodents get most if not all their rodents from Labs. All surplus. Some of the little guys might breed their rodents, but to sell in volume, they go striaght to the labs for their stock.
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Ron Billingsley
www.ronbillingsleyreptiles.com

Do some research. First, why would labs have all of this surplus? Secondly, why would these big rodent suppliers, who are all over the place, BTW, go through all the hassle to broker and aquire this "surplus" (not to mention shipping to their place). Again, I've dealt with several large rodent outfits. I've seen pictures of some of their facilities. Row aftet row of rodent racks....Is is possible that some suppliers sell some stock not produced by them on occasion? Sure. Most of the legit leaders ihe industry however do produce 100% of what they sell.

I'm not going to get into an argument with you over this.
Some people don't care where their feeders come from. Some do.
Most reptiles do very well with frozen surplus lab rodents. Some do not. And, I've done my research, thank you.
You want to believe every dealer produces his own stock, fine. Think that.
Good day
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Ron Billingsley
www.ronbillingsleyreptiles.com

Just because a mouse/rat is white does not mean that it is a leftover lab animal. Lots of pets and non-lab animals are albinos.
Besides, I know for a fact that animals are treated with great respect and care in a lab, having worked in one in college. There are all sorts of laws that apply to animals if they are being used for scientfic purposes. CLimate control, housing with other rats for social purposes, changing of bedding every other day...do you change your home-bred rats bedding every other day? And when it did become time to terminate to animals, it was with a very sophisticated CO2 chamber, and they were then donated to the Raptor center at the local university.

Sorry if it sounds a little ranty, I just think that scientists doing useful research have been villified for too long about the treatment of their animals. Bad apples spoil the bunch i guess, like anything else.

I breed my own rodents, but I too want to state that not all lab rodents are injected with hazardous materials or diseases. They are fed proper rodent food, and the labs have to abide by strict government standards. Far stricter standards than anybody I know that breeds rodents on their own.
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gail

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SBF

The real problem I have came into with lab rats is that out of that lab room where everything is perfect they wont breed. They lose alot of weight. And if not feed off soon, end up dieing anyway. I got like 6 suplus rats from a lab for breeding, in 6 months they had 3 litters and only 1 made it the rest where still borns. They wernt old animals I got them small and tried puting some weight on them but just didnt work. Last night I feed them all off and geting new breeding rats.

Alot of labs may take great care of the rats but by the time they get to us they are ran down. I have got rats from lab surplus and I have got rats from Ron, I would take Rons anyday because of the quality of them.

Blake Deffenbaugh

I was referring to was lab rodents for feeding your snakes, not for breeding. Most lab rodents have little to no immune system, so yes, they are not good to buy for the purpose of breeding for food.

Shortly after introducing them to your rodent colony, they will become ill and most die within a couple of months if not fed off.

You need to buy rodents from another rodent breeder or a pet store that buys theirs from rodent breeders, not labs.

There may be people in your area that you can buy some rodents from to start a colony or to add to your colony and the feeder forums here on KS may be a good place to look.

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gail

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SBF

I fyou want to get back to f/t..let her/him get good and hungary (skip a meal), feed f/t, if it doesnt work then pre-kill yourself just before feeding and then get back to f/t.
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1.0 het albino ball
1.0 norm ball
0.4 norm ball
0.1 snow corn
1.0 butter corn
0.1 norm corn
1.0 southern plains rat
1.0 striped Cali king
1.0 western hog

You'll never get to enjoy watching eggs hatch again.

.
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1.0 het albino ball
1.0 norm ball
0.4 norm ball
0.1 snow corn
1.0 butter corn
0.1 norm corn
1.0 southern plains rat
1.0 striped Cali king
1.0 western hog

.
-----
1.0 het albino ball
1.0 norm ball
0.4 norm ball
0.1 snow corn
1.0 butter corn
0.1 norm corn
1.0 southern plains rat
1.0 striped Cali king
1.0 western hog