D20 Critters

08/21/2024

Photo dump from the PNW Reptile Expo a couple weeks ago.

08/21/2024

Some of the new mice in the program!

08/12/2024

Hey everyone!
Post Northwest Reptile Expos LLC update.

We had a blast and met a lot of cool people and learned a lot from those more experienced in certain areas, it was great. We have some good lessons learned to make our next one better (BTW we are planning on going to Pacific Northwest Reptile and Exotic Animal Show in October! Stay tuned for details.)
It has been a busy couple of days since the expo so if I have missed any messages, I'm sorry (just message again to make sure).

So, we sold a bunch of frozen stock at the expo, but I did make sure not to hold enough back to continue doing business so fear not!
The colonies and inventory bins are still stocked up so you all shouldn't notice any difference.

ASFs had more babies while we were busy!

I picked up a bunch of female mice to bolster the colonies, so that's a plus.

Got another batch of hornworms (and some knowledge) so we are going to try again!

Started up a waxworm colony!

BSFL are still doing well, I added some more larvae from the expo to boost the colony a bit.

We purchased a couple of fruit fly cultures, I'm going to try and start making my own (these were mainly for the new gecko that also came home).

Lots of fun, lots of new, and lots more work to do! I'll keep you all up to date as we go. Until next time!

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08/11/2024

Northwest Reptile Expos LLC was a blast. The staff took great care of everyone and it was a great first expo for us. It was great to meet everyone and chat with you all. Thanks to Wyld West Exotics for linking up with us and making it a successful day.
Fear not we still have plenty of feeders for you all!
Also some pics of the Burmese named Fluffy! What big sweat girl!

08/10/2024

Hanging out at Northwest Reptile Expo!

08/10/2024

Hanging out at Northwest Reptile Expos LLC!

08/08/2024

Hey everyone! Come by and say hi!

PNW Reptile Expo, Portland, OR
Date & Time:
August 10, 2024
�10:00 am – 5:00 pm
Location:
DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel

1000 NE Multnomah St
Portland, OR 97232
United States.

08/07/2024

Hey everyone!
We are at the mid-point of the week. Today we were able to get some of our equipment moved around and reorganized to make room for our projects.
I did see some Black Soldier Flies in the cage today so yay for that!
Hornworms have met with another failure, but I'll take some lessons learned and try again!
I finally got my mealworms and supers set up in their new system, and I have a few supers that have pupated, and I am expecting a decent number of beetles here shortly.
Everything else is moving along as planned.

Northwest Reptile Expos LLC talk.
I am starting to get everything organized for Saturday. In addition to frozen rats, I will be bringing along a small number of live feeders, and some hairless for rehoming. Stop by the booth to check them out.
I did get my stickers in just in time, so I will have some available! I will have some various odds and ends as well, so come by and see us!

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07/31/2024

Hey everyone! End of month update!

Rats!
We had just under 1000 rat babies born this month. The colonies are at 100% capacity (yay!), and the freezer is filling up!

Mice!
While the colonies are still growing, it looks like the aggression issues I had been dealing with have been eliminated or at least greatly reduced, and I can start building inventory instead of constantly having to clean up after the mouse thunder dome. Colonies are still only about 30% full, but we have been having babies and things are moving along. I'm going to be restructuring things a bit so hopefully I can get some things better optimized so these guys can get on track.

Bugs!
Project Hornworm has produced 2 moths (as of this morning). I'm hoping for a few more here in the next couple of days and hopefully eggs will start popping up here soon.

BSFL are getting ready to become flies! Maybe, just maybe I'll have some small ones for the expo.

Meals and Supers, nothing new on these guys, just working the colonies trying to get a good cadence down.

Dubias, again nothing new. I'm going to start working on making some dubia cups for the expo, and maybe a starter colony or 2.

Looking to the future of bugs, it seems like I may need to start up crickets as well since they are popular, so stayed tuned there. I'm also planning on starting up waxworms here soon. As soon as I can get a good source of mulberry, I'll start up silkworms.

Aug 10, 2024! Northwest Reptile Expos LLC, we will be there! Come on by and say hi! If you want to pre-order any feeders for pickup at the expo let me know! Can't wait to meet everyone!

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07/31/2024

The setup! Project: BSFL

07/30/2024

Baby mouse!

07/29/2024

A peak at one of the mouse colonies (yes they do exist), right before it was cleaned out.

07/28/2024

A peak at the new asf colonies

07/24/2024

Hey everyone!

