Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i was intrested in breeding my own mice pinkies n the such as in letting them grow to bigger sizes so when my kings can manage it i can change the food item size, futhermore i have some new snake friends now and am tryin to make some extra cash or at least help them out wit there feeding (hey i get to watch them feed also Big Plus) so i was just looking to get some expert relpys appr it in advance Mike S. GO KNICKS!

np

rodentpro all the way baby!!!

Buying rodents instead of breeding them is at least ten times more expensive. Of course they stink. You would too if you were locked in a room and provided with nothing but food and water. You see, the key is, you have to clean the cages occasionally. duh. Also, I've never bought a rodent that appeared even half as healthy as the rodents I raise. All the frozen mice I've ever bought have been nothing but skin and bones. I enjoy raising my rodents as much as I enjoy raising my herps. I also enjoy the $5-$10 I spend a month as compared to the $100 or more I would be spending on frozen rodents. In short, buying them instead of breeding them is like hiring someone to wipe for you. It's expensive and the quality just isn't there. lol
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Martin Whalin
My Email

Quotes from guys named Carl:

"Science stops at the frontier of logic. Nature does not, she thrives on ground as yet untrodden by theory."
-Carl Jung

"It is foolish to let singleness of purpose deprive one of the joy and delectation of the many wonderful sights and sounds incidental to the quest."
-Carl Kauffeld

thnx martin always apr your posts, let someone make there own decison!!! wtg, ok so i f i was intr in rasing my own mice could u set me on my way with some of your pointers? get a male n a female mouse? then from there? just food water n cleaning??? any way i can give vitamins to the lil buggers? what have your methods been? appreciate the wisdom!!! u rock martin. MIke.S

I'd get a male and two or three females to start. If you feed rodent chow you shouldn't need viatmins since the chow is loaded with them. Besides that, they pretty much do everything on their own. If you leave them together constantly they should lock into a schedule of dropping babies every 3 to 4 weeks. You'll know when they start to get worn out and you need to replace them. Inbreeding is ok for a while but after too long you'll start to see negative effects. Good luck!

>>thnx martin always apr your posts, let someone make there own decison!!! wtg, ok so i f i was intr in rasing my own mice could u set me on my way with some of your pointers? get a male n a female mouse? then from there? just food water n cleaning??? any way i can give vitamins to the lil buggers? what have your methods been? appreciate the wisdom!!! u rock martin. MIke.S
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Martin Whalin
My Email

Quotes from guys named Carl:

"Science stops at the frontier of logic. Nature does not, she thrives on ground as yet untrodden by theory."
-Carl Jung

"It is foolish to let singleness of purpose deprive one of the joy and delectation of the many wonderful sights and sounds incidental to the quest."
-Carl Kauffeld

no post

I'll just take that as a joke and not comment further.
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Martin Whalin
My Email

Quotes from guys named Carl:

"Science stops at the frontier of logic. Nature does not, she thrives on ground as yet untrodden by theory."
-Carl Jung

"It is foolish to let singleness of purpose deprive one of the joy and delectation of the many wonderful sights and sounds incidental to the quest."
-Carl Kauffeld

Very good point on the health and vigor of home raised rodents. If you are breeding your own you have the ability of hand picking your breeding stock. Then once you have them going you know what is going in their mouths. My grandmother always said you are what you eat when she was trying to get me to eat brussel sprouts. When it comes to herps, they are also not only what they eat but also what their pray eats. When I had rodents I gave them the best rodent food money could buy and they were nice and solid and hardy and that passes on to your herps. All the commercial rodent breeders swear they feed only the best "specially formulated" rodent food. I can't help but wonder if "specially formulated" really means the cheapest generic dog food on sale (don't jump down my throat, the people still in buisiness are obviously doing something right) When buying frozen you place your order and hope for the best. The breeders are obviously not going to send you their best animals. I think if you take rodent raising seriously and put in the time and effort your herps will be better off for it. The problem is a lot of people can't come up with the time and effort for doing their own rodents. Each individual will have to weigh their own odds for success.

