Reptile & Amphibian Forums

how hard is it to start a feeder colony. what kinda of cages do you need, terriums, sterilite, etc. How much does it smell after a while. is it more expensive, cheaper or the same as buying f/t.
These are just some questionsi have cause im kinda new to snakes but plan on expanding my collection this year 04'.

thanx
RV
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0.0.1 03'Amel (1st)
0.0.1 03'Normal (2nd)
to be add in january (pos.)

what ever kind a corn catches my eye at the show

it depends on how large you go.
when i started, i went with one family.
i paid $4 for a rubbermaid tub, $3 for a water bottle (melted a hole in the side of the tub and fed the metal part of the bottle through it to prevent climbing). at the time i used pine, which i had for my snakes anyway, but a nice size bag is about $3. i bought them lab-style food pellets for about $4. the mice themselves (3 females, 1 male) were a total of $4.
the total cost was about $18. one female was pregnant. she had 10 babies. my agama got two before the male cannibalized the others. the second one to have babies had 4. 2 were used as feeders, but on xmas eve my cat sabotaged my mouse breeding project, eating the 4 adults and both remaining babies.

my next plan is to go with a rubbermaid plastic drawer system (about $10) to hold 3 seperate families.
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currently have:
blue tongue skink (skinky),
pygmy rattlesnake (gordon),
nile monitor (dick),
reticulated python (mousetrap),
egyptian painted agama (george),
ball python (snake'n'bake),
red-sided skink (skinky jr.)
mozambique spitting cobra (fluffy).

so you can use a rubber made container w/o them chewing through it?
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0.0.1 03'Amel (1st)
0.0.1 03'Normal (2nd)
to be add in january (pos.)

what ever kind a corn catches my eye at the show

if the don't have an edge to chew they cannot chew their way out.
i had used one deep enough that they could not jump out, and since i melted the hole for the bottle as opposed to drilling, it fit very snuggle around the nozzle as to not provide a chewable edge.
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currently have:
blue tongue skink (skinky),
pygmy rattlesnake (gordon),
nile monitor (dick),
reticulated python (mousetrap),
egyptian painted agama (george),
ball python (snake'n'bake),
red-sided skink (skinky jr.)
mozambique spitting cobra (fluffy).

I use the 51L sterite containers without having any problems with mice chewing through it. I did have one mouse who was able to jump high enough to get out, never had that happen before with the 100 or so mice that I have went through since I started breeding them. She did it again not to long after I found her and put her back, decided to make her snake food before she taught everybody else the trick. Course, I coudl have solved the problem by putting a lid on the container but didn't feel like cutting a hole into the lid and taping down the hardware cloth for air circulation.

For water bottles I just use wire wrapped around the body of the bottle and hang it off the side of the container. Never had any problems with mice climbing up and jumping down the 12" or more distance to the floor. Just that one mouse who jumped up managed to work up the nerve to jump down 13" or 14" to the floor.

I would personally spend the money on lab rodent cages. they are so much nicer for small breeding projects. Get 2 for about $30 tops and you can do 1.5 groups in each. nice food hopper set up and water bottle, very easy to clean, and very secure. I also think those plastic one the rodents will chew out of, or might. i wouldn't want to risk a pregnant female getting out into my house. just my thoughts, the initial investment is higher but overall it is easier which has some value to it.
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Derek Affonce
DeKeAff Exotics
dekeaffexotics.com

just out of curiosity, where would one get such a system for $30? i know of similar systems that sell for hundreds, though they have automatic watering.
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currently have:
blue tongue skink (skinky),
pygmy rattlesnake (gordon),
nile monitor (dick),
reticulated python (mousetrap),
egyptian painted agama (george),
ball python (snake'n'bake),
red-sided skink (skinky jr.)
mozambique spitting cobra (fluffy).

Big apple herp sells a single rodent enclosure new for $35. You can look and find them cheaper online used and still in good condition. I think they are very nice and easily cleaned.
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Derek Affonce
DeKeAff Exotics
dekeaffexotics.com

You can buy a bunch of 55L rubbermaid or sterlite containers at Walmart and waterbottles for under $30 easily.

Read back through old posts. Almost everything you need to know has been discussed here. There are different opinions, but we seem to get along. My experence is that raising your own is cheaper, by far.

DeMak

while it is often times more cheaper.. the rewards to your animals are far greater than saved MONEY.

you know exactly what is going into your animals, and therfore into your snakes.. you can produce larger more robust animals, that live longer, eat better, and have little to no health problems

raising your own feeders is by far the best option if you have the space to do so.

Start with a 10 gal.fish tank and awire top.Buy a water botlethat hangs in the tank and a coolwip bowl.Trie to start with dark mice they seem to produce more.Good luck
Chris S.