Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Some asked me about how much I spend on food (just food!) for my animals today, and I realized I'd never really calculated it out. I then added everything up that I buy per week, multiplied that by four (four weeks in a month), and got:

Breakdown:
1 small rat - 2.99
2 medium rats - 3.99
1 bag 50 mealworms times twice a week = 5.98
1 cup 50 waxworms - 3.99
20 small crickets times twice a week = $1
1 cup 12 nightcrawlers - 2.49
1 cup little mealworms - 2.49
Comes to: 32.87 a week, which is:
131.48 a month!
That's almost as much as I spend on MY food a month!
Note, that's not including bedding OR the furry critters. They really do live better than I do!

Anyone else wanna admit how much they end up spending a month on this hobby? Lol!

~jenny
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1.2 normal ball pythons (Cindy, Darwin, and Periscope)
0.2 rescue chinese water dragons (Yoni and Linga)
0.0.1 Mountain Horned Lizard
1.0 rex rat (Scurvy)
1.0 gerbil (Yerbul)
0.1 mice (Cute Girl Mousy)
0.1 bunny (Spazz)
1.1 betta fishes (Vicious and Killer)
2.2 great danes (Shasta, Odysseus, Merlot, and Watson)
1.0 fat fuzzy mutt (Smokey)
1.1 cats (Thidwick and Turtle)
3.0 horses (Buddy, Sam, and Scout)
1.0 goat (Billy Jack)
0.0.1 chupacabra (it ate our chickens)

jenny.thegreenes.org

Oh, and you forgot the 60 pounds of dog food it takes to feed three Great Danes!!!
That's gotta add another $75 to $100 on on your pet bill.

I have a Mastiff, so I know...

Make that FOUR Great Danes. I can't count today.

Haha, I don't have to pay for those. But yeah, we go through at least a 40 pound bag of dog food a week, probably more, but thankfully I am not in charge of doling out dog food.
(there's a chow/lab mix too)

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1.2 normal ball pythons (Cindy, Darwin, and Periscope)
0.2 rescue chinese water dragons (Yoni and Linga)
0.0.1 Mountain Horned Lizard
1.0 rex rat (Scurvy)
1.0 gerbil (Yerbul)
0.1 mice (Cute Girl Mousy)
0.1 bunny (Spazz)
1.1 betta fishes (Vicious and Killer)
2.2 great danes (Shasta, Odysseus, Merlot, and Watson)
1.0 fat fuzzy mutt (Smokey)
1.1 cats (Thidwick and Turtle)
3.0 horses (Buddy, Sam, and Scout)
1.0 goat (Billy Jack)
0.0.1 chupacabra (it ate our chickens)

jenny.thegreenes.org

Heck ya....
was at the store the other day and realized I was buying on type of dog food for the dogs , another type for my rat food blend, babyfood thats for lizards, not for babies, a pile of assorted leafy green veggies and tasty fruits, not for people, for reptiles and the freezer is full of rodents, not people food!!!
I worry and fuss over dietary requirements etc. Myself and my husband on the other hand usually forget to take our vitamins, eat way too often at fast food places and rarely read the whats in it label on what little human food we buy. Gotta love it!
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3.5.0 Beardies
1.2.0 Crested Geckos
1.1.1 Box Turtles
0.1.0 Sulcata Tortoise
0.1.0 Russian Tortoise
1.3.0 Ball Pythons
2.1.0 corn snakes
0.1.0 great plains rat snake
1.1.0 Blue Beauty Snakes
1.0.0 Banana King snake
1.0.0 Desert King snake
2.7.0 Guinea Piggies
3.6.0 Dumbo rats
1.0.0 Blue Front Amazon Parrot
0.1.0 Congo African Grey Parrot
1.1.0 house cats
2.0.0 Maine Coon Cats
2.0.0 Boxers

Oh I already know my pets eat better than I do.

I breed my own rats for my snakes, which are fed a well balanced rodent lab chow (finally found a good supplier near by who sells rodent chow at a good price, never liked given just dog food, I don't feel that is a good diet for rodents, and thus, not a good diet for my snakes.) I still add in some fresh greens, large parrot fruit/nut/seed mix in with the lab chow for my rodents. They like the variety and hey, they must get tired of the same old thing all the time.

