High cost of Snake Food

[Yellowtail]

Yesterday I bought a few frozen rats and was quickly reminded of the high price of snake food in Australia.
I got them cheap, $8 each for 150gm rats but on my way home I also bought a 300gm pork fillet for my dinner and it only cost $12, less than the cost of 2 rats (300gm) Online they are cheaper.

I'm not suggesting we feed snakes pork fillets but this is crazy.

Wokka I'm not having a go at you, your rats are among the cheapest and good quality but why is this so?

In the US a pork fillet is about the same as here but 175gm+ rats are only $2 each. Over there even large breeders don't bother to breed their own food while in Australia anyone with more than a few snakes has to become a rat breeder or go bankrupt.



From Rodentfarm site and good value by Australian standards




From Rodent Pro site in US. (there are many others with similar prices)

 

[kittycat17]

Well remember you have to change the US amount to the Aussie amount for a fair comparison
But yeah it pisses me off how expensive it is


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[Bl69aze]

Well remember you have to change the US amount to the Aussie amount for a fair comparison
But yeah it pisses me off how expensive it is


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Even then $2.50 is only 5$ at most aud

I don’t find it much of an issue as I do plan my money (sometimes) to spend 150$ on rats and mice which will last a good 6months

However i am thinking of finding a private breeder who don’t have space of males etc

 

[Yellowtail]

At current exchange rate US$2.00 is AU$2.50

 

[Scutellatus]

It all comes down to supply and demand. With around 200 million more people in the US the price is bound to be a lot cheaper.
It is the same with fastfood, you can get 50c cheeseburgers there everyday, here the best they will do is $2 on special.

 

[imported-varanus]

Don't get large monitors in that case, if you feel feeding pythons is exy...just sayin".

 

[Bl69aze]

At current exchange rate US$2.00 is AU$2.50

Have you tried shipping? Not sure if that’d be any cheaper, maybe in big bulks

 

[Wokka]

I have been farming all my life and can confirm rodent farming is more profitable than traditional sheep and cattle farming. I used to have a few hundred cattle with probably a few million tied up in land to graze them on,and i could not afford to pay labour if i relied only upon the cattle income. With rodents we have around a million dollars tied up in land, shedding and cages and can afford to pay labour, and probably make more profit than than if we left the money in the bank. You need to because full time rodent farming ties you down! I have often compared the USA where rodents are half the price. Feed prices are about the same so they mustn't pay much for labour. The backyarders here are the ones making a killing. Without the cost of labour , GST and income tax they still charge the same as most Aussie wholesalers who put everything through the books.
Yellowtail, to be fair you have compared Rodentfarm small quantity prices, with subsidised delivery to your door, to Rodentpro bulk prices without subsidised delivery. That aside, there must be significant economies in the large scale.

 

[Yellowtail]

But pork fillets are the same price as here in US? Those "under 500" RodentPro prices apply to one bag of 5.
Wokka, I'm sure you have checked out how they do it over there, they sell mice for as low as 13 cents. Do they get the food free as a waste product? I breed mice for my own animals and I have not considered selling them because even at $1 for fuzzies it's not worth it. OK the labour and power are cheap in US and their freight costs are peanuts but that does not explain the difference?
Maybe you should import a freezer container full? 10,000 rats (probably a lot more in a 20 ft container) at 50 cents per rat freight and handling, total cost maybe A$2.50 a rat?

 

[Wokka]

My background is in processing, import and export of meat and livestock. Manufactured livestock feed is ball park the same price, as it is a world market. Rodents are not,as Australia has the best health status in the world and wants to keep it that way. There is not sufficient critical mass in the Australian market to justify developing the necessary protocols to allow importation from countries with rabies and foot and mouth. I used to be regularly offered rodents from Europe at bargain prices but they are not allowed in. You cant have it both ways, If you want Australian conditions you need to pay Australian prices. This global market is BS. Its just a race to the bottom until the whole world adopts the lowest common denominator. There is more to business than just making money, or at least there should be!

 

[pinefamily]

Unfortunately, this problem is not unique to reptile food; Australia seems to cop the brunt of price gouging (not that I'm saying Wokka is doing this of course). Then the flip side of it is buying online/from overseas to save money, and we are made to feel guilty because "Australian jobs" are being threatened.
Just generalizations, and I'm off the soapbox now.
Just for the record, from what I've seen, Rodentfarm is one of the most competitive going around.

 

[dragonlover1]

Don't get large monitors in that case, if you feel feeding pythons is exy...just sayin".

we want to get large monitors to eat what fussy/shedding pythons wont/can't eat

 

[pinefamily]

Don't get large monitors in that case, if you feel feeding pythons is exy...just sayin".

That's why we're waiting for the rabbits and guinea pigs to get busy.

 

[imported-varanus]

we want to get large monitors to eat what fussy/shedding pythons wont/can't eat

Trust me, they'll take all that, and then some over the warmer months.

 

[Pauls_Pythons]

This has to be the best thread of recent time.
I don't have a gripe with any above board breeder making a dollar. They do the work, they have all the overheads and they deserve to make a crust while of course trying to remain competitive in a market where some need to compete with some rather underhanded home breeders.
I don't have a problem with a home breeder moving on stock that he doesn't, at a reasonable price and making a reasonable return for their efforts.
I do have a problem with home breeders who supply to the market with no other interest in the reptile community and look only at lining their own pockets.
I also have a problem with some of the 'pet' stores. The mark up on their reptile food is criminal and the only thing they do to earn it is unpack the box and turn the freezer on. These stores are having a negative impact on the reptile community as a whole as the prices they charge make it really expensive for anyone with a single snake to feed and would surely put them off buying a 2nd/3rd animal.
If I was reliant on these charlatans to buy my reptile food I would be lucky to afford 2 or 3 animals and not the collection I'm fortunate enough to have.

Rant over.

 

[Wokka]

That's why we're waiting for the rabbits and guinea pigs to get busy.

From an economic point of view it is not worth breeding rabbits any more. Every time the government produce a new virus to fight wild rabbits, you lose your captive breeding herd. There used to be hundreds of commercial rabbit farms in Australia . I don't know of any with more than a hundred or so breeders. It part of the cost of saving the enormous environmental damage done by feral rabbits! Most ferreting has also now stopped due to inconsistent supply and the cost of labour.

 

[Yellowtail]

RodentPro's Rabbits?
Wouldn't it be great to be able to get small rabbits for our carpets at $8-$9 each.

 

[Wokka]

It is interesting that rodentpro only charge an extra $1 for ball park double the weight as rabbits increase in size!! That is about $1 per pound or $2.50 per kilo. One of you internet experts can probably find them on a supermarket website for around $20 a kilo in Aus.

 

[Yellowtail]

Prices in UK are similar to USA so its not just an American thing. Their medium rats are about the size of our large - extra large.

 

[Nero Egernia]

I don't really pay much attention to reptile food prices as I grow it all at home. I do supply mice to a friend who has a juvenile Stimson's Python. Most of the time I get them to buy me lunch for the mice. If I did ask for money the local pet shop prices are triple the cost!