Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Okay, I got all 4 of me feeders (1.3) about 7 weeks ago. The albino dropped July 4th, and the brown on July 8th. I watched the male boinking the tan on the 4th (that's almost 3 weeks), so I figured I'd give her another week or two, and then . . . should I give up on getting any babies? The male's obviously "useful," since the other two have had babies. I was really hoping to get some babies from her, since I like tan babies and I was gonna keep one as a pet (to be a friend to one of the babies from the 8th - my Bday). She's also the only friendly one I have - the rest are scaredy or mean (albino [beep!] must die!). She'll at least eat out of my hand.

Anyway, I digress.

Give her longer or what?
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-Irish
Email: animistdragon@sbcglobal.net
AIM: VoodooDragon137
YIM: [same as Email addy]
3.3.1 Ball Pythons

if she's your fav?
It only costs pennies to feed her for another month.

DeMak

True. The rat food I get only costs about $1/lb.

How long until I should give up on getting any babies, tho? I'll already be keeping one of the babies that was born on my Bday, so that'll be my pet, plus another, eventually. So, the ones I have now are my breeders. I haven't named them, because I know it'll make it hard to whack them. If I kept every rat I liked, my snakes would starve, hehe.

When I took a closer look at her, she seemed to be at the beginning of a bulgy. So, here's hoping she's preggers. If not . . .
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-Irish
Email: animistdragon@sbcglobal.net
AIM: VoodooDragon137
YIM: [same as Email addy]
3.3.1 Ball Pythons

>>True. The rat food I get only costs about $1/lb.

1$/lb!!! thats not cheap. If you only have a few animals and don't want to buy a 50# bag, use one of the recipes that have been posted or feed cheap dog food with no red dye.

>>How long until I should give up on getting any babies, tho?

Give her a chance to settle in. If she's not real aggressive, it may take a little longer for her to chill out in a new group and enviroment. Dan reports that heat affects breeding also.

DeMak

what are your recipes? i cant seem to find the posts... dave
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"i have a mortal wound!"
"where? where does it hurt?"
"oh, pretty much around the big bloody spot"
"come inside. ill get the neosporin. da na na na na - NEO! ba na na na na na na - SPORIN! blee nee nee......."

what i used to use for my feeders was the following mix..

50# black oil sunflower seeds $7-9
50# rolled or whole corn $5-7
50# dry cobb (mixture of oats, barely and corn) $5-8
150# dry dogfood (no red dye) -$25 for all 150#'s

mix it up in a huge garbage can.. or several.. and ur all set.. it'll set you back around $50 for over 300 lbs of food..

or you could just feed a diet of 100% dogfood.. it works just as well..

best of luck

dan

Well, I buy bulk rat food. $.49/lb for the blocks and $1.99 for the "gourmet" stuff (corn, seeds, what looks like pressed dried veggies or something). It lasts me a long time. Plus I give them a glob of chunky P.B. once a week, for fat and protein.

At 2.1 rato (I usually buy 4lbs blocks and 2lbs gourmet to mix), it averages out to $1/lb. And they love it.
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-Irish
Email: animistdragon@sbcglobal.net
AIM: VoodooDragon137
YIM: [same as Email addy]
3.3.1 Ball Pythons

I have found that small male rats will retract their testicles if frightened. But when they are old enough to wean they are usually large enough to see as they run around in the cages. I have seperated them and found an occasional male in with the females but never a female in with the males when I recheck. Sometimes it helps to hold them so gravity assists in keeping the testicles down where you can see them.