There is news!
On the animal front it looks like some of the new ASF females were already pregnant so we are getting off to quick start there!
Rats are near 100% capacity and things are going well.
Mice are starting to get a little traction but it is still slow going, we will get there!
I finished construction on our BSF fly cage, we have most of the larvae already pupating so I imagine flies are not too far behind. I’m hoping to get a quick turn around on them and have a healthy colony going here very soon.
Hornworms are still in their cocoons, I’m hoping to start seeing moths here soon. I’m hoping for a quick turn around on them as well.
Meals, supers, and dubia are growing out still (they take forever). But I will be looking into them more this week, so stay tuned for some more updates.
For insects I will be turning my attention toward waxworms and probably crickets next.

Now for the bigger news! We will be vending our first expo at Northwest Reptile Expos LLC in Portland on August 10. We are teaming up with our buddy Denver at Wyld West Exotics so come check us out and say hi and show us some love!
I will provide more updates as we get closer to the expo but needless to say we are excited and hope to see you there!

Stay tuned for some pics and videos of our new ASFs and a tour of the BSF fly cage!

07/19/2024

New business cards are on the way!

07/18/2024

Just finished another trip through the bins (cleaning), so far this month we have had 460 new baby rats born! The colonies are at 99% capacity. For the first time ever, we are finally operating at full steam in the rat department.
The new ASF colonies seem to be doing well however it will be some time before those are something we can reliably offer, but keep checking back for updates!
Mice are slowly getting there. I have been facing near constant challenges with them that I didn't face before, so it is taking me time to get them established. There are mice being born but the colonies are filling as fast as I would like, but I'll keep on working at it!
We have a few hornworms in pupation, I'm hoping to have some moths here soon and possibly even some eggs in the next couple of weeks.
I am working on re-establishing my mealworm and super worm colonies.
I have a bunch of BSFL that have entered pre-pupae stage so I should have the flies coming out soon, hopefully I can get a good life cycle going quickly.
Dubias are growing slowly, I'm still working on the best way to optimize production so I can offer them, but it hasn't been a priority with all of the other projects, but now that some things are running smoothly, I should be able to dedicate a bit more time to them.
For the time being I'm going to work on optimizing what I have going right now before I work toward the next species, which I haven't quite decided on, but I'll let you know!
I will be pushing out some short videos this week on the various colonies we have going along with some pictures, so stay tuned for that.
Until next time!

07/16/2024

Thanks to IrresistiBall Pythons and Rattery, we have our first colonies of ASFs! Here's hoping we can get them up and running and have a constant supply in this area!

07/07/2024

Quick nerdy stat update!
Currently our rat colonies are at 92% capacity! I like to stay above 85% so we are sitting pretty. So far this month we have had over 150 baby rats born!
Mice are still lagging behind, we are only at 39% capacity, but we are starting to produce inventory so hang in there mouse people!!!

07/06/2024

Hey everyone! July is off to a hot start and we are keeping up the hard work. Rats are continuing to go well. Mice are finally starting to get going so hopefully I will be able to start offering those in larger quantities here soon.

Today I transferred my first hornworms into their pupation enclosure so here’s to hoping we get some moths!

The BSFL are eating up a storm and growing quickly, I’m hoping to get a quick turn around and have them reproducing here soon, though I may need to order a few more just to get up to the colony size I want.

Next up, I am currently working on purchasing a couple of small ASF colonies to start producing those, I will be starting small and probably only keeping a couple of colonies unless there is a lot of demand.

The next insect that I am going to work toward will be silkworms, I am have been coming with a plan and I think it should be doable here soon.

For those who don’t know I have started releasing short videos across the social media spectrum with some highlights of some of the animals in my program, if there is anything specific you want to see let me know! I do plan on doing some long form videos and maybe some other media in the future. Let me know if you have any ideas and what you would like to see!
Take care see you next time!

07/05/2024

Hello!

07/01/2024

Hey everyone! We have grown again! We have recently acquired more equipment and rats which has boosted the number of colonies we have significantly, some of the equipment is being repurposed into our mouse operation as we continue to grow that up.
Fun fact! Before this latest expansion we had over 450 baby rats born in the last 3 weeks. Rat production is up and the freezer is finally getting some love so we end up being able to hit up some of the fall expos.

We also got in the first order of BSFL and got them set up. I want to take the time to establish the hornworms and bsfl before thinking about the next species but I am always trying to think ahead to the next thing.

In case you haven’t noticed we have been posting some short videos of some of our breeder rats on TikTok and YouTube so feel free to check out our channels over there! We do plan on having more long form videos documenting our journey in the breeding world and sharing some useful information, so look forward to that.

Thanks for stopping by and we will see you next time!

06/26/2024

We got our order of hornworms in, we are going to make another go at getting these things going. I found some info that I think will help. We also have an order of BSFL coming in, so hopefully soon we will have some insects to offer up as feeders! Stay tuned!

