Rats - Breeding vs Buying

[saximus]

Hey guys,
I'm sure this has been answered but I thought I'd ask it definitively here. Is it cheaper to buy or breed your own rats?
I currently have my breeding pair and 12 that are about 6 weeks old from the most recent litter. Now that we are getting into the cold months they are eating almost a kilo of food a day between the 14 of them. So I'm starting to wonder if it is actually worth breeding them or not. I don't mind the time involved as I enjoy looking after them but the food bills seem like they might outweigh the cost of buying them frozen.
Anyway it would be good to hear what people think.
By the way I have an adult Jungle, adult Aiamond and a baby Bredli so my small set up is enough to cater for my needs.
Cheers
Daniel

 

[JAS101]

id be interested is some opinions , as i am wondering weather its worth starting to setup a small breeding colany for my snakes [ 10 snakes all diffrent sizes] but iam looking at buying another 6-10 snakes and a freshwater croc in the near future .

 

[sarah_m]

It will depend how much you can get them for frozen and how much rat food costs.
I pay $5-6 each for an adult rat which lasts my 3.5 yr old BHP 2-3 weeks depending on the size and $1.5 (i think) per fuzzy rat, which my 16 month old diamond gets once a week.

So in a month my snakes food bill is about $18 (and with it being winter one is not eating at all), not worth breeding my own.
If your setup is only small, it may be more economical to just buy them.
The trick will be finding somewhere that doesnt charge through the nose for frozen rats.
One of the pet shops near me charge $15 per adult rat or something stupid like that.

 

[AM Pythons]

i have a small set up of rats & mice, a 20kg bag of pellets($22 at my local petshop) that lasts me 3-4 weeks, i have about 25+ adults, plus 100 asorted sized rats(pinkies to sub adults) & 15-20 breeding mice plus 50+ pinkies to sub adults, i feed them scraps aswell every 2-3 days, i think its very cheap to run, im about to upsize my set up, i have 18 snakes of different sizes. i think its worth it, the petshop up the road sells x-large rats at $20 a rat(frozen)..

 

[JAS101]

i have a small set up of rats & mice, a 20kg bag of pellets($22 at my local petshop) that lasts me 3-4 weeks, i have about 25+ adults, plus 100 asorted sized rats(pinkies to sub adults) & 15-20 breeding mice plus 50+ pinkies to sub adults, i feed them scraps aswell every 2-3 days, i think its very cheap to run, im about to upsize my set up, i have 18 snakes of different sizes. i think its worth it, the petshop up the road sells x-large rats at $20 a rat(frozen)..

sounds interesting , where do u keep your mice and rats ? out in a garden shed or like a garage ?
i wonder how good rats would go in a garden shed in winter in melbourne ?

 

[Kenshin]

i wonder how a bank of rats would go out on an open veranda (roof would keep rain and sun off them) in brisbane as this house im in is small and nowhere to put rats so they would have to go out there or would they freeze/overheat?

 

[PicklePants]

i have chosen to breed my own rats and mice because my snakes aren't too keen on store-bought frozen ones. if you give them a choice between a bought frozen rat, or one we have reared, killed and frozen ourselves, they will invariably choose the "home grown" rat.

plus, the local stores charge like a wounded bull for frozen rodents. i only end up paying about $4.00 (at most) a fortnight for rat food in return for 10+ rats/mice per litter.

 

[saximus]

Thanks for the advice guys. It sound like breeding is still the option to stick with. I might sit down and work out the average cost per rat and see if there is a big difference or not. I do enjoy looking after them too. They almost become like pets so I guess you need to take the enjoyment factor into account too.
Mine are in a garden shed which I do feel a bit slack about because it gets to just below 0 on some winter nights here. I'm not sure how cold it gets in Melbourne Zoojas but mine survive alright through winters here. The only problem is they don't breed in winter if you have them outside.

 

[AM Pythons]

View attachment 149962my set up is out side in a shed, mine breed more in winter than summer, keep warm i suppose,View attachment 149961

 

[beeman]

Hey guys,
I'm sure this has been answered but I thought I'd ask it definitively here. Is it cheaper to buy or breed your own rats?
I currently have my breeding pair and 12 that are about 6 weeks old from the most recent litter. Now that we are getting into the cold months they are eating almost a kilo of food a day between the 14 of them. So I'm starting to wonder if it is actually worth breeding them or not. I don't mind the time involved as I enjoy looking after them but the food bills seem like they might outweigh the cost of buying them frozen.
Anyway it would be good to hear what people think.
By the way I have an adult Jungle, adult Aiamond and a baby Bredli so my small set up is enough to cater for my needs.
Cheers
Daniel

