I have been debating for some time now on what kind of insect feeders to try and breed. I have a lot of different lizards in and out of my care as I take in pretty much anything you can think of reptile wise that might need a home for whatever the reason may be, some of them go on to other homes and others just stay with me. Mice and Rats : I want to start breeding these for my snakes and monitors but I can't seem to find any females around here, other than in Petco but I'm not paying like $10 just for one rat and they generally don't allow you to buy a male and a female (at least the stores around here don't). So if someone knows of someone/where where I can get some females from that'd be great. Crickets : I don't like them at so I don't really want to breed them as they are noisy enough for the week or so that I have them. Plus I can just get 1,000 for like 7 bucks so it's not really worth it to breed them. Roaches : I will only say this once . . . EW!!!!! I can't do roaches, was mentally scarred at a young age because of them, so don't want to deal with them in the least. Mealworms/Superworms : Sold off my old colonies but I do plan on restarting soon. Worms : I really don't know what to do here . . . my grandpa used to breed them for fishermen and his garden but I don't know if they can be used/are good feeders and if so what would I feed them, obviously the nutrition requirements would be different for them compared to fishing bait. Also what kind of worms (red wigglers, European night crawlers, etc)? If someone has some info or other suggestions please, I'm all ears.
some smaller pet shops sell female rodents. i have no idea why female rats are so hard to find but they are. i say just go ahead and buy a female from petco then go back the next week to get a male. also some petstores will sell live rats bred to be feeders and they are pretty cheap, the females in feeder bins are usually already preggers. ill be breeding natal rats for reptile food once i have the time moeny and space
I went to the only shop around here that sells feeders (other than petco/petsmart) and they only have males because the owner of the store holds back his females as he breeds his own feeders so he only has males. Females are so hard to find just for that reason, you only need a few males but you need a lot of females for a breeding project, so normally breeders hold back their girls so they have continuous 'stock' and so you can't profit from breeding your own. I would go buy them at petco but I would need more than just 1 female so it would cost me like $30-40 just for 2 or 3 females, I can get the male at the shop I normally go to for like 1/3 the price. Thanks for the effort though.
Alright, but can you breed them or would I just have to buy them, because with the number of animals that come and go, if I can't breed it on my own or get it super cheap then there just isn't a point . . .