06/24/2024

06/24/2024

I watched a video that discussed the number of snakes that you own before it made sense to breed your own rodents.
It was mostly good info from a ball python breeder, and they had a good break down. However, I think they downplayed the amount of time and effort that goes into breeding rodents. In fact in the comment section a viewer talked about how they didn’t know when they got into snake breeding they were going to spend most of their time producing food for their snakes.
It isn’t just throwing a bunch of rats together and hoping for the best. There is cage cleaning, sorting, grow outs, euthanizing, dealing with die offs, illness, equipment repair, cycling breeders, and that’s just the beginning. You need space and time. Not to mention I’m sure most of you snake peeps would rather spend your time on your snakes and not worrying about the rodents.
I do agree with the video that there is a big potential to save money, rodents aren’t the cheapest things in the world.
So why do I bring this up? Am I trying to trash these guys to boost my own sales or convince you guys not to breed your own rodents? Not at all. If you want to breed your own rats, more power to you, in fact I’ll even help you get started.
Would I rather all the snake breeders come to me for their feeders? Sure I would, I could quit my day job and be a full time rat farmer. People who put in large orders are great, it’s easier for me from an effort standpoint.
It’s not something I advertise (maybe I should) but I am always willing to work with snake breeders to come up with an arrangement that will both save you money and drive consistent business for me. I view the hobby as a community and I want to do my part to support it and drive it forward.
If you have a consistent need for feeders feel free to reach out, there are always deals to be made.

06/21/2024

Good morning! Just finished with my morning cage cleaning, and we are getting to add to the freezer camp in the rat department. Being able to stockpile frozen rats has been a short term goal so that we can start hitting up the expo scene, I would really like to make it to the fall expos and get to meet a bunch of new people!
At last count the colonies have surpassed the 80% mark, I am ok with that level but I want to get into the 90s which I will get there soon.
Next week i plan to construct the new mice rack and bring a few more colonies online. I may be ready just in time for hatchling season.

Until next time!

06/20/2024

Hey everyone!
Things are still moving along around here. Since I started tracking about 2 weeks ago we have had over 250 baby rats born, and there are no signs of things slowing down.

We added 12 more breeder females to the mice colonies, as well as picking some more supplies to get another rack online which will allow for another 6 colonies to start up. The message is clear, you all need mice! I have had a couple of litters cycle and the colonies are getting beefed up, I am hoping to once again have mice offered up here in the next month.

In addition to all of that I have a few more supplies to start building out my year round BSFL breeding bin. I also have completed my basic research and believe I have a good idea on how to get both hornworms and silkworms up and running.

Still working on research for quail and rabbits.

Someone asked me why it takes me so long to get new projects up and running. The answer comes down to time and resources. I run this whole thing on my own and I also work a full-time job. There just aren’t enough hours in the day to get it all done, believe me if I had the time I would have all the projects going.
I also have to assess whether or not the project is worth doing. Like mealworms and super worms, I do breed them but I don’t sell them. Mealworms sell for pennies and they are widely available, it just isn’t worth my time. Also, if there is another local provider and they are already established then it makes more sense to send people to them.
Finally, if something just doesn’t interest me I may drag my feet on starting it up. My goal has always been to bring hard to find feeders to you all, but as a small business with limited time and resources if something doesn’t sell and my animals don’t eat it I’m not likely to continue with it.

However, if there is something you can’t seem to get your hands on feel free to suggest it, I may be interested in producing it or I may know someone who already does.
If you ever have any questions about what we do over here feel free to ask, I am more than willing to share. I do still plan on producing video content, hopefully in the near future.

Anyway this post is long, I’ll update you all a bit later! Until next time!

06/07/2024

Daily cage cleaning update!

Had a few more females finish their grow outs, so I was able to bring the last of the primary colonies online. We now have 100% colony uptime. We are still only at 68% as far as females go, which at this point is a waiting game (there are 39 more females in grow out so we are getting there!)

More mice have been born! The colonies are finally getting productive, we still have a ways to go before we are producing the numbers I want to see, but things are moving forward!

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06/07/2024

It’s hard to see in the photo but this little one has a red and black eye. His father always has the same trait, however his father has spawned probably somewhere around 200 babies (he is nearing retirement) and this is the first one to come out like this. I didn’t check the s*x but either way it will be entering the program when it’s old enough.

06/06/2024

Hey everybody!
I have been working on some market research (you may have seen my posts on some groups) looking for information on feeders that people are finding difficult to come by or difficult to find at reasonable prices. So far I have received some great feedback and I will taking it into consideration when planning the next species to add to our mix.
If there is a feeder that you think we should produce feel free to let me know in the comments!

06/03/2024

Big snake? We’ve got big rats! We do keep a number of big rats around. Finding large feeders can be difficult and/or expensive, so we make sure to keep some on hand to support our mission of providing the best quality feeder at the best prices!