Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I recall from your reply to a post of mine about a sick BP that you live in Nebraska.

I live in Grand Island and have a quickly growing herd of asf rats, also quite a few gerbils. Our feed stores out here do not stock Mazuri so I am using gerbil mix,sunflower seeds,cheerios, etc.

My question is do you know of a place in Lincoln or Omaha that keeps the 50# bags of Mazuri rodent food in stock?

I also remember a post where you said dog food works well also. So my second question is-what kind?

Thanks

I live near Omaha and I hear there is a place in Omaha were you can get 50 lb rat food but haven't found out were yet. I get mine from a lady In Lincoln. I will have to see what her shop is called i forget but she gets 50lb bags of Purina laboratory rodent food. Works great for my rats. I think it cost about $25 a bag maybe a little less than that.

The place is called Messick tack and feed. She can order the 50lb bags of Mazuri rodent chow. But it's a little bit more. She doesn't open her store tell 12:30pm on the weekdays since it's summer time.
If you get the Purina rodent chow (which my rats love) it's $26 a bag.

Thanks Sam I couldnt rmeber all the details off the top of my head.

Later
Jeremey

Regular lab rats would eat dog food but the ASF rats don't seem to like it at all, I tried a couple different brands and they would not eat it, even if it was put directly on top of the bedding , they ignored it (believe it or not a had a few cages where they actually tossed the dog food chunks clear out of the cage ,onto the floor). It wasn't cheap feed either so I'm not sure what the deal with them was?

Anthony McCain

I feed my ASFs dog food and they feed on it just fine. I feed them out of a large glass dish and they empty it out in no time (no, they aren't hiding it in the bedding). And they are growing and breeding just fine.
The food is just the basic store brand Adult dog food. "Always Save Adult Dog" actually, if you have any place that sells Always Save stuff out there.
I really just sorted through the dog foods to find what had the right nutrients in them. Min. 16% protein is a good starter. Too much protein and they don't like the taste (which is probably why they won't eat more expensive dog food) and it will give them "hot spots" where they will get itchy and lose some fur. I'll get more information on the food when I go shopping tomorrow.
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2.4 ball pythons
1.1 kingsnakes
0.1 crazy cat
?.? ASFs
1.0 husband

Thanks to everyone that replied.

I picked up a 16.5 lb bag of always save dog food for $5.00. I'll try that. It has 18% protien and 6% fat which is very comparable to the maszuri products. I'll throw in some sunflower seeds and cheerios for variety.

Thanks
Kevin

Go the Mazuri website, look under dealer locaters and enter your zip code. It lists 17 places in a 50 mile radius that carries Mazuri products. Call the closest ones up and ask if they can order you some 50lb bags of 6F Rodent Breeder. I would find it very hard to believe none of the farmers co-ops out there can't do that.
I live in Lincoln and that's all I did, called up the closest co-op on Mazuri's dealer list and ordered three 50lb bags with no problem.

Also remember the old adage, "you are what you eat" don't feed your animals garbage dog food that isn't even suitable for dogs. It's cheap for a reason...

ask if they stock kent products. I use kent lab block and its a bit cheaper than mazuri. I get 50# bags for about 15 bucks plus the 45 minute drive so needless to say i buy 300#'s at a a time. My rats , mice and asf's eat it. Mix it in with their current diet so as they breed so the litters develope a taste for it. I personally like it but it crumbles a little easier than mazuri. Dog food is the easy way of feeding because the rodents grow fast and produce large litters if you use fair stuff BUT the fat content is much higher from what i hear... feed your rodents quality lab chow so you know whats going into your snakes... all that fat can be a death sentence on a snake.
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