The economy and the feeder mice

[The BoidSmith]

A couple of days ago I went to the city to do some shopping. Just for fun I went into PetCo and Petsmart. The first one had colored feeder mice for $2.50 and the second one had fancy mice (feeder mice with a different coat on ;) ) for $7 each! A couple of years ago mice were going for $1, one thing's for sure though, my salary hasn't gone up 250% in two years. :shrug01:

[TripleMoonsExotic]

PETsMART's mice aren't intended for feeders, which is why the price them so high (they were that price when I worked there in college - 4-5 years ago?).

[The BoidSmith]

Yes, I know, but PetCo sold theirs for $1 (.99 to be exact) around two years ago! Just imagine a kid who owns 4-5 pet snakes buying 10 mice a week, that's around $100 a month! :(

[SPJ]

It's like that here. While I was waiting on my recent rodent order (don't know why it took almost a month but ticked me off), I went to Petco to get the frozen feeders. $60 a week for the 3 weeks I needed them. One small rat was $7.99!

[BryonsBoas]

I got a customer out of South Atlanta because of feeder prices. The shop / shops in his area were charging $2 - 3 small , $4 - 5 medium , $6 - 8 larges , $10 - 12 Jumbos.

My rodent feed is now twice as much as it was a year ago , THANKS ETHANOL PRODUCTION , and I've had to raise my prices to compensate. Nothing like the pet shops tho.

[bsharrah]

Yes, I know, but PetCo sold theirs for $1 (.99 to be exact) around two years ago! Just imagine a kid who owns 4-5 pet snakes buying 10 mice a week, that's around $100 a month! :(
But that is the point. The prices have been inflated to disuade the person from buyer their live mice to feed to snakes. It has nothing to do with rising cost or economy. As far as the price of f/t at Petco, it actually is not too bad for the person with one pet snake (which is their typical customer base). When I lived in Washington State about 3 years ago, I had a single corn snake and purchased f/t from the local Petco. Just before I moved back to PA, there was a big controversy over the ethical treatment of mice being sold from Petco to be used to feed snakes (yes, Peta was involved). Many of the stores would not sell them to anyone if they were being used as food. The result was inflated pricing on their "pet" mice and more promotion of their f/t. The belief was a person who really wants a fancy mouse will pay $7+ for it but the person who wants to feed their snake will go elsewhere or switch the animal to f/t - they were right (breeders or those with multiple animals shouldn't use Petco for either). It appears other places have followed suit since.

Bart

[The BoidSmith]

But that is the point. The prices have been inflated to disuade the person from buyer their live mice to feed to snakes. It has nothing to do with rising cost or economy. As far as the price of f/t at Petco, it actually is not too bad for the person with one pet snake (which is their typical customer base). When I lived in Washington State about 3 years ago, I had a single corn snake and purchased f/t from the local Petco. Just before I moved back to PA, there was a big controversy over the ethical treatment of mice being sold from Petco to be used to feed snakes (yes, Peta was involved). Many of the stores would not sell them to anyone if they were being used as food. The result was inflated pricing on their "pet" mice and more promotion of their f/t. The belief was a person who really wants a fancy mouse will pay $7+ for it but the person who wants to feed their snake will go elsewhere or switch the animal to f/t - they were right (breeders or those with multiple animals shouldn't use Petco for either). It appears other places have followed suit since.

Bart

Good points, I hadn't thought about that possibility. The problem is that snakes that eat F/T are probably the minority; every snake will eat live but only those that are used to will eat F/T. On the other hand if someone wants to breed mice it's not an impediment to buy 8 females and 2 males for $25 and start your own breeding group, even at PetCo inflated prices.

My rodent feed is now twice as much as it was a year ago , THANKS ETHANOL PRODUCTION , and I've had to raise my prices to compensate. Nothing like the pet shops tho.

I hear you Bryon. Just imagine the crunch poultry and pork producers are going through where corn constitutes nearly 60% of their diet. Not so long ago we hit the $7 mark per bushel ($2.5 was considered high not so long ago!) now we have dropped to close to $4.5, still 100% higher than our high grain prices of the past.

Best

[BryonsBoas]

Don't get me wrong , I'm all over moving away from foreign oil and standing on our own. I'm also all over a cleaner burning fuel. I'm NOT all over utilizing our food stock in order to do it.

Quite a few farmers in my area that were raising their own meat animals stopped doing it because of the high feed prices.

I'm not seeing how some companies are able to not raise their prices tho. Even if I were able to order my rodent feed manufacturer direct , it still wouldn't be as cheap as I was paying retail a year ago.

[R&TB]

I just went to Petsmart yesterday for some aspen and looked at the rodent prices $13.99 for a large male rat, $6.99 for fancy mouse ( I didn't see anything fancy about a white mouse), and I think Guinea pigs were almost $40.00. I would definitely not think of feeding my snakes at that price. The only think at a half way decent price, still a bit expensive, was a foot long ball python at about or just under $60.00. I know the balls are a lot cheaper online but throw in shipping and its more. I've seen ball in a few local pet stores for around $100.00.
I guess if others are willing to pay the price the prices will remain.

[The BoidSmith]

I just went to Petsmart yesterday for some aspen and looked at the rodent prices $13.99 for a large male rat, $6.99 for fancy mouse ( I didn't see anything fancy about a white mouse), and I think Guinea pigs were almost $40.00. I would definitely not think of feeding my snakes at that price. The only think at a half way decent price, still a bit expensive, was a foot long ball python at about or just under $60.00. I know the balls are a lot cheaper online but throw in shipping and its more. I've seen ball in a few local pet stores for around $100.00.
I guess if others are willing to pay the price the prices will remain.

Yes, the only thing is that 99% of the balls are male. That's where the siblings of all those "all female lots" for sale in the market end!

[jayefbe]

I get most of my frozen rats from the East Bay Vivarium, and they have good prices. The place is a couple hours away from me, but I go there every 2 or 3 months when I'm visiting my parents.

A couple times I've needed live mice for young ball pythons that haven't switched over to f/t yet and bought them from a local independent pet store. The thing cost me $3, for a hopper! I checked the other pet stores in the area and they're all charging 3 bucks for feeder mice.