# Feeders > General Feeders >  post your rodent breeding set-up!

## SquamishSerpents

as the title says, we wanna see your rodent breeding setups! doesn't matter if you have 10 rodents, or 10,000 rodents! let's see those rat rooms!

i'll start. sorry for the crappy cell phone pics, but i just couldn't start up a thread and not include my own pictures. we are moving to a rack setup soon and will not be using glass tanks anymore. but here are the tanks for now:

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## coldbloodaddict

Rodent Building...Just the right half though.


Here's a few of my racks...

Rat Breeding Pens on the left, Rat Birthing Racks on the right.


More Rat Birthing Racks and 2 Holder Racks


Mice and ASF Racks

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_decensored_ (11-05-2011),_FIREball_ (11-06-2011),_Redneck_Crow_ (11-29-2011),_ReptilesK2_ (11-06-2011),tejanastar (11-18-2011)

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## Patrick Long

I see woods dude!

Wheres the dirtbikes???


Nice setup dudeskit.

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## Freakie_frog

Every slot in all of these rack are now full..and we are having to build a new addition to this building. 
YouTube - The Rat Room

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## coldbloodaddict

> I see woods dude!
> 
> Wheres the dirtbikes???
> 
> 
> Nice setup dudeskit.


I'm too old for the Dirt these days...LOL!

Here's a pic from a couple years ago...I'm on the bike.

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## snakesRkewl

It's changed again since this pic but this is what I use for breeding...

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tejanastar (11-19-2011)

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## SquamishSerpents

snakesRKewl, i notice you use water bottles for watering. that is the method i'm going to be using with my racks, at least for the first little bit. do you find it at all annoying to have to change all the bottles individually? 

i like the idea of bottles because if one breaks, you just get a new one. whereas with the big watering system with tubes and everything, i'd be afraid of something getting clogged and me having to replace the whole tubing system.

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## snakesRkewl

Since I'm a stay at home dad with like 36 hours a day to play with my snakes and rats, no I don't find it to be an issue at all.
If I worked all day and had limited time then I might consider a watering system.

With bottle they do have to be bleached occasionally, but really only about once every month or two.

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## RAZR REPTILES

Really nice clean setup who makes the grow out cages you got ? :Good Job: 




> Rodent Building...Just the right half though.
> 
> 
> Here's a few of my racks...
> 
> Rat Breeding Pens on the left, Rat Birthing Racks on the right.
> 
> 
> More Rat Birthing Racks and 2 Holder Racks
> ...

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## zues

I started with this 8 x 12 storage building that was here when I bought the house. It was just your basic building with a storage loft and pegboard nailed to the studs. I needed more height for the water buckets so I tore out the loft and raised the ceiling. I also had to add the window for my AC unit and I filled in the hole that was left from the loft door on the front. After running electric out too the building I insulated and hung drywall. I taped and mudded the drywall but it is FAR from being what one would call "finished" drywall. 

Here is what you see when you open the doors.

I built two racks each holding 20 tubs. I usually have 36 -38 tubs breeding at all times. I always leave one tub open on each rack to make cleaning easier. Each tub has 1 male and 2 females. I average between 600-800 rats per month with this setup. I feed all my snakes and wholesale a lot of pinkies and crawlers. 

This rack uses the large cement tubs. This is where I grow out the feeders for my snakes and my future breeders. I clean once a week and probably spend a total of about 5 hours a week between cleaning and topping off food and water. In the pics you see Doggy Bag dog food but I am now using Mazuri.

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## SquamishSerpents

that's a really nice little barn you have there! here's the new pics since i started this thread:





taken with a wide angle lens, that's why it looks so distorted. they were eating Equine crunch, but i've now switched them to hog feed, poured right in their bins. my dog was eating the food when i was leaving it on the lids!!

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## JohnNJ

Just curious - why make two racks of three tubs instead of one rack with six tubs. I think floor space is more valuable if you have the ceiling height available.

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## RaltsXIV

> my dog was eating the food when i was leaving it on the lids!!


lol, I still use tanks partially for that reason. My cat will get into the rat blocks if I even leave the lid off while feeding and walk out of the room for a second or two.

The cat also sits and watches my ASFs and rats all day. If I used a rack I'm pretty sure he'd make it through the mesh at some point.

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## Rhasputin

Here's all of my mice: 

I'd show my ASFs, but they're just in ten gallon tanks on a shelf, no big deal until I get my new bins.

