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Getting rat colony going, easiest way

Posted By:

hupababy83

Alright, me and a friend have decided to breed our own feeders, si ce we are tired and disgusted with the quality we have been buying, both local pet store and on line. Feeders that real of urine and feces and have bumps and bugs on them are disgusting, and I will not feed that to my animals. SO... My question is, what's the easiest way to set up a breeding set up? I already have a male and female large rats, ( my pets Heineken and coors light) so is one pair good enough for our small collctions? My snakes feed once a week as fallows, Yoda eats two small rats, Sue and Ducky eat 2 med rats a piece, and Chief and empress are upgrading to 2-3 lg rats each, a week. My friend has 12 corns eating small rats how many and how often I don't know, 5 are still eating rat pinkies tho. Can someone please help me out? I been Loki g for a cheap rat rack or a easy DIY rat rack and have found a couple. Also would it be a good idea to breed more than rats? I see people breeding things called ASF, not sure what that is but interested in all there is to know about breeding feeders. I understand that the rats will be more time and trouble than my snakes but it's the only solution we have right now! Humboldt county isn't the cleanest place I. The USA and it's showing in the darn feeders too! Thank you in advance!! Respectfully, Betty Mae


Points:	150
Topics:	Feeding
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Accepted Answer

9/8/2010 12:50:20 PM

shellboa

Before we had racks we started out with 10g tanks. We built lids out of 1x2 and hardware cloth and feeders out of plywood and more hardware cloth, add a water bottle in a metal holder and you can do 1.2 per tank. When you start with younger rats you will see an average of 15 pinks and 7-9 that will survive to be weaned at which point I remove them and set them up in their own "holding bin" which is one of the rubbermaid totes where we have cut the top out and riveted hardware cloth to it. you can put water bottles on hangers and either do another type of wood feeding bin or just put it in the tub directly.

The trio should produce about evey 6-7 weeks depending on if both females deliver at once. We tried to do the staggered introduction thing but it was to hard to keep track of. I can give you more detailed intructions on the feeder bins etc if you want to pm me. We currently have 40 colonies at 1.3 and produce enough rats to feed our entire collection. We also breed mice for the colubrids and babies.

I keep one colony of ASF's which are African Soft Furred rats, they look kind of like a cross between a mouse and a teddybear hamster. But if you have picky eaters I would not recommend using them until you have an established supply. Often the snakes will refuse to switch back and ASF's can be tricky to keep. They need a diet that includes fresh greens etc. I have one last WC Ball who will eat nothing else.

Assisted Answer

9/8/2010 2:43:10 PM

abi21491

I'm currently breeding rats in 58qt Sterilite tubs from Wal-Mart. I cut a section out of each lid and replaced it with a V shaped hopper so I can feed them through the top instead of having bowls in the cage. WORKS PERFECT! I have 2 females per tub and rotate a male in until I see the girls are carrying a litter. I highly recommend going with something without using food bowls, as they waste a ton of it by dumping it and peeing in it. I'm amazed at how much food & bedding I save by making them eat it through the wire hoppers. Same goes for mice. When using tubs for rodents, make sure the inside of the tub is smooth, or else they will chew out - I've been raising rats & mice in these Sterilites for months now with no chew outs whatsoever. Cheap and effective!

Author Comment

9/8/2010 2:46:46 PM

hupababy83

Could you by any chance post pictures? I'd greatly appreciate it

Member Comment

9/8/2010 2:49:28 PM

abi21491

I can try! Once I take some I can ;)

Author Comment

9/8/2010 2:52:06 PM

hupababy83

Thank you. Right now I have my two in a 20 long, with water and food dishes. I seem to be cleaning it costantly!! Can't wait to get a proper rack!!

Author Comment

9/8/2010 2:54:13 PM

hupababy83

Ok another question.... When breeding feeders is inbreeding ok? Our local pet store leaves the litter together and they produce feeders like mad!!

Member Comment

9/8/2010 3:01:50 PM

abi21491

I personally don't mind holding back daughters to breed to the same male or vise versa but I would never recommend heavy inbreeding. I let a mouse colony inbreed years ago and they eventually started killing one another and turning up with strange hair types. I just got pics and will be posting them here in a minute ;)

Author Comment

9/8/2010 3:04:51 PM

hupababy83

Thank you abi. Shellboa I'll be PMing you soon!

Member Comment

9/8/2010 3:12:43 PM

abi21491

Okay, here is a side shot of these tubs so you can see what they look like.. this one has mice in it (1.5) but it is the same kind I use for the rats.

here is how I have the tops of the rat cages done. Yea, crappy job but I didn't have very good cutting tools, haha.

You could easily make food hoppers like this out of 1/2" hardware cloth, I just had some scrap pieces of caging laying around and decided to use those instead. For my mouse tubs I used some of the metal lids for the lab-style mouse cages, which I prefer but I only had a few of those lids and had to use other things for the rats.

I might upgrade my rats to a larger tub down the line but these seem to work well if you're not trying to put a ton of rats in one tub.

Author Comment

9/8/2010 3:16:26 PM

hupababy83

Sweet!!!!! Thank you!!

Member Comment

9/8/2010 3:21:19 PM

abi21491

Hope it helps :)

Member Comment

9/9/2010 2:46:28 AM

shellboa

Abi, do you ever have trouble with them chewing their way out of the plastic totes?

Member Comment

9/9/2010 7:18:47 AM

abi21491

Nope, not this type of tub anyway. In the past I used other types of tubs and had numerous chew outs, but these are smooth inside so there is nothing to chew on. Plus I give them paper towel rolls and various other things to chew :)

Member Comment

9/9/2010 4:04:12 PM

Skalonji

That's great information!! I'd been thinking about it too, but something i can not stand is the smell. Doing this tipe of breeding on this tubs, reduces the smell?
How can you controll the smell. How often do you have to clean it?

Member Comment

9/9/2010 4:07:43 PM

abi21491

My rats and mice are in my bedroom and they don't stink at all. Of course there is a smell of wood shavings, but I don't think that is a bad smell ;) I clean every 7-10 days depending on the amount of animals per tub... If there are lots of babies in the tubs obviously cleaning more frequent is necessary as opposed to just the adults being in there. I think most of the smell associated with rodents is the combination of food and urine, which is eliminated when they aren't able to soil their food.

Author Comment

9/9/2010 4:25:51 PM

hupababy83

Thank you thank you thank you

Member Comment

9/9/2010 4:57:30 PM

Skalonji

Thanks Abi. You are great!!!!

Member Comment

9/9/2010 4:58:41 PM

abi21491

Why thank ya :) and you're welcome!

Member Comment

11/16/2010 12:07:10 AM

clydester

okay so i have 5 females that got pregnant at the same time will they have babies at the same time or will they have them before or even two at the same time. i have them in a rack system so i really can't place them in different tubs i have a 5 rack system i have 1 for holding males 1 for holding females that are weaners and 1 for breeding and 1 for pregnant female's. i am going to build another rack system another 7 tall system where i will have more room for the expecting mother and the feeders.

what do you think about feeding them meat i know people say you shouldn't but they say that the rats could have liver a white fish so do you think that would be a good idea i give them dog food without red dye and treats for the dogs but the organic kind from the pet store that you get in the bags by the pound like peanut butter, liver chicken,veggie's and liver so i have been getting them for my dogs but i have also been feeding it to my female rats and my feeders also they are all getting fat they have been needing to get fat so i have been feeding them.

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