Then there is the chock load of greens i buy for my blue tongue skinks and bearded dragon. Crested gecko diet for my crested geckos and gargoyle diet for my gargoyle geckos. Then there are superworms, silkworms, crickets and other insects I buy to give variety for my skinks and bearded dragon and the spade tailed agama.

Fortunately my monthly spending on reptile food isn't too high, as i found ways to keep the price down. Breeding my own rats...with 11 snakes to feed, is much cheaper than buying 7 Small to medium sized rats and 4 weaned rats every 7-10 days.

One time, when I ran out of frozen and fresh rats, I bought the rats at the petstore...cost me $55 to feed 5 adult snakes and 4 baby snakes. (5 small rats at something like $6.99 each and 4 pinky rats for my young snakes, each cost $2.99. To feed and keep adult rats and breed them, costs me about $20 a month and that is with two colonies of rats, each with a 1:3 group.
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PHLdyPayne

I love it LOL. Do you have pictures of it. Thats funny. Hard on chickens though. Claude

No pictures of it, it just comes in at night and eats all the chickens whole (there's never a trace that the chickens were eaten, no feathers, nothing), and then disappears. We figure its gotta be a chupacabra. This is the third flock it went through!

~jenny
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1.2 normal ball pythons (Cindy, Darwin, and Periscope)
0.2 rescue chinese water dragons (Yoni and Linga)
0.0.1 Mountain Horned Lizard
1.0 rex rat (Scurvy)
1.0 gerbil (Yerbul)
0.1 mice (Cute Girl Mousy)
0.1 bunny (Spazz)
1.1 betta fishes (Vicious and Killer)
2.2 great danes (Shasta, Odysseus, Merlot, and Watson)
1.0 fat fuzzy mutt (Smokey)
1.1 cats (Thidwick and Turtle)
3.0 horses (Buddy, Sam, and Scout)
1.0 goat (Billy Jack)
0.0.1 chupacabra (it ate our chickens)

jenny.thegreenes.org

Actually the Chupecabre doesnt eat whole animals. It supposedly eats kinda like a vampire. Makes two small holes and eats everything on the inside leaving just the outter skin. Eats all meat and organs.

I have done a slight bit of studying in the Cryptozooligy.

I would say maybe Bigfoot, or they were abducted.

Had that happen to a few chickens when we first started keeping them. The only survivor was Henrietta, who had two holes in the side of her neck.

There's supposedly a resident chupacabra in the area. This one takes whole animals. Ate a sheep a couple years ago.

It's a local joke

~jenny
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1.2 normal ball pythons (Cindy, Darwin, and Periscope)
0.2 rescue chinese water dragons (Yoni and Linga)
0.0.1 Mountain Horned Lizard
1.0 rex rat (Scurvy)
1.0 gerbil (Yerbul)
0.1 mice (Cute Girl Mousy)
0.1 bunny (Spazz)
1.1 betta fishes (Vicious and Killer)
2.2 great danes (Shasta, Odysseus, Merlot, and Watson)
1.0 fat fuzzy mutt (Smokey)
1.1 cats (Thidwick and Turtle)
3.0 horses (Buddy, Sam, and Scout)
1.0 goat (Billy Jack)
0.0.1 chupacabra (it ate our chickens)

jenny.thegreenes.org

ROFL thats so funny though. Are you serious about the one dying with the two holes?

I am serious! That's the one that survived though. The rest just had one big hole in their neck and there was no blood anywhere. My mom said it was weasels, but I know the truth!
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1.2 normal ball pythons (Cindy, Darwin, and Periscope)
0.2 rescue chinese water dragons (Yoni and Linga)
0.0.1 Mountain Horned Lizard
1.0 rex rat (Scurvy)
1.0 gerbil (Yerbul)
0.1 mice (Cute Girl Mousy)
0.1 bunny (Spazz)
1.1 betta fishes (Vicious and Killer)
2.2 great danes (Shasta, Odysseus, Merlot, and Watson)
1.0 fat fuzzy mutt (Smokey)
1.1 cats (Thidwick and Turtle)
3.0 horses (Buddy, Sam, and Scout)
1.0 goat (Billy Jack)
0.0.1 chupacabra (it ate our chickens)

jenny.thegreenes.org

Oh we all do now! lol

weasel was my first thought...they are good at taking care of whole chicken houses........mink also.......then the coyote probably ate the big animals.......racoon and opossums will get into chicken house.......skunks I am not sure of.....

pretty much everything will kill birds....

chicken wire won't work..........you need good 1 x 1/2 inch steel wire.......mink will chew through chicken wire in a few minutes.........and put a top on it to keep out the 'coons

........or let chickens run wild so they can sleep in the trees....it helps alot......

and trap the area for critters all the time.....

