Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I raise my own rats for my snakes because its soooooooo much cheaper than buying them..i keep reading that its the other way around..so i did some checking...for 6 jumbo rats delivered to my house was over 50 bucks...i can buy all the stuff necessary to take care of my rodent colony for that much....i have about 30 breeder rats...and i dont have to deal with thawing..i hate that part..it takes forever
I just keep reading that FT is the way to go..FK is soooo much easier than waiting around to thaw out a bunch of rats...not so much a issue with pinks and fuzzies but geeze jumbo rats are a pita..i can only imagine thawing a rabbit
It just seems that everyone is preaching frozen thawed...
which way do you all go...and please dont say oooo i could never kill a rat or mouse....you already did when you bought it.
Keep in mind that this is just my opinion and am looking for your..

Thanks Jason

Jason,
For me it is a convenience issue. I have a relatively large collection of snakes and rodents would be a little too much. Plus I hear horror stories about the smell. Lastly, I keep large boa constrictors which eat about one or two jumbo rats every other week. If I had a dozen boas I would think the amount of rats I would need would be enormous but I really don't know how much I would need. I was told that rabbits would be better because they reach jumbo rat size much quicker.

Dan

The smell can get bad if not cleaned but usually its not a big deal....i have them in the garage though..wouldnt want that many in the house thats for sure...
I hear ya on the big snake issue..rabbits would definetly be the way to go...
i have been thinking of trying to breed a few rabbits but i can buy them local for 5 bucks so thats pretty darn cheap...so i havnt decided if its worth the trouble....

jason

i also raise my own mice.....sometimes its a pain in the butt ....but i always have a fresh batch of feeders....my females seem to have 2 -3 litters at a time.....(i have about 10 females and 3 males)....this way i can regulate the size of mouse my snakes get.....as far as killing them.....im starting to have to seein that my snakes are getting big enough for weanlings and some of those get feisty

rats would take a while to get to jumbo size.....not sure if i would bother....i would buy them from a local pet shop....should be able to for less than $4 or $5 each......50 for 6 is heavy.....if you order quantity (and buy a new freezer jus for them) it could be cost beneficial....lol

keith

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I'm not sure I want popular opinion on my side -- I've noticed those with the most opinions often have the fewest facts.

i just recently tried the online thing.it can save you money if you buy in bulk. i bought from rodentpro.com, they have the best prices by far. i bought 100 large pink mice, 100 fuzzy mice, 25 rat pups, and 20 weanling rats. with shipping it cost me 90 dollars. now if i were to buy this amount from the store it would have cost me around 275 dollars. i cant breed mice and rats. that would just be another thing to take care of. i currently have 6 snakes and 3 tortoises.(1.1 western hognose, 0.1.2 cornsnakes, 0.1 red tail boa)

Read this:

http://forums.kingsnake.com/view.php?id=573283,573363&key=2004
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Current Collection:
0.1 Antherystic elaphe guttata guttata - Corn Snake
1.0 Elaphe vulpina gloydi - Eastern Fox Snake
0.1 Elaphe obsoleta obsoleta - Black Rat Snake
0.1 Leucistic elaphe obsoleta linheimeri - Texas Ratsnake
1.1 Morelia spilota cheyni - Jungle Carpet Python
0.1 Tiliqua scincoides intermedia - Northern Blue Tongue Skink

That was a pretty good post....alot of it I disagree with but thats just my opinion...i tend to agree with the guy that responded to it......
people let there cats poop in the house in a box....if you didnt clean that it would stink too...its all about keeping them clean...we used to have 3 pet rats in the house...they didnt stink..but we kept them clean....
if i only had a couple of rats breeding i would keep them in the house also