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## wolfy-hound

I bought a used rack from a woman who was moving. I didn't realize how bad of shape it was in when I got it and I've done extensive repairs to the wire(she was terrible at wire work).  But it's got 16 slots and I got 18 bins(one has been chewed on the corner and I have no way to repair that that I know of) for it. I'll need to find a source for more bins.



I'm running 1.3 in each bin right now(one has 1.4 I think). Already have gotten several litters, some good, some lousy, and only the first two litters were killed by the moms. Since they'd just been stuffed into a box, dragged to a meeting spot and then dragged to my house and scattered into the new groupings, I can't blame the first two litters being killed. Stressed out moms do bad things.  Now, if they do it again... well. The monitor can always use a nice big rodent.

I'm cleaning once a week, venting the room with a window fan a couple times a day(HUGE difference in odor! Thanks to whoever posted that in a thread on BP.net!!) and it's no big deal. I also have some young rats being grown up in a 20L tank and 4 young females in a plastic sterilite bin, since they(or at least one of them) chewed the corner out of the bin when they were in the rack.  I'll feed the whole bin off later when I have replacement females, or if they chew on the holding bin.

You see the edge of a bag of FRM rat food, but I'm feeding mostly the Mazuri/whats-it-called from the NationalPetPhramcy.  The food from online is 100 times better. The garbage from my local feed store was mostly powder, while the bag that had been shipped across the country is beautifully intact chunks. The rats love it too. I also offer treats just about every day. A single green pea per rat, or yogurt treats, etc. They've becoming VERY friendly and none are biters. Very pleased. I just need more breeders.

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## PitOnTheProwl

10x16 tuff shed, working on installing thermal barrier to cut down on how much the 12k a/c unit runs :Good Job:

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## punyhuman07

Here is a Video of our.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJzkCMllk_w

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## jonf

Small setup but it gets the job done!

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## SquamishSerpents

> Just curious - why make two racks of three tubs instead of one rack with six tubs. I think floor space is more valuable if you have the ceiling height available.


lol, because i'm really short! and we can't have escapees. nobody in our building knows we have the rats and if they did i'm sure there would be hell to pay.

so i knew it would be easier for me than having to use a stool or something to reach the top bins, and i was afraid of them cascading down onto my head one day if i built it too high  :Razz:

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## wolfy-hound

I can totally relate to that, this 16 bin rack, the top ones are almost above head height with me standing on a crate. It'll be awkward when I'm using all the bins!

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## CapeFearConstrictors

Here's a video of mine that I made last month:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqWUdUbHIl0

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## JohnNJ

> lol, because i'm really short! and we can't have escapees. nobody in our building knows we have the rats and if they did i'm sure there would be hell to pay.
> 
> so i knew it would be easier for me than having to use a stool or something to reach the top bins, and i was afraid of them cascading down onto my head one day if i built it too high


That's funny because the only escapes I've had were from the bottom bin. Maybe they see how close they are to the ground and make a run for it.  BTW, they all ran in to my freezer.  :Very Happy:

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## LotusCorvus

Okay everybody! 3, 2, 1... "d'awww" :


I just had my first 2 litters born over the last weekend, so this is a very, very tiny operation at the moment. 3.7 breeding adults right now (and 3 non-breeder pets), and 13 babies. I've got a friend's boyfriend working on building me a rack which I will hopefully have by the time these litters are ready to be weaned, since my last spare cage got taken up by a girl that was getting beaten up by her pregnant cage-mate. And don't mind the background mess, this "rat room" is a space I carved out of my mother's basement, and she's the sort that just kind of keeps everything, so its hard to organize down here (also, unfinished basement, so no walls aside from fabric thumb-tacked to the beams... like the one some of my rats managed to pull into their cage to use as a hammock, /sigh).

Extra excited to see this litter grow out, male was just a regular black hooded, but mom's a silver husky-pattern, and so far one of the babies definitely has a dark husky pattern showing. Most of the rest still look totally pink though, curious to see how they'll turn out.

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## wolfy-hound

Just picked up a second rack, off craigslist! It's the same typical built rack with the concrete mixing bins. I got it for only $75 and it's like brand new.

Unfortunately, it's supposed to be 6 slots, but the bottom slot, you can't fit the bin in because it hits the FLOOR. I also had to drop the support slides down slightly, as the bins wouldn't slide into place. But that was a minor ten minutes of work with a power drill. 

