# Feeders > General Feeders >  Breeding Feeders as a Business, Laws

## reptilegirl07

Few Questions on laws with breeding feeders as a business...

1) I read somewhere that it's animal cruelty to kill a rodent by any other means but spinal dislocation.  It seems extremely inefficient to do this to thousands of rats, plus, i think it's just cruel.
http://www.act-az.org/petstores.html

Does it HAVE TO be done this way in order for it to be legal based on what it says here and should I call to clarify?


2) Zoning.  What would the zoning requirements be for raising feeder rodents (commercial, industrial, agricultural, etc)? 

3) USDA License or not... Do you need any sort of USDA license or not. I saw a company who raved they were USDA licensed.  Can someone explain this?

4) Are we required to have a vet come in and do inspections on our stock and get vet reports?

That's all I have right now :-)

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## tomfromtheshade

You don't sound like you're going to have a very profitable business LOL.

Breeding rodents as a business is in general a pretty cut throat enterprise. People will f' you over any chance they get. Neighbors will complain if the catch wind of what is happening. The animal rights blow hards will be busting your stones.

Every question that you just asked can be answered in one place. In your town, if rats are considered a nuisance species, do as you wish. That's it.

It would take a Vet a month of non stop working to inspect a rodent facility rat by rat. It can't happen.

Zoning laws are different town to town. My guess is that if you are going to be selling them out of the building that they are being bred in then you would need to have it zoned as a business. If not, then you can do as you like.

The USDA is the department of agriculture. They usually govern things that are eaten by people. That is up to you. Some states or towns require it. Some don't.

Everything will be up to the town that you open up shop in. I would personally choose to open somewhere without all of the red tape.

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## reptilegirl07

Who do I call/email about these requirements? (IE health department, etc)

We're looking to have our property purchased by summer and start working on our facility. 

We've been doing a lot of research and think we have a great shot at this, especially since a lot of the people just starting up are making novice business moves and are screwing themselves from the get go.  
Seems like no one has a business degree or even general business knowledge with how they're going about this (from what I've seen).  Quite sad.

The USDA regulates the breeding of certain kinds of animals. For an example, sugar gliders and hedgehogs are regulated by the USDA.  There is a rodent breeder who raves that his facility is USDA licensed... I was curious why he would become USDA licensed if he was only breeding rats.  
USDA licensing is a Federal thing, not a state thing, so theoretically, it should not depend on location.  IE if you're breeding sugar gliders in NY, there are the same laws as per USDA as if you're breeding sugar gliders in Nevada.


This is the company. 

Could it be that they are breeding other animals that are regulated by the USDA?
http://www.laynelabs.com/about/laynelabs

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## tomfromtheshade

You don't need a business degree to run a rat business LOL. You just need to start small and build up from there. You need to be able to gain customers and grab a part of the market share. Its not easy...I know its not because I'm doing it LOL.

If you want to do it then I say go for it. Its just not as good of a money making business as everyone thinks it will be. Can you breed rats so that your snakes eat for free? Yeah. Heck yeah! That's not even hard. Can you breed rats so that you can make a living doing just that? That is an entirely different can of worms.

I wish you good luck, but I don't know many people that make it to the millionaire's club breeding rats. 

Realistically, if you make 50 cents per rat you are doing pretty good. If you are planning on doing this full time you will need to produce 2,000 rats per week just to pay one salary. If you have more than one person in your business now you have to produce 4,000 rats per week in order to pay the two salaries.

In order to produce 4,000 rats per week you need to produce 16,000 rats per month. If you leave your males and females together all the time and you average 8 babies per female per month you will need 2,000 breeding females.

2,000 breeding females will require 100 five level large mortar tub racks. You can fit 10 of these racks in a 12' x 12' room. That is just for breeders. Now you will also need room to hold/house the weaners. You will need racks to grow out replacement animals.

It is a good part time business for someone looking to make a couple hundred bucks a week. If you want to make it your full time gig you had better do all of the math way ahead of time.

My advice is to start small and keep your growth to a manageable level. You don't want to get stuck with thousands of rats that no one wants to buy.

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## cardell75

> Who do I call/email about these requirements? (IE health department, etc)
> 
> We're looking to have our property purchased by summer and start working on our facility. 
> 
> We've been doing a lot of research and think we have a great shot at this, especially since a lot of the people just starting up are making novice business moves and are screwing themselves from the get go.  
> Seems like no one has a business degree or even general business knowledge with how they're going about this (from what I've seen).  Quite sad.
> 
> The USDA regulates the breeding of certain kinds of animals. For an example, sugar gliders and hedgehogs are regulated by the USDA.  There is a rodent breeder who raves that his facility is USDA licensed... I was curious why he would become USDA licensed if he was only breeding rats.  
> USDA licensing is a Federal thing, not a state thing, so theoretically, it should not depend on location.  IE if you're breeding sugar gliders in NY, there are the same laws as per USDA as if you're breeding sugar gliders in Nevada.
> ...


His website states that he also breeds and sells quail/rabbits/guinea pigs as well and they require a USDA license to breed and sell.

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## reptilegirl07

Thanks cardell!! 

Tom, let me know how it goes for you.  What are your profits per month so far?

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## tomfromtheshade

> Thanks cardell!! 
> 
> Tom, let me know how it goes for you.  What are your profits per month so far?


I don't share that type of information. Sorry, but this is the internet and you have to make it a rule to never type anything that you don't want the world to know. So, my official position is that I have taken a loss every month so far. LOL.

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## reptilegirl07

Sounds profitable, you must be doing something right  :ROFL:

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## tomfromtheshade

> Sounds profitable, you must be doing something right


I haven't done everything right so far, but I am working on it.

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## Piedmont

It's an interesting business if you truly enjoy the rats.  It's a tremendous amount of work and everyone's comments about the market being fickle are true!  You either have too many of the wrong size or sell too many and have a "doughnut hole" in your breeding program.  I own a reptile rescue and started this to feed the inhouse residents.  I sell to the public and turn the proceeds into funds for the rescue.  It's a 7 day a week committment taking care of something living.  You need good diet and keep them clean to be healthy "food" for other animals to consume and stay competitive in the marketplace.  Dirty rats have been the biggest cause of buyers leaving other breeders and coming to me.  The rats are fun to handle, grateful for good treatment and I breed for color so I can cull the really sweet ones for the pet stores.  (Of course I have several at home as pets).   I do agree with you about the income.  If you think it's a get rich quick scheme... think again and look somewhere else.

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## PitOnTheProwl

Thread is 6 years dead

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## Spechal

Not anymore! Good read.  Have been considering expanding and this adds more perspective.

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