Hi,
I have attempted breeding mice in the past, it's not even worth it. They smell terrible. Not exactly friendly pets either. However, I really like keeping rats, even though I am mildly allergic to them. They don't smell nearly as bad as other small animals, like mice, ferrets, or even cats. They're spastic when they're young, but they calm down fairly quickly and make cuddly pets. They are also bigger than mice, so you don't have to wait a long time to get a decent sized meal for your snakes. Since you're constantly culling out the mean and ugly ones, you can selectively breed very easily, I breed mine for temperament and interesting markings. Temperament is important, especially for females, because pregnant/nursing rats can be vicious. Mine don't even seem to care when I reach into their nest and take a few squeaking pink snake treats. My boys are very cuddly too, they love to be held and petted. They're so spoiled, all they ever do is eat, sleep, get petted, and get laid! Must be nice! I have a breeding colony of 3 females and 2 males, so they can pretty much produce a litter every 3 weeks in a rotating schedule... that's enough to feed 2 or 3 snakes. If you decide breeding isn't for you, buying F/T in bulk is the way to go, I've had very positive experiences with The Mouse Factory. Good luck...

Nate

I have bred mice and rats before and it can be rewarding both in a personal and econimic sense but the conditions have to be right. If you have only a couple snakes, you can get by with breeding only a few rodents and that may be doable. Keep in mind a few things, raising rodents takes more time and energy than what you think at first. Unlike snakes they eat/drink every day and pee/poop every 15 #$@^%*%* seconds. If you have a detached garage or shed to raise them in, you may be ok. If you only have the house, then you got problems. If you have a nonrodent oriented/nonherper spouse, start looking for a good divorce lawyer now. Mice stink bad. In order to keep from getting bowled over by the stench you will need to be cleaning mouse cages every few days and that quickly turns into royal pain. Mice also bite, fight each other, eat their young and seem more seceptable to diseases. If your snakes are big enough to eat fuzzy rats I would really leen towards raising rats instead. I am a big believer in feeding rats to snakes vs mice. I even fed my cornsnakes rats once they were big enough get a fuzzy rat down and keep it down. Rats are also worlds easier to keep. They don't stink "AS BAD", are usually more agreeable to handling and are generally more hardy and vigorous. With regular handling and interaction some will even become lovable pets. I always have one or two that get a presidential pardon and live out their years as a pet instead of a meal. If you do end up raising rodents you will have herper buddies that will come a knocking looking for a steady supply. Those extra bucks can help off set some of the costs. Don't plan on any real profit, the people raising rodents commercially raise many 1000s of rodents at any given time and bust their @$$ day in/out. If you just have a few snakes to feed and you have the extra time it takes to clean cages every few days, have an out building, have a spouse that won't kick you out and you think you would enjoy working with small mammals as well, get 1.2 rodents to start and see how it goes. If you have multiple clutches hatching that you need pinkies for, save your sanity and marriage and call one of the commercial suppliers and place an order. There is a good reason they are in buisiness. Be sure also to check out the feeder forum.

if you want your snakes to have some stimulation with F/T food, just get some long forceps (like 12" and make him chase his food. my king chases with enthusiasm and constricts beautifully. The chances of you making money raising mice as a sideline are slim to none. And if you just like watching something die, well, I got nothin....
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Sue Barnett
1.0 Florida King (Vega)
0.1 Western hognose (Sola)
0.1 Egyptian spiny mouse (Mia)
4.2 mini rex rabbits (Basil, Pippin, Reggie, Hayden, Jackie and Peek-a-boo)
0.1 Plott hound (Molly)
1.0 half Arab (Zarr)
1.0 Betta (Flash)

My experiences raising feeders have been positive and negative. This is my third spring having mice, and for the third year in a row I'm experiencing a sudden die-out of mice. Happens in the fall too. I think part of it is that there are certain peak times where I end up re-establishing my breeding groups, and six months later, those are the ones that start to die.

