# warning on frozen food



## brian (Oct 22, 2005)

Just a quick post 

At the moment it's getting harder to buy weaner rats or medium rats and in the next few month it will be large mice

The reason for this the big breeders that breed these for labs are having cut backs instead if having 20/22 % over then sell to pet trade they are only doing 10/12% so this is a warning take it how you want


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## sami (Oct 23, 2006)

true story..

prices are creeping up already at wholesale. Expect some shops to increases prices generally on forzen food.

Mason


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## freekygeeky (May 25, 2007)

just a quick question how much on average do you pay for 1 pinkie baby mouse.


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## SSamm (Mar 9, 2006)

i pay bout 20p.... its silly you cant get weaners... fluffs are harder to get too


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## Dirtydozen (Feb 7, 2007)

trade about 15p but get the cheaper off a mate


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## freekygeeky (May 25, 2007)

in my local its now 40p was 35p... seems loas oto me..


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## elle1331 (Mar 19, 2007)

60p for fuzzies and couple of £ for gerbils from a friend but all the other shops over here are really expensive one shop was asking £1 for pinkys and £1.50 for fuzzys £2 for mice and so on i left kinda sharpish lol lol


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## freekygeeky (May 25, 2007)

lol ok


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## Dirtydozen (Feb 7, 2007)

elle1331 said:


> 60p for fuzzies and couple of £ for gerbils from a friend but all the other shops over here are really expensive one shop was asking £1 for pinkys and £1.50 for fuzzys £2 for mice and so on i left kinda sharpish lol lol


 
there is one near me that charges 95p for rat pups but that at the shop your on about is pathetic


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## mgs1982uk (Jun 17, 2006)

elle1331 said:


> 60p for fuzzies and couple of £ for gerbils from a friend but all the other shops over here are really expensive one shop was asking £1 for pinkys and £1.50 for fuzzys £2 for mice and so on i left kinda sharpish lol lol


 
BLOODY HELL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## mgs1982uk (Jun 17, 2006)

I have noticed prices going up but even worse some shops simply cant get the stock in at all, lets hope this gets sorted asap


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## jamie_coxon (Jul 18, 2007)

had to travel half our the other day to try and get sum small pinkies  nearest shop to me ran out andsaid its getting hard to get hold of them. fuzzies i aint had a problem with tho still get them for 40p


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## elle1331 (Mar 19, 2007)

Dirtydozen said:


> there is one near me that charges 95p for rat pups but that at the shop your on about is pathetic


its not a rep shop its more of a pet feeder shop that sell rabbits and other furry's and all the other shops here are crap, the other shop i got the frozen stuff from had fleas really really bad so now i get them from my friend


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## sahunk (Apr 1, 2007)

my local shop costs 10p 4 a pinky and about 25p for small/medium mice so its quite cheap!!


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## brian (Oct 22, 2005)

At moment i pay
pinkys 32p / fluffs 36p / s mice 42p / m mice 45p / med mice 45p / lg mice 56p jumbo mice 65p

rat pups 60p /weaner rats 70p / medium rat £1.00 /lg rats £1.30/ jumbo rats £1.30
That price list has not gone up since jan 2004 but that will soon alter in the next few weeks


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## DaveM (Oct 18, 2006)

yeah, I have tried to buy fluffs a few times but they have been closer to the size of pinks, orices have stayed the same though


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## punky_jen (Feb 22, 2007)

I pay 2.50 each for large rats. So glad im breeding my own now.


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## Faith (May 17, 2007)

we get ours online although there is a good petshop near us that supply frozen feeder mice ill give you the link to the site if anyone wants it


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## brian (Oct 22, 2005)

All this people saying ill buy on line or my local shop has um in is ok at the moment but in a few monthes it will be hard for even them to get for there own stock.....


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## Faith (May 17, 2007)

so what do you surgest we do, all start breeding our own ?
I know that personally i wouldnt be able to do it but admire the people that can, not only that we dont have the time with nearly 80 reptiles lol 
fair enough if we had to we would but.... all the time we dont have to do it we will have to buy frozen :S


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## Onissarle (Mar 1, 2007)

We made the decision a long time ago that with the number of critters we have, it was much better value for money if we bred all our own rodents. It's much cheaper to breed mice, multis and rats to feed 30 snakes and a variety of large lizards than it is to keep buying them in constantly. Especially when you avoid pet supplies and go straight to farming suppliers for bedding, feed, etc.

