Reptile & Amphibian Forums

where can i buy food for a ten foot burm.

Beyond that, you might have a local hotspot, but you're going to have to dig that up yourself...

~brian

While I'm certain that rodent pro has great food at great prices, to feed one snake it wouldn't be feasible to pay the tremendoes shipping charges that go with overnighting frozen items. It could end up costing like 75 bucks to overnight a few 8 pound rabbits.

I would suggest that you look in the kingsnake classifieds for a rodent breeder near you. If you can't find one there look in your local papers and check feed store bulletin boards and ask around for local rabbit breeders. You'll find something.

If you have even a tiny yard you can breed your own food for a FRACTION of the cost of buying it. With two does and a male you can produce roughly 10 rabbits per month. This will enable you to feed your guy, freeze some extra "surplus" rabbits, and even sell a few to suppliment your miniscule overhead.

>>where can i buy food for a ten foot burm.
-----
"If I had 365 enemies it would only take a year out of my life to settle all scores." Mia Miselfani

I'm about to start breeding my own rabbits. Luckily a friend of my wifes needs to get rid of her male and female rabbits and has agreed to let me have them (she knows I will be breeding them for snake food. I look forward to always having a supply of fresh rabbits around and not have to search out suppliers that have some available at the time. Good luck, Scott.
-----
"If A$$holes could fly, this place would be an airport", Not particularly for this place, I just liked the saying.

"In any civilized society, it is every citizen's responsibility to obey just laws.
But at the same time, it is every citizen's responsibility to disobey unjust laws."
—Martin Luther King Jr

GiantFeeders just started a nationwide RabbitLink. It is a free service intended to connect snake keepers to local rabbit growers. So far there are 12 states represented and one grower in Canada. Shipping is a ridiculous expense and there are rabbit growers in every state so connecting those who need rabbits with those who grow them seems to be a logical and mutually beneficial goal. Of course as Brian stated, raising your own rabbits is the cheapest method but it isn't easy. rabbits do not always breed like one hears, and they require far more space than rodents do. They eat more, procreate less on average, spook easier, and will refuse to breed if the circumstances aren't just right. They can and will neglect their litters, birth on wire (killing the babies), or stomp their babies to death, so it can be frustrating if all one has is one pair. It also takes a lot more time to raise a rabbit to a desired weight. Say six months of feeding and caring for a rabbit so it may reach a weight of 7-8 pounds depending on the breed. Whatever you choose think it through. Personally, having been in the feeder business for a little while, I would rather find a good source locally than go through the expense and time of starting my own- unless I wanted absolute quality control (which I like).
-----
Marcia Pimentel
Tango River Reptiles
GiantFeeders

That is a great idea to pair up rabbit breeders with herpers in need. Kudos on that wonderful idea.

I don't know why you say it's "not easy" to breed rabbits. I have very little trouble doing it and only lose maybe one out of every ten litters due to a bad mom (ergo; pinks on wire, etc). But I immediately feed off the bad mom and only keep good moms.

I get about the same amount of litters per year from each female as I do from rats, and I find that my rabbits grow approximately a pound a week after weaning and are roughly 6 pounds at 8 weeks. I raise Californians and New Zeelands. The only real difference between rats and rabbits that I don't like is that it takes rabbits about 4 months to mature to breed, whereas rats take about 9 weeks to start producing. So the geometric growth is much easier with rats. The only other thing that is a big difference is that rabbits take up more space. But all in all the rabbits take me even less time to maintain. Maybe 20 minutes a day to upkeep a colony of 60 females that produce up to 300 rabbits per month (but usually closer to 200). Of course I have all auto-water valve systems and this saves a bundle of time in and of itself.

But I would not hesitate to advise one to breed their own rabbits. If anyone wants to ask me anything about breeding rabbits please don't hesitate to email me at BrianSmithReptiles@hotmail.com I am more than happy to help out.

