Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have been going back and forth about breeding my own rodents. I would like to hear from your experiences if it is worth it or not. I would also like to hear about how much time it would take up each week to properly care for them. I am looking at breeding rodents as a possible way to reduce some of my overhead.

Here is what I have going right now. Right now I have about 150 boas, ranging from babies to adults. I pay between $1 to $1.25 per rat from small to xl. I have two suppliers for rodents, so supply is never a problem.

I would be looking to set up a facility that could supply rats from pinky to mediums for all my needs and plus some to sell. How many females would I need to accomplish this?

I have done some research on supplies and overall overhead involved with setting up a rodent breeding room. I also know there is a lot of little stuff that I may not be aware of, because I have not done it.

Any feedback would be appreciated.

Thanks
Brett

rats only? or mice also?

the smell....first thing you have .

the fact you can never go anywhere , ever...you need to check the cages, every-day.(too many stories of "THEY were SUPOSED to -...THEY won't do it like you like it...)

build racks with 2 x 3 's and cement mixing tubs...you need a router.

breed more then you need.....lots more....start with 100 females and 20 males?...

where to buy rodent chow ,dog food, bedding..as cheaply as possible.I used 100 pounds rodent chow, 25 to 50 corn 25 oats or more and , some other seeds, and 2 or 3 bales of bedding a week....

where to get rid of dirty bedding...my trash bill was just 600$ a year...hundreds of pounds a week...2 toters full

wter system....bottles are a pain, tubes with nozzles...using ? city water line? or 5 gallon bucket on each rack? ...they WILL stuff bedding into the nozzles and they will flood you..

the smell....yes...second time mentioning it...and in house? garage? out building?..safety? from theft and fire? heat? AC?...

good luck...I bred for 20 years....I now go where I want...and no smell......and I still miss the little boogers....
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........JY

I do produce most of my own rodents, exceptions being hopper mice during baby season and some XL for my larger snakes. If you're getting your rats for $1 to $1.25 each you would not be saving much. I feed around 70 snakes a week (adults mostly on a once every three week rotation) and figure it costs me about $0.75 per rat

But of course the other side of the equation is being able to hand select each feeder to be appropriate size. Any not killed can be put back in the grow up racks until next time.
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count (02/01/2010):
42.61 BRB
27.40 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

Thanks for the responses.

How many hours would you say you spent a week caring for the rodents?

Dave,

When you said it costs you about $.75 a rat. What size where you talking about? In that equation was your time taken into consideration?

Thanks again for your time,
Brett

At least three to four hours/week.

$0.75 per rat is an aggregate of all I produced and does not include my time, only rodent feed and bedding.
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count (02/01/2010):
42.61 BRB
27.40 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

Dave,

Thanks again for your time and info. I think your info make my decision easy. I am just going to keep on buying from my suppliers. I think that will work best for me right now.

Thanks
Brett