And it's NEW. Very sturdy too. The concrete bins are easily twice or three times the size of the bins in my 'used' rack. I'll probably be using them for grow out bins mostly, but also will be putting some breeders in. The wire is too small for food to be put in. I can either cut out squares and install bigger mesh wire for the "food spots", or just put food into the bins. To begin with, I'm just putting food into them.

And the 32 oz bottles fit THIS rack! And I'd only sold half the bottles I'd ordered, so I have EXACTLY enough bottles for all 5 bins! YEAH!! Did I mention $75? Yes? Okay.

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## jasbus

> Here's a video of mine that I made last month:
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqWUdUbHIl0


DAMN!  That's the cleanest rat room I've ever seen! :Good Job: 
I know you said it's only a month old, but still....

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## CapeFearConstrictors

> DAMN!  That's the cleanest rat room I've ever seen!
> I know you said it's only a month old, but still....


Thanks!  I'm pretty good about keeping it clean.  Dust gets everywhere, so I spend a good 20 minutes after each cleaning vacuuming.  It doesn't take them long to throw poo and bedding on the floor after I clean, but for a short while on Monday mornings, it looks nice and clean like that.  :Smile:

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## KLMuller

Nothing too special here I had to add a room on, so its still a work in process.

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## Orijin0XazN

Enjoy!  ^_^

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## jasbus

Here's a few of mine.  In the process of getting one large building instead of two smaller and the back room....

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## Wicked Constrictors

my rat rack but now it has all the tubs

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## Infirmary

This was the beginning



And now the upgrade



A close up of our new metal covers

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## KLMuller

Infirmary
  I like those can you give some info on how you built them or maybe some more pictures of the tub and top pulled out from rack. How do you keep them on?


~ Karl

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## Infirmary

This style of cover is screwed into 2x4 supports. Two supports per side, you can see the front supports in the picture. Then we add additional covers 11 inches apart. It is a very easy way to make a rack. All we needed was three 8' long 2x4's and four covers to make this rack. Then the tubs slide in and out and the cover stays in place. In the middle of the cover is the food bin and also where we have the water bottles. The food bin acts like a stop that prevents the tubs from sliding all the way out. This frees up both hands when you are grabbing the rodents. The food bin can be removed when it is time to clean the tub and then the tub will slide right out of the top. 

The tubs are large concrete mixing tubs from HD. 

The metal covers were designed to fix tight over the top of the tubs and then wrap around the edges of the tubs forming a channel that allows the tub to slide in and out.





The above tops are made from 8 pieces of metal that are riveted together to form this top. First there are 4 pieces riveted together to form the lower frame. Then a piece of wire cloth is set on top of the lower frame. Then the upper frame is set on top of the wire cloth and then riveted to the bottom frame. After about 20 rivets, the cover is complete. The back part of lower frame has a small flap the locks the cover in place at the back of the cover. Then the front of the cover is held down by the weight of the cover and also with the addition weight of the food in the food bin.

We have covers that fit both small and large size concrete tubs from HD. 



The above food hopper was just made and will be in testing for a few weeks. As you can see by the picture, this hopper hangs over the inside edge of the tub. This will help get food to the babies that aren't big enough to reach the food on top of the tub. No more having to place food in the bedding at the bottom of the tub. This food hopper will be used in the DIY wood style rack systems.

Any other questions please let me know. Thanks

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KLMuller (11-18-2011),wolfy-hound (11-18-2011)

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## PitOnTheProwl

Nice work John............... got your own shear and brake or plasma table?? :Wink:

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## wolfy-hound

Wow, I'd love to put food hoppers in my bins for the grow-outs. Great idea!!

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## SHROP

Infirmary,

That is a really nice setup. I do a little metal fabricating on cars and trucks and if you built all of that i say bravo! looks very nice, Kudos to you!

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## Infirmary

> Nice work John............... got your own shear and brake or plasma table??


Thanks. This parts are made with a brake and turret punch. Not my equipment. Wish it was.




> wolfy-hound
> 
>     Wow, I'd love to put food hoppers in my bins for the grow-outs. Great idea!!


Thanks. I think the food hopper will save a lot of food in the long run. If you are interested in some, I could add some more to my order.




> SHROP
> 
>     Infirmary,
> 
>     That is a really nice setup. I do a little metal fabricating on cars and trucks and if you built all of that i say bravo! looks very nice, Kudos to you!


Thanks Shrop. We came up with the designs and had to assemble all the parts but had another party manufacture the parts.

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## wolfy-hound

I was thinking I'd try making some hoppers from wire, but I wouldn't mind a couple of those, depending on price, of course!