I guess this just means more and more people will have to consider breeding their own or getting in touch with private breeders like us who raise our own surplus frozen thaw snake food if the prices keep creeping up and up.


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## Tops (Apr 26, 2007)

lol i dont have the space or time to breed enough mice and rats to feed all my snakes
i struggle enough to keep rats consistently breeding for a couple of hatchlings

Ive got a 1:3 breeding colony of rats and they dont produce nearly enough pups
(if your reading this mum, of course im joking. I wouldnt kill baby rats. ive told you)


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## brian (Oct 22, 2005)

Faith said:


> so what do you surgest we do, all start breeding our own ?
> I know that personally i wouldnt be able to do it but admire the people that can, not only that we dont have the time with nearly 80 reptiles lol
> fair enough if we had to we would but.... all the time we dont have to do it we will have to buy frozen :S


 
All im saying is at the moment weaner rats and medium rats are hard to get hold of anything else at the moment is easy. But a man in the know he was saying that this is going to happen with large mice as well now I trust this man so just passing this info on it's up to you what you do with it.


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## punky_jen (Feb 22, 2007)

Tops said:


> lol i dont have the space or time to breed enough mice and rats to feed all my snakes
> i struggle enough to keep rats consistently breeding for a couple of hatchlings
> 
> Ive got a 1:3 breeding colony of rats and they dont produce nearly enough pups
> (if your reading this mum, of course im joking. I wouldnt kill baby rats. ive told you)


how many pups dot hey produce? My one female had 16 in 1 litter. 

Maybe if you need more get more females

I dont think they take much time jsut a top up of food and water daily, and a clean out once a week.


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## Faith (May 17, 2007)

nope i understand what your saying and i wasnt trying to be funny but there isint really a lot we can actually do  
Anyone know why they arent producing enough to go round?


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## Tops (Apr 26, 2007)

mine on average produce 8 pups a litter but one just had 4


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## punky_jen (Feb 22, 2007)

My God that is a very low number, do they all produce low numbers? Maybe try another female? Or get a few new ones in.


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## brian (Oct 22, 2005)

Faith said:


> nope i understand what your saying and i wasnt trying to be funny but there isint really a lot we can actually do
> Anyone know why they arent producing enough to go round?


 
The pet trade is secondry to these big companies they breed for labs. The pet trade has been getting the excess that is all now they are cutting back with the excess so now we suffer


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## brian (Oct 22, 2005)

Also when a lab buys from these companies they pay something like £20 for a lg rat and £15 for a weaner rat £ 3 for a pinky

So we come second


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## Daredevil (Jul 10, 2007)

Breeding my own would be a nightmare. Mice and rats stink and i'm not to keen on them. If i did i think my mum and dad would make me have them in the garage!!:no1:


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## MSL (Jul 30, 2007)

Thanks for letting us know brian......will get a big pile ( of Weaners that is LOL) in the freezer tommorrow!


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## brian (Oct 22, 2005)

bradhollands999 said:


> Breeding my own would be a nightmare. Mice and rats stink and i'm not to keen on them. If i did i think my mum and dad would make me have them in the garage!!:no1:


It also very time consuming if you require a lot at a diffrent size...


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## brian (Oct 22, 2005)

MSL said:


> Thanks for letting us know brian......will get a big pile ( of Weaners that is LOL) in the freezer tommorrow!


 
:lol2: wish I relised a few weeks ago would have got a few more
but last week I ordered 200 then and only 50 turned up so dint question it and this week only 25 turned up so I questioned it....And you lot know the rest....



soz im off line now for a few hours


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## punky_jen (Feb 22, 2007)

Yeah they do stink, i keep my mice in the shed, the rats arn't too bad though...compared to the mice anyway.


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## rockkeeper (Apr 5, 2007)

well might have to start breeding again or find someone else breeding them,


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## repti-mon (Aug 31, 2007)

freekygeeky said:


> just a quick question how much on average do you pay for 1 pinkie baby mouse.


