breeding rats in concrete mixing tub rack questions please answer

[hype1108]

I have a concrete mixing rack that I just built that holds 21 tubs. What type of breeding would you do? I have 30 carpet pythons/ball pythons i am feeding weekly. I would like to know...

How many females to male per tub?
What is the best feed to produce optimum breeding?
What is the best bedding for the best price?
How many small rat per tub? med? large?

How often should i clean to keep smells down? Is there anything else i can do to keep the odor down?

you answers are greatly appreciated. thank you very very very much.

danny

[anatess]

I have a concrete mixing rack that I just built that holds 21 tubs. What type of breeding would you do? I have 30 carpet pythons/ball pythons i am feeding weekly. I would like to know...

How many females to male per tub?
What is the best feed to produce optimum breeding?
What is the best bedding for the best price?
How many small rat per tub? med? large?

How often should i clean to keep smells down? Is there anything else i can do to keep the odor down?

you answers are greatly appreciated. thank you very very very much.

danny

You don't need to start a new thread to ask the same questions. You can "bump" your other thread if you need to by adding a new post to it. You got good answers there also.

I'll try to answer the best I can although my experience is with ASF rats which is very different.

1.) How many females to male per tub?
Didn't you say you want 1.5? This is ok. Or you can go with 1.3 or 1.2 it's up to you.

2.) What is the best feed to produce optimum breeding?
I use Mazuri 6F that I buy in bulk from the feed supply store close to me. They sell farm stuff - mostly for horses. But they special order the 6F for me for no additional charge.

3.) What is the best bedding for the best price?
Kiln-dried pine - also from the same feed supply store. $7.50 for a giant bag. Can't remember the exact size - but it's a really big one. By the way, if you decide to use pine, it has to be kiln-dried.

4.) How many small rat per tub? med? large?
I can't answer this one. My guess is 20 small, 12, medium, 6 large.

5.) How often should i clean to keep smells down? Is there anything else i can do to keep the odor down?
Weekly is best. The way I do it, I keep one tub empty - cleaned with fresh bedding at all times. During cleaning day, I move one bin of rats to the empty tub and clean that tub. Then I put the next bin of rats to that clean one... and so on and so forth until I finish all 21 tubs with the 21st tub being clean with fresh bedding but empty.

Rats are generally not as bad smelling as mice so you don't need additives. You can put baking soda on the bottom under the bedding if you really need to. Put a tablespoon or two of baking soda to an empty tub, spread it so that the entire bottom is "chalked" in white then dump the extra.


Good luck.

[jasbus]

my tubs are usually 1.5-1.8, depending on the amount of preggos I have out at any given time.
If you are using the tubs for nursery also, I'd probably just do 1.4 or 1.5, figure at any time, at least 2 litters in a tub, now you're up to 6 adults and 20+ babies, that's a lot of rats in a tub.
As for smell, no, there is nothing you can do, they stink. I clean once a week, but really, it needs to be done every 5 days if you want to keep the odor to a minimum. Rats don't stink nearly as bad as mice, but they do stink. I've found absolutely nothing that helps, and I've tried everything. Dried pine is cheap, just clean a couple days early instead of trying all the odor control stuff that does nothing.
As for food, I'm an advocate for rodent blocks. A lot of people use dog food, but I find they breed way better on rodent blocks, they smell less, and their coats aren't greasy on the blocks. Plus, they eat more dog food than blocks, so you're probably not saving any money anyway... Even the Doggy Bag at TSC is $13 for 40lbs, I get Mazuri for around $20 a 50lb bag, works out to pretty much the same by the time you figure the extra dog food eaten.
I do have a friend that uses pig feed with good success, but he doesn't keep good figures, so I don't know if it works out to be any cheaper or not....