I raise enough mice to sell to petstores and local herpers to pay for their upkeep and food. (if you don't count the ten hours a week I spend caring for them). If you count the amount of mice I need on a weekly basis (40 snakes from a Jungle Carpet Python down to some December hatchling colubrids) then it is very profitable to raise them.

I started raising rats in August once we had an outdoor shed to move the rodentia into. Found they were quite lucrative, as I get five times as much for an adult rat as for an adult mouse.

Now I'm raising Gerbils too... thought those would be a good thing to raise for the Ball Pythons that were picky feeders. (made the mistake of buying WC balls).... by the time I had gerbil babies, the balls were all eating mice, so no need to make them regress to gerbils. So now I have two breeding groups of gerbils, 9 babies from the first two litters, and 11 babies from the two second litters, and the petstores aren't buying. Bout to find out if any other Ball Python people out there need some frozen feeders. But dang are they cute.

Anywya, I'm rambling. I like my critters, scaley and furry.
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~Sasheena

Even if you have a large collection ist sometine nice to have a single small collony (say 1.4) mice on hand to provide live pinks for those neonates that initially refuse live. The work you save fussing over finicky neonates will more than cover keeping after a single tub of mice.

if you go the purchased frozen route it would be wise to ask your potential supplier if they vacuum pack/seal there rodents,this greatly increases the shelf life which in turn reduces shipping cost.also i've been told that 2 teaspoons of vanilla to a gallon of drinking water reduces or elimnates rodent odors,has anyone tried this?

1/2 a teaspoon of IMITATION vanilla per gallon of water is a good amount, it does decrease odor, and is NOT recommended for automatic watering systems.

The feeder forum has a lot of threads on reducing odor etc. In addition to vanilla the substrate can play a big part in the reduction of odor:

My most successful bedding for mice, when they lived indoors before I got my "Mouse House" is as follows:

A small sprinkle of cedar. (not the best for the mice, but a small sprinkling isn't that bad). On top of the cedar I give the mice pine. Personally I can't stand aspen, the smell reminds me of pesticide. So I use pine. I add a bit of alfalfa hay for the mice to make nests out of. Change the cage twice a week. DON'T feed them bread... their most odiferous waste follows bread products. I feed them a mixture of COB (Corn Oats and Barley) in addition to some cheap dogfood (that doesn't have red dye) and some black-oil sunflower seeds.
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~Sasheena

When I first got my snakes it would have cost too much to buy frozen, and as far as buying them live locally I had to travel 30 miles round trip and pay 95 cents a pinky... when they were available, that is. Most were withered up by the time I got them too, and it was also very aggravating when picky eaters ended up wasting them.... so, I started raising my own. I now have 25 colonies just about five feet away from my kitchen, so keeping them clean is a must. I used pine shavings for bedding and also use vanilla and Grapefruit Seed Extract in their water which has made a world of difference in the ordor. (I've been adding one teaspoon a gallon... but if half a teaspoon works... shoot I'll go that route). I sell my extra's to the reptile shop that I used to buy from, so they really pay for themselves. I enjoy working with them even though they can be a challange at times. I used to raise Hamsters when I was younger and I'll take mice over those critters any day.

MissHisssss

"Personally I can't stand aspen, the smell reminds me of pesticide."

LOL, I forgot about your aversion to aspen.

"I feed them a mixture of COB (Corn Oats and Barley) in addition to some cheap dogfood (that doesn't have red dye) and some black-oil sunflower seeds."

Curious, why do you stay away from rodent chow? What do you do about vitamins?
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Martin Whalin
My Email

Quotes from guys named Carl:

"Science stops at the frontier of logic. Nature does not, she thrives on ground as yet untrodden by theory."
-Carl Jung

"It is foolish to let singleness of purpose deprive one of the joy and delectation of the many wonderful sights and sounds incidental to the quest."
-Carl Kauffeld