Frozen feeder mice

[guidofatherof5]

Well, sounds like you need more snakes so you can buy more mice and get a better deal.
Think about it. It's a double better deal. You have more snakes(good) and save money(even better).
Works for me.

[justme]

I recently ordered from Rodent Pro and am very happy with the frozen mice I received from them. Before Rodent Pro, I was buying from a local pet shop and spending roughly $30 a week for my garters. The cheapest price for mice where I live is a $1.50 to $2.00 each. Yikes!!!

[ConcinusMan]

$5 for 3 pinkies at petco. Ridiculous, but I've been paying it. I don't need hundreds of pinkies at a time, don't have that kind of money to spend anyway, and the only place in town where I was getting them for $1 each shut down. Sucks. I have been unable to find an alternative without shelling out half my paycheck for hundreds of them online.

[infernalis]

So I guess it's a good thing I use several hundred pinks a month.

I just view my rodent pro tab as another household utility. I factor in about $100 a month into our budget to cover feeders.

[ConcinusMan]

I don't plan on going that big with my snakes. Already have more than I had planned on but I think I have quite enough now. Some will come, some will go, but I don't want to expand anymore. I'd rather keep few enough that they can all get adequate attention and room, and the feeding, maintenance, and expense is at a manageable level for me personally. I love the hobby, I don't want it becoming a burden or chore if you know what I mean. Don't want to go and take the joy out of it.

I don't feed rodents exclusively as a general rule either. I just need them as a significant part of a varied diet. Right now, that means I need perhaps 25 a month (mostly large pinky mice) when all my snakes are out of the fridge.

[brain]

So I guess it's a good thing I use several hundred pinks a month.

I just view my rodent pro tab as another household utility. I factor in about $100 a month into our budget to cover feeders.

Yep just the cost of doing business

[Floof]

Looks like I'm a little late, but I used to live in WA, so maybe this info can help the OP or other WA members if she hasn't found it yet?

Pacific Northwest Herp Society is based in the greater Seattle area, and, from what I understand (wasn't a member, but have a friend who is), the members regularly do bulk orders together from companies like RodentPro. As for local, there's a company in Everett (Slippery Creek Ranch, I think?), as well as a member of the herp society (somewhere east of Tacoma, not 100% sure where, but he delivers in the Seattle area!) who breeds and sells live and frozen rodents to herp society members. The guy from Everett can be found at expos, selling frozen and live. You'll know him by the big tanks full of live mice and the giant freezers behind the table. I've seen a couple other companies at expos selling f/t, but they're not as easy to find as the guy with all the mice sitting in front of him.
Anyway, here's a link to the herp society: Welcome to PNHS | Pacific Northwest Herpetological Society A link to the forum can be found under "Quick Links" to the left.

To be honest, I don't find pet store prices worth the trouble. Even if you do one big expensive bulk order, you're still saving money... You're just doing all your mouse shopping for the next 6 months or so at once, instead of blowing two or three times that amount at pet stores, just spread out over weeks. When I got my 2nd and 3rd hatchling corns, a bulk order from Rodentpro or The Mouse Factory was still less expensive than dropping cash every few weeks at Petco or Petsmart. When I had 20 snakes, it was even more worth it. This week is the first time I can't justify a bulk order online, because my limited funds are too tied up in paying off other things... That doesn't mean I'm not looking for local breeders or some other less expensive avenue, because there's still no way in hell I'm spending $2 for a fuzzy mouse every week unless there's absolutely NO alternative.

To the OP, Corn snakes are a GREAT choice. Certainly fantastic beginner snakes. After keeping some 9 different species over the last few years, they're still my favorite species. (Have yet to see if Garters or, when he gets bigger, my Gopher snake will change that!) Keep in mind, they have some pretty radically different husbandry and behavior requirements from Garters; for example, they aren't at all communal and cannot be housed together safely, unlike Garter snakes. I highly recommend signing up at the http://cornsnakes.com forums. It's the Thamnophis.com for corn snakes, so to speak. Plus, there are a LOT of Washington members there, so you may be able to find a few people close to you who would be willing to go in on a bulk order with you. Good luck!

[ConcinusMan]

I'm aware that the herp society members do that. Just not sure what that means to me. Not much I think. Anyway, Seattle, everett, whatever, that area is hours drive from me. I know there's plenty of people selling rodents at reasonable prices and they deliver free. Unfortunately, I can't find one that delivers to my area. I've found one in Salem Oregon that delivers ALMOST to my location and much of Oregon but that doesn't really help me.

"Even if you do one big expensive bulk order, you're still saving money"

Not really. All the well-known online bulk one's I've looked into end up being just a few pennies under what I'm paying now,(pet store prices) once everything is all added up. And, I'd have to spend a hundred or more dollars at once, just to save a few pennies. Seriously.

I mean, c'mon. 7 cents or whatever it is I'm paying online sounds great. Add it all up and it's well over a dollar each. Forget it.

Maybe I'll look into the link you provided eventually. Right now it won't do any good. I just can't come up with the money. 10 bucks here and there. That's about it and so I'm forced to buy a few at a time, at the pet store. I'm stuck.

[Floof]

ConcinnusMan-- The bulk of my post was actually directed at the OP, with the exception of my opinion on pet store feeder prices.

And on that subject, I have to wonder where online you're pricing your rodents? I just put a theoretical 200 pinky order through the calculator using the prices at my favorite online rodent supplier (The Mouse Factory), who charges 25 cents per pinky mouse for bulk orders between 100 and 500 mice--still not the least expensive out there. 200 pinky mice comes to $50. Then you assume shipping will be another $50 (an overestimation, but it's been awhile since my last TMF order and I can't remember actual shipping costs), bringing the order total to $100. That's 200 pinky mice for $100... 50 cents per mouse. Although the shipping costs may potentially double the per mouse cost, that's still as much as 1/4 the cost of mice from the average pet stores, and still quite a savings. If my math is right, that's even just 1/3rd of the cost of pinky mice from Petco--5 pinkies for $3 is a little more than $1.50 per mouse.

Of course, there will be a difference if you're looking at sellers with more expensive mice or higher shipping costs, or if you're doing, say, a low quantity order of larger, more expensive rodents... But, doing the math, even a small, $100/200 pinky order from The Mouse Factory or RodentPro (going through their "get a quote," 200 pinks would be $83) is going to save you money on feeders.

Anyway, that's just my input and research on the subject. What you choose to do, and what works best for you, may well be very different from what works for me or anyone else.

[ConcinusMan]

Location, location, location. You are obviously not where I live. Anyway, I beat that horse a dozen times and figured up, got quotes, the whole nine yards, and all the major online rodent places. None of them made it worth my while to bother unless we're talking about 500+ pinky mice. In other words, more money than I'll have at once at any time in foreseeable future. I hear the savings the way you describe it, and that's what got me looking into it in the first place. Sounds great, but it just never comes out that way for me. Not sure why. You said $50 for shipping is an overestemate. No, that's pretty much an expected minimum every time I check.

Anyway, I don't friggen have 83 bucks now and probably won't for some time to come. Like I said. Stuck.