Comparison of two online feeder sites

Moderator Joined: 08 Jan 2005 Posts: 127

I have ordered frozen feeder mice from two different companies, The Mouse Factory, and Rodent Pro. I thought I'd share my experiences with the two companies.

Ordering: Rodent Pro offers online ordering, Mouse Factory does not. You can, however, e-mail an order to Mouse Factory.

Pricing: I found the pricing to be comparable with both companies. Mouse Factory offers quantity discounts starting at 100 mice/rats. Rodent Pro offers quantity discounts starting at 500 mice/rats. Both companies allow different sizes of mice to be combined to get the quantity discounts.

Payment: Both companies accept major credit cards and Paypal.

Shipping: Both companies use UPS to ship their products, and shipping prices are pretty much the same.

Size of mice: Both companies offer mice from small pinks up to jumbo adults. Rodent Pro offers eight different sizes of mice, Mouse Factory offers seven different sizes of mice.

Packaging: Rodent Pro packages mice in Ziploc freezer bags. Mice are packaged in quantities of 100 up through hopper size, quantities of 50 for weanlings and adults, and quantities of 25 for jumbo adults. Estimated shelf life--up to a year. Mouse Factory vacuum seals their mice in heavy plastic bags and they have an estimated shelf life, if unopened, of up to 3 years. Pinkies are packaged in quantities of 50, fuzzies, hoppers, and adults are packaged in quantities of 25, and jumbos in quantities of 20.

Speed of service: The Mouse Factory ships within 24 hours of receiving an order, and the order usually arrives with in 2 days of placing it. Rodent Pro waits up to 10 days to ship an order. I waited 2 weeks ro receive the order I placed with them.

Quality: For me, this was the deciding factor. Both companies packaged their mice well, with lots of dry ice and insulating material. Both packages were still solidly frozen when I received them.

The Rodent Pro mice varied greatly in size. I ordered fuzzies, and the mice in the bag varied from tiny--almost pinky size--to what looked to be adult mice. Also, one of the bags was torn in two places. There were bits of bedding in both packages of mice, and about half the mice in one package were frozen together in one large block of a yellowish liquid that smelled suspiciously of urine.

The Mouse Factory mice were very clean, much more uniformly sized, vacuum sealed in heavy duty plastic, and separated easily.

I offer these observatons, not to influence you to choose one company over the other, but simply to let you know of my experiences and choose for yourself. As for me, based on what I've reported here, I'll continue to patronize The Mouse Factory.

Posted: Fri Feb 18, 2005 10:25 pm

Thanks for the information Becky. I think I am going to try the mouse factory.