 
I pay £2.50 for 10 pinkies and boxes of locusts and crickets are £1.50 each which ain't bad really, cheapest i've seen anywhere!!! shame i'll be moving further away from them soon tho


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## Onissarle (Mar 1, 2007)

4.11 Rats - Average litter 10 ish
1.5 Multis (recently cut back) - Average litter 8 ish
5.20 (ish) Mice - Average litter 8 ish

Mice and multis breed freely. We cull them at various sizes and put them in one of our freezers for future use. We especially stock pile pinkies for future hatchling snakes. We mostly keep the multis for problem feeders like my eldest royal.

We only breed a couple of female rats at a time and house the males seperately so we can control the rate of breeding to what we need and what we can manage at the time. Obviously, we can send our rat production through the roof at any given time.

That's to feed our current 26 snakes and make up part of the diet of two tegus and a nile monitor as well as prepare for future breeding projects. They take up half a room and euthanising them on that scale isn't for everyone so deciding to breed your own is a big decision and not for the faint hearted.

Yes, they do smell a lot more than reptiles.


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## sami (Oct 23, 2006)

we did breed our own, but with the amount of snakes we have now, that need weaner / large / xlarge rat sizes, we just don't have the time or space to grow them on big enough. 

plus my asthma is getting worse, and i have a feeling being in a room full of rodents every day can't help. 

and now i'm at uni full time, it's just far too time consuming. i'm putting everything in to this course, and don't want to have too many other things taking up time i get at home. 

we buy in bulk now, but i've been really disappointed with the standard of the frozen rat pups we just got, so i'm just not going to go back there again. 

sami


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## moonlight (Jun 30, 2007)

freekygeeky said:


> just a quick question how much on average do you pay for 1 pinkie baby mouse.


I pay 43p for a pinkie


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## adamntitch (Jun 17, 2007)

i keep rats as pets but do have 3 females if anyone was needing food i could breed them for you av 11 males lol and only 3 females but if need be and i could help i will i would need to knoe how to kill them in a kind way tho also got 21 mice so could get pinkies and that easyly to
just p.m me if i can help:whip:


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## slither (Jun 20, 2007)

Thats a very nice offer adamntitch. Fill your location in so that people know where you are. 
How come you don't breed them already? If I was you I'd breed them and sell a few to petshops either to recoop a little money spent on food/bedding etc, or for things you need from the shop.


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## asnakecalled? (Apr 9, 2006)

freekygeeky said:


> just a quick question how much on average do you pay for 1 pinkie baby mouse.


i pay 20p each for pinkie mice and 30p each for rat pups


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## adamntitch (Jun 17, 2007)

am in edinburgh my mice just had a new litter and i was breeding them as food in a way but never got round to killing anyone lol as i gave up my snakes and am into quails the now got 5 3 week old ones i hatched that spirt got for me kindly and also got about 40 eggs in the incubator


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## tazzyasb (May 4, 2005)

we breed our own mice, have been thinking about starting breeding rats as well my other halfs boa collection keeps growing.

You need a fair bit of room and holding tanks when growing the mice on to different sizes. We need every size so its a bit like a military operation. Its quite easy once you get started only draw back really is getting the mice to start unless you know someone who breeds.

I want to get some new blood in my breeding groups and I have been all over looking for pet shops that sell pet mice.

I have been inventing children who are getting the mice as pets get funny looks when you ask for more then one.


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## Ssthisto (Aug 31, 2006)

tazzyasb said:


> I have been inventing children who are getting the mice as pets get funny looks when you ask for more then one.


You mean the pet shops don't realise that you're supposed to house mice in groups of two or more for their own mental health?

Keeping a lone mouse is not fair to a social animal....

Especially when you need that social animal to produce lots more little social animals so that you can nick a few and feed some very antisocial animals!


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## tazzyasb (May 4, 2005)

I know but every time I have asked for more then one I get this dodgy look and get asked what am I going to do with them!!!!!! I must look evil or something?

So now I have three pretend children who get them as pets because the shared rabbit just died and I want them to have their own pets to learn to have responsibilty. I think it sounds convincing.


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## jav07 (Apr 20, 2006)

moonlight said:


> I pay 43p for a pinkie


ouch thats steep,is that from a rep shop


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