Going to Start breeding

Ok so I have 5 snakes now and food is going to start costing me around 60 bucks to feed a month but I foresee myself buying more snakes seeing I'm going to start breeding next season. Now supplies I have come up with:

Drawer rack with ventilation about a 28 qt tub (2 high)
1.3 ratio of males to female rats in each tub
Aspen bedding
Rat food, but I have seen some dog foods work just as well
2 water bottles

I was just going to let them go at it for awhile do get the colony going and to get some babies up to size so I can freeze them at the size I want.

Going to the store to buy the rats and they are about 60-80 grams so small rats and I have heard that I should prob wait a month before breeding them, is this true. Also anything else I should know or get?

Also can I just leave a bowl of food in the tub?

MitsuMike, can you post a pic of that drawer rack?

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Originally Posted by MitsuMike

Also can I just leave a bowl of food in the tub?

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Sure you can if you like pissing away money. They will hoard it and waste it more than they eat it.

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Originally Posted by jben

MitsuMike, can you post a pic of that drawer rack?

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Yes sir, it's the top two. Dimension are the same as a 28 qt tub, well alittle wider by about 3 or so inches but length and height are the same.
Also I would obviously cover the handle hole.
http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/c...ssL_AA400_.jpg

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Originally Posted by RichsBallPythons

Sure you can if you like pissing away money. They will hoard it and waste it more than they eat it.

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Oh damn, well then I will just make a wire square out of the stuff you guys use on the lids and just put the food in there. Thanks for the heads up.

A problem. Rats are going to chew out of that so fast. Unless you cover the entire front with wire mesh on the inside, the rats will chew out and escape in a matter of days.

You can just throw food in there if you want. Bowls won't work as they don't keep their food in it. They will take it out, bury it and end up pooping and urinating on it. All of my mouse enclosures do not use food hoppers. I just put the food right on the bedding and I do notice quite a few blocks in the bedding when I clean, but it is not enough to make me build hoppers for the tubs.

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Originally Posted by Jay_Bunny

A problem. Rats are going to chew out of that so fast. Unless you cover the entire front with wire mesh on the inside, the rats will chew out and escape in a matter of days.

You can just throw food in there if you want. Bowls won't work as they don't keep their food in it. They will take it out, bury it and end up pooping and urinating on it. All of my mouse enclosures do not use food hoppers. I just put the food right on the bedding and I do notice quite a few blocks in the bedding when I clean, but it is not enough to make me build hoppers for the tubs.

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Good point. I will def invest in some of the wire mesh and just cover it on the inside. It should be a prob. Easy fix.
Any thing else I need to fix on it. I thought it was a pretty sweet little set up that I had lying around. I was just going to throw it away
And just put a certain amount of food in each day?

I would also do something to make sure they can't open those drawers. Looking at it without a size comparison, it is hard to get an idea of how big the drawers really are. Housing 4 rats in each drawer constantly seems a bit too much. If you will be housing the male in with the females 24/7 then I personally would not put more than 2 females and 1 male in there. When you get litters and the babies start moving/hopping around, that space quickly fills up.

As for food, I read somewhere that rats eat 15g of food a day, each. I do not measure my food out. I just scoop some out of the bag and put it in the tub/tank. When I notice it is getting low, I add more.

i wouldn't trust that drawer even with wire mesh. Don't under estimate rats. They'll be able to push out the front at the top. I've seen those, they aren't sturdy.

I'd say just use it for storage and get something else for the rats.

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Originally Posted by Jay_Bunny

I would also do something to make sure they can't open those drawers. Looking at it without a size comparison, it is hard to get an idea of how big the drawers really are. Housing 4 rats in each drawer constantly seems a bit too much. If you will be housing the male in with the females 24/7 then I personally would not put more than 2 females and 1 male in there. When you get litters and the babies start moving/hopping around, that space quickly fills up.

As for food, I read somewhere that rats eat 15g of food a day, each. I do not measure my food out. I just scoop some out of the bag and put it in the tub/tank. When I notice it is getting low, I add more.

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They are 28 qt tubs and I was goin to down grade to just a 1.2 ratio.

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Originally Posted by cinderbird

i wouldn't trust that drawer even with wire mesh. Don't under estimate rats. They'll be able to push out the front at the top. I've seen those, they aren't sturdy.

I'd say just use it for storage and get something else for the rats.

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I was going to put bungie cords around it of rig a pipe to hold it in place when I don't want it to move. I've had these for years. They aren't bad. Are rats really that bad, I've kept gerbils and I have a friend with a rat and they don't seem half as bad a gerbils.