For feeding 3 snakes its not worth the effort of keeping and breeding your own feed, IMO it doesnt become a viable thing untill you hit 8 -10 snakes and even then you should weigh up the cost of feeding, cleaning etc including your time to do so.
There is plenty of cheap feed being offered as competition is high ( plenty of people breeding and trying to sell feed)

 

[Sdaji]

In the long run it's cheaper to breed than buy, but only after you recover your setup costs (you're going to have to buy cages, bottles, etc). I spent about $10,000 on rats in 2008, and I built all the cages myself. With under about 20 or so snakes, it's not really worth your time, unless you really love rats and mice, and even then, you're probably saving about $5 for every hour you put into it. Additionally, they smell, which is a problem if you live on a suburban block or have to keep the rats near the house, and you need to give them care at least weekly, preferably daily, which makes going on holiday, even for a weekend, a hassle if you can't have someone else check them while you're gone.

The quality is also a consideration. I started breeding because I had the best part of 100 snakes to feed and at the time I couldn't find a reliable supplier of decent quality rodents. If someone at the time had been breeding rodents of the quality I produce at the prices I sell them for, I'd have stuck to buying them. I must admit, for me, it is now at least as much about the rat hobby as it is about producing snake food.

If it's just about the money, I'd definitely suggest buying, but if you're going to enjoy the rats, have fun

 

[TheReptileCove]

i agree with what has been said before. You don't realy need to do it for 3 snakes. ii think i heard somewhere that if your food bill for frozen adds up to more than $25 - $30 a week then it is a good idea to feed your own.

 

[solar 17]

l basically agree with beeman and sdaji but by gee if l could find a "reliable" rodent breeder that would/could cater to my requirements l would be there in a flash but as l only feed fresh killed l am "over" other breeders [rodent] saying you only want my bloodlines when you only want live rats/mice..."David Evans" on this site is great but cant always supply my requirements but as l feed top quality food l am not game to start counting costs and l bet a few others would be surprised as well.....my personal advice get a reliable private supplier and stick with-em....cheers solar 17 [Baden]

 

[Kristy_07]

l basically agree with beeman and sdaji but by gee if l could find a "reliable" rodent breeder that would/could cater to my requirements l would be there in a flash but as l only feed fresh killed l am "over" other breeders [rodent] saying you only want my bloodlines when you only want live rats/mice..."David Evans" on this site is great but cant always supply my requirements but as l feed top quality food l am not game to start counting costs and l bet a few others would be surprised as well.....my personal advice get a reliable private supplier and stick with-em....cheers solar 17 [Baden]

I've heard about your colonies, Baden. You sound like you've got an awesome system sorted, anyway

 

[JAS101]

i agree with what has been said before. You don't realy need to do it for 3 snakes. ii think i heard somewhere that if your food bill for frozen adds up to more than $25 - $30 a week then it is a good idea to feed your own.

atm i spend about $35 a week for frozen rats , i think ill give the rat breeding ago [ can only turnout to be a waste of money - worse case senario] .

 

[horsecrazy1255]

breeding rats

id be interested is some opinions , as i am wondering weather its worth starting to setup a small breeding colany for my snakes [ 10 snakes all diffrent sizes] but iam looking at buying another 6-10 snakes and a freshwater croc in the near future .

I think you should start breeding rats instead of mice rats are better mothers i have had hardly any rat mother loose a pinkie only the first time moms when they don't know what to do for their first time i loose maybe one baby then they pick it up.

But if you have like 10 snakes i would suggest on breeding i don't care what other people say that it isn't worth breeding feeders i only have 2 snakes and i am glad i breed because i know where my rats come from and i know where my food comes from so i know they are healthy and i know what i am feeding my snake's.

but you should start to breed rats not mice because mice tend to eat their babys well i have never had a problem with mice eating their babie's but they have done it in the past. :evil:

 

[Joemal]

Breeding is the way to go cost wise once you have everything setup .I wanted to do it but have nowhere here to setup anything that would supply me with enough food so it costs me $300 or more every few months to feed my 8 snakes .If you can get onto a breeder and buy direct from them as i do it doesn't hit the hip pocket so bad but buying from pet shops can cost . Last time i brought from a shop it cost me $119 for 9 what i would class as adult rats but were being sold as XL .In short breeding is the way to go .

 

[saximus]

Thanks guys but this thread is a year old now. My breeding setup is now in full swing

 

[JAS101]

same here my rats and mice are going nuts , even to the point where im now going to start selling some super mice off .

 

[-Katana-]

Same here.
In the last little while I had females give birth to litters of 15 and 13.
I'm starting to get happy with the surplus that I have building up in my freezer as I'm gearing up for the drop in production over the summer months.
The trouble now is having enough tubs to house all the weaners in order to grow them out to cull size.