Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My mother finds it very funny that I am so in love with mice, rats and snakes. I used to have almost 50 mice, but in order for my folks to let me have the snake I had to get rid of ALL of them I have 2 rats now, used to have 3 but one was very anti-social so my friend took him in. I got my first snake a little bit ago but the bugger escaped in my CAR before he even got home, so my friends helped me get a new one immediately and I just got her last night. I was just wondering if anyone else shared the same "odd couple" or other interests? My dad wants me to get a ferret next! I think that would also be kind of funny... I'd have a whole food chain once I got started on the sunflower patch for the rats!

I very strangely own a Brazillian short tailed opossum and Brazillian rainbow boa, and have read that possums are one of the boa's main prey items in the wild. What are the odds of that?
Also, in general, I don't think I have a pet that wouldn't be eaten by at least one of my other pets. The dog might be an exception, but only on basis of size.
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Peter: It's OK, I'll handle it. I read a book about something like this.
Brian: Are you sure it was a book? Are you sure it wasn't NOTHING?

A little over two years ago I got my first snake. Then three more. Then after four or five weeks of doing the "weekend mouse hunt" ... going to all the petstores looking to see if they had the appropriate sized prey item. (and paying $2.00 each for pinkies!) I convinced hubby that raising mice would be the only solution. He said it would be up to his kids, who would be visiting for Christmas. If they couldn't handle the thought of mice being raised as feeders, then we wouldn't raise them. They liked the idea, especially with the promise that the "founder mice" wouldn't ever be fed to a snake.

So we got 1.2 mice, the kids named them. Onion was the name of the boy, Sara and Mavra the girl mice. Cute mice.

Now I have hundreds of mice, but they are like pets to me. Sure I still use them to feed the snakes. Snakes gotta eat after all. But I raise fancy mice, hairless ones, palomino colored ones, dark blue mice, curly haired and satin coated and long haired mice. All kinds of fancy mice. I sell pets almost as often as I sell feeders. I enjoy them as living creatures. I respect them and their lives. I've often been known to give a mouse a cuddle and a positive "talking to" before I have to necessarily whack em. Hubby thinks I'm just a little bit twisted to cuddle and sweet talk a mouse and then kill it dead. But hey, I probably am just a little bit twisted.

Recently started raising rats since we have some pythons that will eat rats when they get full grown. Don't like them as much as mice. But then, when the mice bite, no biggie, when the rats bite it BLEEDS and HURTS. I like the little rat hoppers and juvies. Hope they aren't as bitey as my foundation stock.

So you're not alone in caring for both the feeder and the fed.
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~Sasheena

Okay, now at least I don't feel so bad. I had rats when I was a kid and my boys have a pet dumbo rat (whose name they keep changing but currently it's Moon). Recently I bought her a boyfriend. Our new cute little rex rat is named Pluto and I bought him to breed to Moon so we can start a breeder colony. My smallest snake just moved up to day old rat pinks so now that everyone can eat rats I decided to breed them. I am not too fond of the smell of captive mice so in our small home it was not an option. Once I have the new babies raised up to start a colony with I plan to retire Moon and Pluto back to being just pets. I figure it will save me money plus maybe make me some if I ever have extras to sell.

I get the feeling my mom thinks I am a sicko for breeding the kids pets for snake food, but my boys really seem used to the idea that a snakes got to eat (plus they know we'd never hurt those first two rats). At least she's too polite to say anything.

We also have a cat that unfortunately once killed a snake and a snake that could one day most likely eat the cat. It all works well for us.
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Anna

The Zoo
Corns
1.0 Snow - Cornelius
1.1 Ghost(pastel) - Eek & Boo
1.1 Amel - Parker & Scarlet
0.1 Hypo - Nikko
0.1 Anery - Missy
0.1 Hypo Motley - Cordelia aka Cordy
Boas
0.1 Columbian (BCC) - Bella
Lizards
0.0.1 Leopard Gecko - Leo
Rats
0.1 Dumbo - Moon
1.0 Rex - Pluto
Cats
1.1 Siamese - Blue & Fiona
0.1 Gray DMS - Druscilla aka Dru
Horses
1.0 Thourghbred (Hunter/Jumper) - Morgan's Majesty aka Cody

that's funny, my rats never ever ever bite me. Very rarely they'll snap at my finger, but that's only when I stick it in the side of the cage to pet someone and I forgot that I just had some food. They instantly recognize the mistake and start licking me like they're saying "I'M SORRY!" Did you get feeder rats to start? They tend to be meaner as the are handled far less and kept in huge numbers at least at horrible places like Petco and Petsmart

I actually got the rats from a local rat breeder who boasts quite vocally that she has raised her rats for generations to be NON-BITERS that's why I was handling them so fearlessly when I first got them, and then CHOMP, my finger was bitten nearly to the bone. Ruined my shirt because I was spurting blood all over the place. and it HURT! Deep achey pain for over a week. The other rats never bit until one of them had babies, then she's been a dash/slash biter ever since. I'm hoping to retire the rats I bought from the breeder and breed up the offspring who are handled daily.

