Breeding the feeders(mice)

[coreyweinkoetz]

bottomfeeder that avatar your useing has been taken for a couple years now look at ctu2fan
sorry for derail

 

[snakeguy101]

yes sand boas get large enough to eat adult mice so you will need to move them off of pinkies sooner than you might think. Also, if you are just getting one snake, i would suggest ordering the mice. It is more of a pain and cost than it is worth unless you have a ton of snakes. I would not do it unless I had a hundred or so snakes because then (and only then) the cost of upkeep and set ups would be better than the price of commercial feeders. Seriously, you can get frozen mice for less than a dollar and if you feed it once a week, that is less than $4 or $5 a month compared to you going out and buying a bunch of cages, some live mice that may or may not breed or be healthy and then cleaning their cage and feeding/ watering them.

Its not worth it. Trust me.

 

[gigas12]

Hi,I agree with snakeguy101!

 

[ozz465]

to be honest id go with rats than mice , while i breed both ,from what experience rats are easier to care for than mice and grow to feeder size fast plus they dont stink as bad as mice . i have a trio in a 20 g tank and have enough babies and such for 3 kenyans and even freeze other babies for later use.it works for me but may not work for u .

 

[Slim2634]

Each time the mother has babies wait until the babies are at the right size and put them in the freezer. If the babies have fur (fuzzies or bigger) flick them in the back of the head as hard as you can and it will paralyze them immediately and kill them. This sounds really cruel but its an instant kill and they don't have to freeze to death. When the babies are pinkies, they are put to sleep and death almost immediately from the cold.

 

[packer43064]

Sounds good then.

Good Luck! ;]

I may want do this to >=D but keep them though, I wanna get a snake oneday... When I move out

Still living with the parents?

Adult female Kenyan Sand Boas can eat adult rats. So yeah, they will eventually need larger than pinkies. It's just easier to feed them on frozen.

Kool, will keep this in mind. I have two female rats now, their awesome little rodents. Or big rodents actually, lol.

Been keeping kenyans for almost 3 years and my females is a hog , weaned rats are fine for her, an adult rat i just don't see it happening .I actually breed rats ,mice ,roaches and hamsters for my pets . when i had more snakes i used a home ma de rack system to raise rats but u can do mince 1.3 in a 10 g tank easy , the initial cost will be moderate but having fresh and in many sizes of prey to chose from will be very nice . just keep them clean as they can stink.

Do you take the male rat out after the females give birth? I hope my future sand boa looks as good as yours! Have always like yours.

i breed my own mice cos i have ten snakes and 3 monitors, but if you only have 1 KSB to feed, maintaining a breeding colony of mice is a lot of work, actually more work than the herps themselves. but if you wanna go for it, then do so.

Just have to convince the GF still. She's weary of this idea.

I hated the smell of the mice, too much cleaning. After breeding mice and rats for a few years to maintain 10 snakes and some turtles, I opted to just buy them frozen off the internet.

I hope to use aspen and clean them weekly.

 

[Richie_ELP]

I use aspen and clean every two days. I hate even getting faint odors in that room

 

[ozz465]

i actually house them in a trio year round , only feed them in a other tub . thx for the compliment . the same female is due this month for more babies . aspen is great i got a big bag of it recently and use it for the boas and the rats , i clean weekly and have no odor (would not want any since there in my bedroom) my main female Kenyan is large enough for weaned rats no bigger , i highly doubt they get big enough for adult rats .


so far im breeding rats , mice,hamsters and no smell since the moment i see them needing a clean they get it .just made me remember i am going to need to buy more tubs for the babies Lol.

 

[CTU2fan]

I agree with ozz, especially since you've already got a couple of rats. Once your KSB is big enough to take rats I'd feed off your breeder mice and switch over to rats. And yes, you should be able to keep your male with your females without trouble when breeding rats, I did. Rats are better parents, less likely to cannibalize their young than mice.