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.....................still loaded........

you really need to buy elswhere......

mice can run around 40 cents and rats $1 and less.......

mealworms I spent like $8 and got 1000 and probably was actual count of 2000 in the cup.........and you know they got them cheaper........

worms.......don't know what eats the worms........dig a garden....and have a leaf / mulch pile......

find better deals........

.......I use hundreds of rodents a week.....

aaaand.........I spend $60 a week just to feed the rodents (bedding too).......that's 1 or 2 bags of bedding 20 pounds dog food........50 pounds corn 100 pounds mouse chow.....and 25 pounds of oats a week........plus potatoes for the hamsters....plus treats......

and my dog eats too well.....

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...............
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....Cartman........my hero

Do your rodents bark alot?
Do you feed your dog rodent chow?
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RicK & Caitlyn @ Ball Boutique, Inc.

Ball Boutique,Inc.
Proud sponsor of this forum

my mice and rats don't bark at all....they just scratch their azzes like an old fart.......hhhmmmm...

yes my dog will eat rodent chow....no my dog will not eat dry dog food.......he eats human food and Pedigree canned......this is why he is fat and out of shape and has bad knees and bad skin........

woof woof woof
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...............
.........
....Cartman........my hero

How do you harvest the humans?
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RicK & Caitlyn @ Ball Boutique, Inc.

Ball Boutique,Inc.
Proud sponsor of this forum

same as the mice would work.........just thump their head against the oil tank or the rack.......or just throw them in a zip-lock and let them suffocate in the freezer......25 to a bag................
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...............
.........
....Cartman........my hero

Big bags?
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RicK & Caitlyn @ Ball Boutique, Inc.

Ball Boutique,Inc.
Proud sponsor of this forum

I don't have an elsewhere to buy from unless I want to buy in massive bulk, and I just don't have enough animals to need to buy that much.

The dragons (both kinds) eat the nightcrawlers, and I live in the desert - no nightcrawlers in the dirt around here!
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1.2 normal ball pythons (Cindy, Darwin, and Periscope)
0.2 rescue chinese water dragons (Yoni and Linga)
0.0.1 Mountain Horned Lizard
1.0 rex rat (Scurvy)
1.0 gerbil (Yerbul)
0.1 mice (Cute Girl Mousy)
0.1 bunny (Spazz)
1.1 betta fishes (Vicious and Killer)
2.2 great danes (Shasta, Odysseus, Merlot, and Watson)
1.0 fat fuzzy mutt (Smokey)
1.1 cats (Thidwick and Turtle)
3.0 horses (Buddy, Sam, and Scout)
1.0 goat (Billy Jack)
0.0.1 chupacabra (it ate our chickens)

jenny.thegreenes.org

dragons........

could they not eat frozen pinks?.probably cheaper.....

buy wholesale in bulk.....you can keep mice frozen for years....except pinks...they burn...no hair......

just a thought for you to save cash.....

.......good luck..........

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...............
.........
....Cartman........my hero

they COULD eat frozen pinks...but they won't. tried it. they like their babies wiggling.

thanks anyway!

~jenny
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1.2 normal ball pythons (Cindy, Darwin, and Periscope)
0.2 rescue chinese water dragons (Yoni and Linga)
0.0.1 Mountain Horned Lizard
1.0 rex rat (Scurvy)
1.0 gerbil (Yerbul)
0.1 mice (Cute Girl Mousy)
0.1 bunny (Spazz)
1.1 betta fishes (Vicious and Killer)
2.2 great danes (Shasta, Odysseus, Merlot, and Watson)
1.0 fat fuzzy mutt (Smokey)
1.1 cats (Thidwick and Turtle)
3.0 horses (Buddy, Sam, and Scout)
1.0 goat (Billy Jack)
0.0.1 chupacabra (it ate our chickens)

jenny.thegreenes.org