breeding mice good idea?

Discussion in 'Feeder Forum' started by savannahmonitor123, Feb 23, 2009.

  1. savannahmonitor123

    savannahmonitor123 Embryo

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    i want to know if its better for me to investin breeding mice for my reptiles.. or should i just keep buying them..

    i have 2 red tail boas and 1 savannah monitor..

    the boas are about 2ft and the savannah about 1ft 2in

    right now im buying 1 mouse evry other day to the savannah monitor

    the boas eat 1 mouse a week

    i know how to breed them.. so that wouldnt be a problem..

    i just want 2 know if its worth all the money i have to spend to get starteed ..
     
  2. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  3. bruno

    bruno Moderator

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    Hi,
    Your boas will need something bigger than mice very soon, looking at small rats.
    Which leaves just the savvi to feed.
    The cost of breeding mice is fairly expensive, I used dry rat mix for mine, in any case you will soon have more mice than what you would use.
    Keeping them clean with fresh bedding every week is also another big expense, they need cleaning weekly or they will "stink".
    It would be far cheaper to buy, than breed, less hassle as well.
    It's not really a viable investment in your case.
     
  4. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  5. jeffg46

    jeffg46 New Member

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    The cost of getting started is relatively cheap. The work load is relatively high. You'll have more tanks or tubs to clean, etc. Figure out approximately how many babies you'll have/need over time, and how many tanks you'll need to support that. I'd guess a min of 2 tanks, one for the mothers and babies, and one for the males/females waiting to get pregnant (which shouldn't take long). You can get 10 gal tanks for cheap ($10), but another $10 for a cover unless you make it. Or you can make a rack and use tubs, which is an even more inexpensive way to do it, but where to keep it might be an issue. Food is relatively inexpensive, but you can't feed them crap if you want good quality mice for your snakes/monitor. Also, relatively soon your RTBs will need rats. I am not sure of the feeding requirements of a Savannah Monitor, but are you prepared to step up to either split breeding (both mice and rats) or just rats?

    These are questions only you can answer. The work load to keep another set of tanks clean, fed and watered might be the deal breaker, or not. I am currently trying to breed rats for my snakes. It stinks (literally, they smell). I have almost decided to quit dozens of times already, and they have not had one baby yet. I am starting with 1.1 and I think the female is pregnant, but cleaning the tank (I got a cheap tank and had a spare screen top) is a pain. As soon as she pops I'll need something to put the male into. I'll see it through at least until the babies come, and then try to figure whether the savings are worth it. If not, they all go into the feeding cycle, and I'll rid myself of the extra hassle. I am hoping that between now and then I figure out the most efficient way to do this, and mind it less. I think that will come about the time I have rats to feed to my snakes, and realize some savings. So far, the drive to the store is less painful than the cleaning of cages. Hopefully, not having to pull my wallet out quite so often will trump that.

    Good luck with it.

    Jeff
     
  6. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  7. bruno

    bruno Moderator

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    When I bred rats/mice, the main cost was feeding them till they had grown to the size required.
    I had 10 old fish tanks, large ones, found I was spending about 2 hrs a day cleaning and feeding etc.
    Another thing to take into account, do you live feed or f/t. Live feed you will end up with more rats/mice than you will ever use. So what will you do with surplus? I always use f/t due to laws in this country regards feeding live. I had to use CO2 to euthanize them then freeze them. Could you do that?
    At one point I was using 25/30 rats/mice per week and it cost me big time.
    The cost of buying the frozen food was far less than cost of breeding. I spend about £700 ($1000) a year breeding and buying bulk cost me £350 ($600) for frozen. I gave up breeding my own and had a lot more free time on my hands :D
    For 3 reptiles, I would say no.
     
  8. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  9. jeepnphreak

    jeepnphreak Member

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    I gave it a try once and decided that that effoert to maintain, clean, feed all the mice was a HUGE PITA. I just buy them in bulk form rodentpro.com for a few bucks and I have a big box freezer to keep the rodents in it much easer for me and less stinky.
    so Unless you have the time to devote to it I would say the its not really worth it.
     
  10. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  11. scooter1685

    scooter1685 New Member

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    It's been long enough that my input is probably useless at the moment, lol, but I'll toss in my two cents.

    It was costing me around 200 dollars per month to feed all of my snakes. That's if I bought frozen food from a local pet shop. From online frozen sources it was costing me about 110 dollars per month. Now, breeding my own food, it costs me about 40 dollars per month.

    I built my own rat breeding rack and water supply. The initial investment for supplies needed to build the rack was around 140-150 dollars. Then of course there was the money to buy the first month's food and bedding, another 40-50 dollars. So initially the investment is about the same as buying one month of frozen food from a local pet shop.

    As far as the care required, it's exceptionally minimal. Check once every two days or so to make sure all the rats still have a large supply of food, and once every 5-7 days change out the bedding in the rat bins. With the rack I've built, that's all you need to worry about. Check the water once per week, check the food every couple days, change the bedding once every 5-7 days. Changing the bedding in all 6 bins only take a total of about half an hour. So the cost is very low, and maintenence is very low.

    Each bin should have 3 or 4 female rats and one rat. Ideally you're looking for rats between 8 and 10 weeks, because they're just barely breeding age so they're ready to produce, and they're still very young so you'll get plenty of babies out of them before they get too old. I put a post up on a local pet forum and got 12 females and 16 males for free. I set up 4 of the bins with 3 females and one male, and the rest of the males I set in their own bin to use as food when I needed them.

    I would not recommend using mice for food in boas (except for smaller boas, like rubber boas and rosy boas) ever. Even newborns are large enough to eat pinky rats that are 1-2 days old. It's a whole lot easier to just breed rats instead of breeding mice and rats both, as within the first year even a large mouse probably won't be big enough, and by the end of the second year they certainly won't be.

    If you'd still like more information about breeding rats, I can certainly provide it; including the plans for building the rat breeding rack and water supply that I use myelf, complete with pictures. The food I use is simply large rodent pellets that I purchase from my local IFA store. One 50 pound bag lasts 6-8 weeks and costs about 15 dollars. I also buy the bedding from IFA, and that's about 25-30 dollars per month.
     

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