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We decided to breed our own.

Stormy

Stormy

Keeper of scaley things.
We decided to breed our own feeder mice. Mainly because we have one store here that we can buy feeders from, everytime we go in the price is different, and they are not very clean.

What I am curious about is other peoples set up. We have 4 snakes we will be feeding. I have seen some sites suggest sterilite containers, others said fish tanks etc. I already know water, food, bedding. Im just mainly curious on how people keep their setup's since im used to having rats as pets and these wont be pets.

So far we are thinking one male and two or three females.
 
I know what you mean. The closest pet store to us is an hour away and I hated to drive that far just to get a few mice for my "I'll only eat live mouse, none of that frozen meal crap" snakes! haha Plus, like you said, these mice were awful looking! So we decided to start our own colony for our live feeders. I just snapped these pics when I seen your post, so they aren't the best, but maybe can give you an idea. My husband built them all. It works perfect for us. He cleans them every 3-4 days and we keep them in our laundry room, so the smell isn't bad at all. Hope this helps somewhat!
 
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Those photos are pretty much like what we were going to do. What did you use for the inserts that hold the food?
 
My husband is who made them, but I think the top is just plexi glass and then the sides and bottom is chicken wire. Big enough for them to get food out of.
 
I keep mine in fish tanks. My male has his own ten gal tank while my three breeders are kept in a 20 gal that's divided into three sections. The ladies get to visit Ben and then get moved back to their particular niche.

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The dividers are plexiglass and held into place with fishtank caulking. I've long since changed how the waterbottles are held into place, lol.
 
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The first is what I have now + another 2 racks off to the left.

The second pic is how I had it before the rack the racks.


If your only feeding 4 snakes 3 colonies + maybe a holding/weaning tank should be more than enough. Just make sure to save a few for when you have a gaps inbetween birthings.

Good luck
 
Yep that is what we had planned, though we are going to be making our own containers instead of buying them. We did the math and it just turns out cheaper that way.
 
Here are 2 more ideas.....

Table top 2 bin cost with kitty pans $15-17 1-2 hours to build

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Rat cage but can be converted to mouse cage with smaller mesh.
4-5 hours, with breaks....roughly $30-35... All materials from Lowes(only hardware store in town)

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If I can find decent bins I'm going to make my own rack like this... The only thing I haven't figured out is how to do the food inset thingy which I think is cool. I especially like the wire one in the bottom picture??? Where can I find that??

Looks like you're feeding a pellet type food, I'm assuming that's for your rats, can you get something similar for mice and where would you find it (In canada preferably) all I can find is the seed/pellet mix primarily marketed for hampsters?
 
This is what I use, built myself:
http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=95025
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I used to use a rubbermaid type tub or regular aquarium...but there are a few reasons I like this better...

Overhead feeding: With a tub/tank I did not use overhead feeding (or course one could be jury rigged onto a tub/tank). I found that when I left a dish of food, I went through food much too fast because they carried around and wasted a lot of food.
Ease of access: Just slide in/out
Easy cleaning: Sometimes with a tank or depending on the size of tub I'd need someone to hold open a garbage bag while I lifted up the tank and dumped it in. The tubs are just the right size to quickly pull out, hold bag in other hand, dumb shavings in, wipe down, slide back in.
Space: I can fit a few colonies of mice in just a little bit of floor space.
 
Cattsy said:
Looks like you're feeding a pellet type food, I'm assuming that's for your rats, can you get something similar for mice and where would you find it (In canada preferably) all I can find is the seed/pellet mix primarily marketed for hampsters?
Click to expand...

The pellets are generally sold for mice/rats/etc... (same pellet)

I get mine at a farm supply store in a 2lb bag for about $2.50. The last time I looked at petco it was 3lb for $9 or $11 I can't remember. If you can find a feed store/co-op I'd try that though, look for something like Mazuri lab block. Eventually I'm going to do that because you can get a huge bag of it (25 or 50 lbs I think) for a good price.
 
ZoologyGirl said:
Overhead feeding: With a tub/tank I did not use overhead feeding (or course one could be jury rigged onto a tub/tank). I found that when I left a dish of food, I went through food much too fast because they carried around and wasted a lot of food.
Ease of access: Just slide in/out
Easy cleaning: Sometimes with a tank or depending on the size of tub I'd need someone to hold open a garbage bag while I lifted up the tank and dumped it in. The tubs are just the right size to quickly pull out, hold bag in other hand, dumb shavings in, wipe down, slide back in.
Space: I can fit a few colonies of mice in just a little bit of floor space.
Click to expand...

So with this system, do you just put the food on TOP of the wire? Like in that open spot next to where that water bottle in the top is? Do you use pellets? Don't they all just fall right through? :s

Oh! and where did you find your tubs??
 
If you're only doing a few cages aquariums work just fine. For more you definitely want to move into racks/tubs. The cages with the least maintenance are the ones with the wire tops which also hold the food. They aren't necessary (I've never done it that way) but you do get the benefit of not wasting food and not having to feed them. Again, for just a few cages if you want to save time I wouldn't build anything, just get a few 10-gallons and put 1.3 in each. I cleaned mine every Saturday and it worked great. When I got into having more like 50 mice breeding I went with racks holding plastic tubs.
 
We are going to be going with the plastic tubs even though we will only have 3 going. Why spend the money on the aquariums and wasted food when I can just go straight to tubs and unwasted food? Especially since we do plan on more snakes in the future so for me it makes sense to go straight to the bins.
 
Cattsy said:
If I can find decent bins I'm going to make my own rack like this... The only thing I haven't figured out is how to do the food inset thingy which I think is cool. I especially like the wire one in the bottom picture??? Where can I find that??

Looks like you're feeding a pellet type food, I'm assuming that's for your rats, can you get something similar for mice and where would you find it (In canada preferably) all I can find is the seed/pellet mix primarily marketed for hampsters?
Click to expand...

Local hardware store(lowes) in the concrete section (for the black tubs). That particular cage is for the rats. However I have another where I used smaller mesh and a insert for weanling mice. About 60 small mice go in each of the tubs with no issues. I do clear them out pretty fast.

I got lucky with the food insert thing, it is an old mouse lab cage lid. The University was cleaning and throwing some out so I snagged a couple. They are heavey enough, so really, I just cut the top mess to fit. I also used my old lab cage tops.

Lab blocks, I use Mazuri (F6, F9 Isnt bad either) can order it from almost any Purina Dealer, Tractor supply, Co-op, farm store. I pay $25 a 50 lb bag.
 
Stormy said:
How do you put in their food and water?
Click to expand...

I used some larger versions of those for a while, we just put a hole for the water tube to go through, and put food in the cage. I never use food dishes for my rodents, having to dig around for the food they hid kind of simulates foraging. All I know is I had more waste with dishes than without. If I used those smaller ones I might use a water dish and clean it out 2 x a day.
 
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