>>GiantFeeders just started a nationwide RabbitLink. It is a free service intended to connect snake keepers to local rabbit growers. So far there are 12 states represented and one grower in Canada. Shipping is a ridiculous expense and there are rabbit growers in every state so connecting those who need rabbits with those who grow them seems to be a logical and mutually beneficial goal. Of course as Brian stated, raising your own rabbits is the cheapest method but it isn't easy. rabbits do not always breed like one hears, and they require far more space than rodents do. They eat more, procreate less on average, spook easier, and will refuse to breed if the circumstances aren't just right. They can and will neglect their litters, birth on wire (killing the babies), or stomp their babies to death, so it can be frustrating if all one has is one pair. It also takes a lot more time to raise a rabbit to a desired weight. Say six months of feeding and caring for a rabbit so it may reach a weight of 7-8 pounds depending on the breed. Whatever you choose think it through. Personally, having been in the feeder business for a little while, I would rather find a good source locally than go through the expense and time of starting my own- unless I wanted absolute quality control (which I like).
>>-----
>>Marcia Pimentel
>>Tango River Reptiles
>>GiantFeeders
-----
"If I had 365 enemies it would only take a year out of my life to settle all scores." Mia Miselfani

You are raising the meat breeds and if I had enough space and time (never seeem to have enough time) I would have gone into those. You probably have already passed your learning curve and also have them in a secure area where they feel safe. A good pair of meat breed rabbits with a great reproductive rate is hard to find and costs what they are worth- that would be the best way to start, but it still contains a learning curve. I was thinking a lot of people would get a male and female (sexing them is itself a challenge) from the pet store or from a neighbor and think they were all set. It isn't really as easy as the saying goes. With every expansion we've had, we've purchased good stock and still have had to feed off about 50% of them. Not all rabbits reproduce like Cals and NZ's. After they reach weaning, their growth also tapers considerably in comparison to their feed consumption. I find my rabbits compare dismally to my rats (when I raised rats) never had to worry about half the things I think about with rabbits. I'm not trying to discourage anyone from raising his own. I did it for my snakes to begin with and still stay with them primarily for my snakes but I don't want anyone to think they are as productive and inexpensive as rats- far from it. For a grower it takes a couple of years to obtain the good stock of does that are good mothers and kindle an avg. of 8 per litter- this isn't my statistic- whereas with rats one is set up from the beginning. You have a very good production and growth rate- you are very lucky because that is far from average.
-----
Marcia Pimentel
Tango River Reptiles
GiantFeeders

Those are all very good points, and totally true. There is a lot of "basic" things to know to do it right, and yes, things still go wrong. True, true, true. And while rabbit breeding is not a complex, multi-faceted thing in and of itself, what one doesn't know can certainly make the difference between success and failure.

I suppose I was going by the premise that one may get their stock from a helpful breeder (it's always been my experience here in Cali) and that the breeder shows how to sex and instructs how to breed. When one goes this route they have a much better head start. I could never imagine one going to a pet shop and ever achieving the same eventual results.

I hope you stick around for a while Marcia. The more interesting banter the better, in my book.

>>You are raising the meat breeds and if I had enough space and time (never seeem to have enough time) I would have gone into those. You probably have already passed your learning curve and also have them in a secure area where they feel safe. A good pair of meat breed rabbits with a great reproductive rate is hard to find and costs what they are worth- that would be the best way to start, but it still contains a learning curve. I was thinking a lot of people would get a male and female (sexing them is itself a challenge) from the pet store or from a neighbor and think they were all set. It isn't really as easy as the saying goes. With every expansion we've had, we've purchased good stock and still have had to feed off about 50% of them. Not all rabbits reproduce like Cals and NZ's. After they reach weaning, their growth also tapers considerably in comparison to their feed consumption. I find my rabbits compare dismally to my rats (when I raised rats) never had to worry about half the things I think about with rabbits. I'm not trying to discourage anyone from raising his own. I did it for my snakes to begin with and still stay with them primarily for my snakes but I don't want anyone to think they are as productive and inexpensive as rats- far from it. For a grower it takes a couple of years to obtain the good stock of does that are good mothers and kindle an avg. of 8 per litter- this isn't my statistic- whereas with rats one is set up from the beginning. You have a very good production and growth rate- you are very lucky because that is far from average.
>>-----
>>Marcia Pimentel
>>Tango River Reptiles
>>GiantFeeders
-----
"If I had 365 enemies it would only take a year out of my life to settle all scores." Mia Miselfani

It's kind of like rats in the sense of starting well- i guess. When I got my first SD strain rats and saw the growth and reproduction in those guys compared to the rats I had purchased at a pet store I was amazed. Good stock makes things so much easier. But I'm very familiar with Murphy's law and just wanted to speak abpout the proverbial wrench in plans.
-----
Marcia Pimentel
Tango River Reptiles
GiantFeeders