I get bitten sometimes by the mice, but generally the biters tend to be the first to go to the snakes. I had one mouse that was genetically predisposed to violence. I could never figure him out. He was a special fancy breeder, the offspring of two of my feeders, but so dang cute, I kept him to breed. He got meaner and meaner until he was lying in ambush and as soon as I would put my hand in the cage he would dash from his hiding place with the intention of biting me. Then he started to attack any of the girls who were nice to me so I whacked him. Decided that beauty or not, no reason to have a mouse like him in my colonies. Now most of my mice are non-biters, but every once in a while I get one that is just plain mean.
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~Sasheena

ugh i know what you mean about the beautiful but mean mouse. I never had one that was violently EVIL to me except one little black girl. She was gorgeous but she was pure evil. She attacked me all the time. There is one that comes to mind that was a VERY BEAUTIFUL lavender/grey mouse with red eyes and a pink tail. He was the ideal mouse for me, I loved him! Unfortunately, like my blonde rat I just gave away, he was very much a people mouse but not a mouse-mouse. He constantly fought with the other mice and ended up with his beautiful tail all beaten up! I felt so bad when I had to give all my mice away... I just wanted to keep my favorite little anti-social fancy baby. But, it was a sacrifice that had to be made if I wanted my snake, and the mice sure did start to smell pretty rank!

When my sons were small the youngest one decided that he wanted a rat as a pet. I was totally against this. But he convinced me that we should at least check them out. At the pet store the young employee just reached in and pulled out a young hooded male rat and handed it to my son. I freaked! But the little rat weanling just sniffed and flipped it's tail but never made an attempt at biting. So we brought it home and named it Templeton. Well, it wasn't long until my older son also requested a pet rat and we acquired Leonard. At that point I was so used to them that I went out and got one for myself, named her Petunia. We decided it would be fun to see if Petunia would give us some babies. She did and what a wonderful experience that was. Unlike hamsters and gerbils our little Petunia would let us handle her newborn and we would offer them back to her and she would take the baby from our hand and tuck it back in with the others. We kept these rats for a couple years, bathed them in the sink with baby shampoo, handled them frequently, let them run around on the floor and never, ever got bit. Absolutely the best pet my children ever experienced. We moved after having them for a couple years. We offered them to new homes at our yard sale and they were the first items to be spoken for. By three different adults that were excited to be taking home a pet that they had as children. I also feed rats to my ball python but they are humanely killed, vacuumed packed and frozen.

Ya know, I have 4 corns now and was considering a 1.2 rat colony to produce feeders for them. I would LIKE breeders I can at least handle and are fairly tame. I REFUSE to buy any animal from PetCo and I know PetSmart won't sell them to you if they even THINK you are going to use them for feeders or breed them for feeders (yeah asking for two females and one male would look a little funny but I may attempt it anyways).

Where WOULD be a good place to find good TAME breeder rats? Any suggestions? I don't want to ship them in from out of state, but maybe someone knows of a place in or around Denver that would be a good place.
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Chantel a.k.a. sillygirl
"I came, I saw, I adopted"

2.4.0 green anoles (Stumpy (M)), and the rest remain nameless.
2.2.0 green tree frogs (Romeo & Juliet, Bonnie & Clyde)
0.0.3 D. tinctorius (Cobalt froglets)
0.0.1 Anerythristic 'B' (Charcoal)corn snake (Popcorn)
0.0.1 Snow Corn (KandyKorn)
0.2 Amel Corns (KornSilk & KornMuffin)
0.0.1 Giant African Millipede
2.4 Domestic house cats (Bad Boy (m), Bart(m),Sasha(F),Little Bit(F),Spirit(F)
1.0 Rottweiler (Jake)
1.0 Husband (David, who loves all my critters too)

You could do a search online for rat breeders but again, most would not be real happy to know their beloved pets are going to be used as snake food. Currently, I buy my rats from a small local store that focuses on reptiles. You might want to look around for a store like that. The store I buy from has a great reputation and carries all kinds of rats from feeders to fancy. Good luck.
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Anna

The Zoo
Corns
1.0 Snow - Cornelius
1.1 Ghost(pastel) - Eek & Boo
1.1 Amel - Parker & Scarlet
0.1 Hypo - Nikko
0.1 Anery - Missy
0.1 Hypo Motley - Cordelia aka Cordy
Boas
0.1 Columbian (BCC) - Bella
Lizards
0.0.1 Leopard Gecko - Leo
Rats
0.1 Dumbo - Moon
1.0 Rex - Pluto
Cats
1.1 Siamese - Blue & Fiona
0.1 Gray DMS - Druscilla aka Dru
Horses
1.0 Thourghbred (Hunter/Jumper) - Morgan's Majesty aka Cody

I had pet rats first. I love them. I do not feed my snakes anyone that I know personally. I don't think that I could feed live to my snakes. I prefer the frozen. I am going to have to find an online place to buy them. My petstore price is HIGH!