Behind The Scenes

After three decades of continuous innovation and passion and a loyal workforce, Monkfield Nutrition has grown into an internationally recognised industry leader but remains a family business at heart. Our customers range from shops, specialist outlets, retail chains and wholesalers to zoos and wildlife centres and many of these have been with us from the very beginning!

Most people associate breeding programmes at Monkfield Nutrition with snakes, lizards and other reptiles but there are also dozens of rooms dedicated to livefood. Breeding your own brings with it a sense of comfort and security with the knowledge that you are in control every step of the way.

You do not have to worry about where it has come from or whether it has been looked after properly, it has!

Set up in 1993 our captive breeding programme is extremely well established.

In our purpose-built facility, we breed all the popular reptile species stocked by pet shops including Bearded Dragons, Leopard and Crested Geckos, Chameleons, Corn, King and Milk Snakes and Royal Pythons. All our breeding rooms are divided by size and tailored to each species.

All animals are shipped in good health and feeding well. We endeavour to accommodate specific requests but please note that we cannot always guarantee the gender of a reptile.

If you have any reptile or reptile-related questions, no matter how small, we are always happy to help.

Monkfield is largest live food breeder in the UK with 30,286 square foot dedicated to live food breeding. Across the farm our insect rooms are divided up by insect type and by size enabling us to cater for a wide variety of reptiles and different mouth sizes!

All our live food is picked, packed, and despatched on the same day to ensure it is as fresh as possible.

Crickets and locusts are sensitive creatures that are affected by the weather (aren't we all!) and so we continually monitor for any change in conditions to enable us to pack appropriately for despatch.

In 2001, we began breeding rodents in response to market shortages and set up a rodent farm in Eastern Europe. Over the past ten years, the growth has exceeded all our expectations, which has led to our farm being the largest of its kind in Europe, producing approximately 500k mice and 100k rats per month.

Continual investment in the rodent farm has led us to believe that we now produce the best quality frozen rodents sold in the UK today. Rodents are raised on high quality diets and subject to regular health checks.

All frozen foods are humanely euthanized, according to a set of government-dictated guidelines, accurately graded, bagged, or boxed and blast frozen. We are licensed and regularly inspected by DEFRA for distribution to the trade.

At Monkfield we are committed to good environmental stewardship. We appreciate the beauty of our Cambridgeshire countryside home and we want to keep it that way! Here are some of the things we are doing, to do our bit for the environment:

Solar Panels:

Monkfield was one of the first companies in the area to invest in solar panels thus helping to combat greenhouse gas emissions and reduce our collective dependence on fossil fuels, from which traditional energy is sourced. Energy from our 250KW system is not only sustainable, it is renewable and this means that we will never run out of it.

Recycling:

As part of our commitment to the environment, Monkfield recycle cardboard, plastic and wood, where possible. The cardboard and plastic is baled and collected by our recycling partner.
Did you know:

All of our live food tubs are made from 80% recycled plastic and are fully recyclable.
Our range of are packed in 100% recyclable and biodegradable paper bags?

Biomass Boiler:

In 2012, a further 199kW of biomass energy production was added, which provides 95% of the heating for the entire site.

Air Handling Units:

Air handling units ensure the air is maintained at a constant temperature with built in heat recovery and cooling for hot weather.

Behind The Scenes

Overview

Animal Rooms

Insect Rooms

Rodent Farm

Environmentally Friendly