How many rats per tub?

[JohnNJ]

I'm looking for opinions on how many rats I should keep in each tub in my racks?

Two scenarios:
1) Male with females for breeding.
2) Females with their litters.
(Females give birth and stay alone in lab cages for 7-10 days before moving)

Two tub sizes:
A) Petco Jumbo litter pan - 22.25" X 16.75".
B) Lowes small mixing tub - 26" x 20".

Here's what I was thinking. Should I go higher or lower on the number?

1A: 1 male & 4 females
1B: 1 male & 6 females
2A: 3 females & litters
2B: 4 females & litters

Thanks.

[MojaveLesser]

Well all I can tell you is what I have learned. I have breeder rats in the small mixing tubs found at lowes or Home depot. I used to keep one male with 2 females. That worked good but I did not get the production I wanted so now I am up to 1.3 or 1.4 groups. They keep well as long as there is the proper amount of bedding. I would suspect that 1.5 may work as well even though I never tried it.

I also place pregnant females into those same size tubs. I used to place two females in one tub for raising babies. I found that both females needed to be pregnant when placed in the tub together or they would fight. Also I found that even if they were pregnant at the same time even after one gives birth sometimes they still fight. So I keep females by themselves when pregnant and raising babies. I would suspect that if you wanted to use the litter pans for grow up tubs I would suggest one female per tub.

Once again this is just things I have seen and that have affected the way I breed rats. People have all kinds of methods.

[JohnNJ]

I have been lucky in that I have only had a few females that fought with other females. I don't miss those few and I hope they have found peace wherever they are.

I'm more interested to know if they have the right amount of space. I don't want to overcrowd them and make them miserable but I also want to utilize the space I have efficiently.

[MojaveLesser]

I have been lucky in that I have only had a few females that fought with other females. I don't miss those few and I hope they have found peace wherever they are.

I'm more interested to know if they have the right amount of space. I don't want to overcrowd them and make them miserable but I also want to utilize the space I have efficiently.

When it comes to the breeder tubs I would think that 1.5 would be about the max you would want. For the tubs with pregant females and babies (if you are using the litter pans) 2 moms with babies would be the max I would use. Things just seem to get very smelly with more and also if you have average to big litters once they are almost weaned they might not have any place to lay were they are not on top of one another. I hope this helps : )

[Python Lair]

I use deep tubs rather than long and if i do a 1.4 or 1.5 the babies sometimes get trampled due to space issues.. I use a 1.3 now just because i feel its the max i can do. If you are using the long concrete tubs than 1.5 is great.
I use the one all the way to the left as a mouse rack, the one next to it for feeders or pregnant moms and all the others are 1.3

[jasbus]

I have 84 cement tubs, I run only 1.3 in them due to the amount of babies that are in there when they all produce at the same time. I ran 1.4 in one rack, just to see how many more I could produce, and I always lost several babies due to overpopulation/trampling.

The bigger sized cement tubs can hold 1.6 no problem...

[JohnNJ]

I have 84 cement tubs, I run only 1.3 in them due to the amount of babies that are in there when they all produce at the same time. I ran 1.4 in one rack, just to see how many more I could produce, and I always lost several babies due to overpopulation/trampling.

The bigger sized cement tubs can hold 1.6 no problem...

You keep the male in with the females. I remove the females to give birth individually in a lab cage and then put females with litters back together when the babaies are 7-10 days old.

So basically you're saying that 3 females with litters is the max for the small mixing tub. A fourth rat is OK (male) but not a fourth litter.

How long do you keeps the babies with mom? If the male stays in the tub, the females is giving birth to another litter when the pups are three weeks old.

[jasbus]

Yes, I keep the male in with the 3 females... As for the mom's getting preggo again, usually there is a break between at least one female getting preggo, and they all nurse all of the babies. When I have a tub full of 3 week olds, that has a fresh bunch of pinks, I'll foster out the weanlings to a tub of like sized babies. Sounds like alot of work, but it's not really...
I did try condo breeding a while back, used my cement racks for a harem of 1.6, pulling the female just before she burst and putting her in a Vision V-18 tub til the babies where weaned. I built a rack of 70 V-18's just for this. I ended up hating it so much I tore it down and sold the tubs... Too much work. And the numbers weren't really making up the extra time and effort spent in all the cleaning. I essentially doubled my breeding females, but wasn't seeing a double in production numbers, so I canned the whole system and went back to 1.3 per tub...