breeding rats and how to get started

[smc1118]

Was wondering if you guys can give me some helpful advice and tips on how to get started as on day I will have to use this advice do you have to buy fully grown rats to get started or babys will do just fine and if I do get babys how long do I have to wait to breed them anyway anything anyone can help me with will be great thank you all

[4Ballz]

Rats are sexually active from 6 months on, well, for females to conceive. I have rats younger than that, and the males are active at 2-3 months.

I found rats off kijiji, or you can look on CL. I have 12 females, and 3 males. You want more females obviously. Look through the search tool to seek what you need.

I am going on a 12 week cycle. Meaning. 1 week, I will have a female with my male, then she goes into another cage as "pregnant". Then, introduce a new female to a male. Repeat this cycle, and then when you can tell the female is pregnant, I have a nursery cage. Many people use bins, I haven't build mine yet.

It takes 5 weeks for the litter to be weaned. Then you can have a weaned section (food for your snakes or to sell). Once they are weaned you can either wait a couple more weeks, and start your rotation again letting your females build their nutrients, and then introduce them to the new males.

I got 5 free rats, and 3 free cages. I paid for 2 cages, and 1 rat. My food I buy in 50 lb bags at $34 a bag. My pine (I need to get Aspen) is $14 for those huge bags. I sell rats on the side for $10 each. I have now sold 10 rats. Which helps cover the cost of my upkeep. All my snakes are fed on Mondays, and I have 12 of them.

You need to make sure your cycle (if you have snakes to feed), will be providing enough food for your snakes at the sizes they require. I average 40g-150g feeders for my snakes.

I also breed mice, as filler food. Meaning..if I'm low on rats, then the mice will be temp solutions. Which hasn't happened yet. So, I am breeding those for a friend and his corn snake.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Actually rats are sexually mature at around 5 weeks does not mean they should be bred then especially for females but they do not become sexually mature a 6 months.

Ideally you want to get one breeder female per snake.

You want to buy your animal from good stocks try to find someone that might already breed for food, you do not want to buy adults as they could be too old to produce you want to acquire small rats around 4 weeks old and finish raising them up to 200/250 grams (Optimal weight for a female to have her first litter). I never go by age let alone waiting 6 months for a female to breed.

Ideal setup in my opinion is a rack easy to clean easy to manage. http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...Mice-amp-Rats) - http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...-a-Rodent-Rack

I keep 1 male per tub and have females rotating in each of those tubs (this way the males are never alone neither are the females), once pregnant the female is removed and go in a birthing tub where she will stay until the young have reached 7 days then it's communal nursing until the youngs are removed at 3 or 4 weeks and the female go back into breeding tubs.

The way I do this is a matter of personal preference communal birthing can be done however females may fight over babies and since babies under 7 days are more fragile it can lead to more losses which is why I use birthing tub and only moved female in communal nursing after the babies are seven days.

Selective breeding is VERY important, biter and chewer should be fed of right away, and no offsprings from biter and chewer should be held back as future breeder. Always hold back babies from large litter 12+.

Rats grow fast so being able to euthanize them before they become too big to be fed off (if you have surplus) is always a good idea, you can then sell them or have a few snakes eating F/T to allow you to deal with surplus.

This is my setup which allows me to produce a few thousands of rat each year.

[Riv]

x2 to the above.

I would recommend getting an adult male and 3-5 females to start though. I tried 1 male 1 female initiallt, and though my male was a month old, the female was bigger and wouldnt maye with him and he took a while to get started after that. after 3 months of no babies I scrapped them and restarted with an adult male and 5 females and started having litters a month later.

-Riveran