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## Amon Ra Reptiles

What kind of cost do you have on the hoppers?

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## Infirmary

> I was thinking I'd try making some hoppers from wire, but I wouldn't mind a couple of those, depending on price, of course!


I will work on getting some prices together next week and get back to you. Thanks for the interest.

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## tejanastar

> Since I'm a stay at home dad with like 36 hours a day to play with my snakes and rats, no I don't find it to be an issue at all.
> If I worked all day and had limited time then I might consider a watering system.
> 
> With bottle they do have to be bleached occasionally, but really only about once every month or two.


I really like your system. I have a super easy system, but its a space hog. Here it is:

I breed rats too, but I have no way of attaching the water bottle to the tank. So I have to use water bowls which do not work to good with rats!

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## babyknees

http://getpetsavvy.com/images/15863_pid.jpg

That bottle holder will fit on a tank

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tejanastar (11-19-2011)

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## tejanastar

> http://getpetsavvy.com/images/15863_pid.jpg
> 
> That bottle holder will fit on a tank


I tried the one that you put over the edge, and then bend it down. It was at PetCo (aluminum bending type) but the problem is that it is a slide in, locking lid and it won't go over the metal part. I thought maybe suction cups on the glass, but I know that rats like to chew so.....not so sure. =(

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## PitOnTheProwl

> I tried the one that you put over the edge, and then bend it down. It was at PetCo (aluminum bending type) but the problem is that it is a slide in, locking lid and it won't go over the metal part


If you look at the back edge of that Zilla tank there should be two "flat" areas that the metal holder you already got should fit. Its hard to describe till you see it but they will take two bottle holders. :Good Job:  If I remember right they are close to where the lid clip is.

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tejanastar (11-19-2011)

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## wolfy-hound

I have a water bowl in with my 55G tank of rats(the ones that chewed the bins).

I take one heavy water bowl, turn it upside down and put it in(set on the bottom of the tank so it's stable) first. Bedding all around as usual.  Then set a different water bowl on top of that one, so it's elevated on a platform above the bedding.  I rarely have any issues with bedding in the water(unless someone goes all nuts kicking bedding around in fun).

They drink out of the bowl really well, it's easy to remove and clean, I just leave the "base" bowl in there. 

I know I could get a holder, but the rats have a tendancy of climbing the bottle to chew and futz with the lid of the tank, OR the bugger chew the water bottle open(especially if they happen to empty it when I'm not home!).

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tejanastar (11-19-2011)

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## tejanastar

> I have a water bowl in with my 55G tank of rats(the ones that chewed the bins).
> 
> I take one heavy water bowl, turn it upside down and put it in(set on the bottom of the tank so it's stable) first. Bedding all around as usual.  Then set a different water bowl on top of that one, so it's elevated on a platform above the bedding.  I rarely have any issues with bedding in the water(unless someone goes all nuts kicking bedding around in fun).
> 
> They drink out of the bowl really well, it's easy to remove and clean, I just leave the "base" bowl in there. 
> 
> I know I could get a holder, but the rats have a tendancy of climbing the bottle to chew and futz with the lid of the tank, OR the bugger chew the water bottle open(especially if they happen to empty it when I'm not home!).


Good idea.....didn't think about doing that. =)

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## tejanastar

> If you look at the back edge of that Zilla tank there should be two "flat" areas that the metal holder you already got should fit. Its hard to describe till you see it but they will take two bottle holders. If I remember right they are close to where the lid clip is.



OMG you were so right, there is a way to do it! Thanks so much!

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## PitOnTheProwl

> I know I could get a holder, but the rats have a tendancy of climbing the bottle to chew and futz with the lid of the tank, OR the bugger chew the water bottle open(especially if they happen to empty it when I'm not home!).


Never had that problem but I use glass bottles and the metal guard for the screw cap. :Wink: 
Only problem is getting the cap off if the guard doesnt fit tight :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic):

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## Infirmary

$20.00 plus shipping for 1 hopper.
$15.00 each plus shipping for 2 to 9 hoppers.
Need more then 10, please contact me.
Thanks

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## Redneck_Crow

I don't have much of a rodent set up yet.  The rats are in homemade boxes, the few breeder mice are in the second hand small breeder boxes, the feeder mice are in a homemade set up.  The boxes are still stacked one on top of another but I plan on getting plastic racks for them in the near future.

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## punyhuman07

The rat racks ....



The Mouse rack...

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