Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am having trouble finding anyone within an hour that sells frozen mice. The other problem is that I only have one snake so ordering on the internet doesnt seem to make sense yet. My snake is an '03 so he is growing and I know ordering a bag of 100 fuzzies will not work. any suggestions from people who keep 1 or 2 snakes and how to get ahold of quality food? Do you think buying live and freezing them on my own is the only option? This just seems so expensive. Any suggestions would help.

JC

ps-I'm in Bloomington IN if anybody knows anywhere close to buy them.

The first thing I would look into if I were you is any local reptile shows...even if they are a couple hours away. The show will be fun and you can buy a supply of frozen mice that will last you several months without having to pay shipping charges. That's worth the drive, in my opinion.

I found myself in a similar boat to you, though, when family schedules made it impossible to get to any reptile shows before my food supply ran out. I had to break down and order over the net. I was able to get 50 fuzzy mice from BigCheese at a reasonable price, though it did pain me to pay for shipping. The mice came vacuum sealed in two bundles, though, so the second batch stays sealed and secure for a long time while I use up the first.

The last thing I would look into is Petco. I hear they sell frozen mice, but have not looked into that myself. I didn't hear that until after I'd already stocked up.

Good luck.

Judy
-----
1.0 red cape gopher (Caesar)

Did you check out the events link above to see if there are any shows in your area anytime soon? The link is also listed below on my post.

I know that you can call RodentPro and order any amount of frozen mice. It will cost you for the shipping, but you need to do the math and see if it is cheaper to order them online and pay for shipping or do buy them one at a time from Petco or somewhere like that.
Kingsnake.com event calendar

-----
sue

this person said there is a show in Indiana this weekend, so maybe you could contact him to find out more info. He is also advertising feeder animals, and maybe he has mice for sale.
feeder ad from Kingsnake.com classifieds

-----
sue

you will find that it is cheaper to just go ahead and order even a small quantity. For example, at Rodent Pro, you could order 100 hoppers for $30. It would probably cost you $40 to ship them so you end up paying $0.70 per fuzzy. I suspect that is less than you are paying now. Towards the end of those, your snake might be eating 3 at a time, but the saved expense per fuzzy combined with the saved expense for gas to travel to the pet store once per week would probably end up cheaper.

You could also order 100 hoppers for about the same amount of money. In an order of hoppers you will find some that are as small as fuzzies (7-8 g) while others are almost twice this size (12g). You could, by selecting the correct size each week, work your way through a bag of hoppers as your snake grows.

The real savings come in if you can find someone who wants to order some mice with you, thus splitting the shipping cost in half or more. Is there a herp society in Bloomington? Surely in a University town you can find a like minded person.

Check out RodentPro.com. Their prices are usually about as cheap as you can get and they have great service in my experience. They also vacuum pack rodents so they last longer in the freezer.
-----
Chris Harrison

“They also vacuum pack rodents so they last longer in the freezer.”

This has not been the case with any of my purchases from RodentPro. Have they started to vacuum pack very recently? Perhaps you got a package of product which they purchased from another supplier. It probably doesn’t happen as much with mice and pinkies, but the zip lock bags full of rats invariably have holes ripped in them. I believe they claim the dry ice makes the bags brittle. In addition, there is a real savings in space when the animals are laid out on styrofoam trays and vacuum sealed vs. the zip lock bag method – I’d estimate two to three times less space used. That makes a big difference if you don’t have a big chest freezer for storage. But I guess I’m off the track here, since the original poster was looking for just a few fuzzies.

JC – for frozen rodents reasonably nearby, Google “Midwest Reptile Shows”. Talk to Brian. He’s in Indianapolis or thereabouts.

-Joan

I agree with Chris. I only have three snakes, and I find it's cheaper to by on-line. I also use a vacuum sealer to extend the freezer life of the feeders. For example, if I buy a bag of 100 fuzzy mice, I split them up into batches of 10 and re-seal them using the vacuum sealer. This keeps them fresh much longer so I can buy more at once and save on shipping. I've had good luck with RodentPro.