Avg Price per month

How much should one expect to pay for food and bedding for 6 tubs of 1.5 breeder rats? Where I get Mazuri 6F it costs $25 for a 50lb bag and about 6 cuft pine is around $7. Would 50lb of food and that much bedding last longer than a month? two months? I want to figure out for myself if breeding rats would be cheaper than buying frozen..I already figured the cost of building the rack and the cost of the rats(ie the initial investment) and now I'm trying to figure upkeep. So if anyone has any helpful input on how long a 50lb bag of mazuri and a big bag of pine generally lasts them, I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks for the help.

I spend around $200/month to maintain 28 breeding tubs @ 1.4 rats, which is $7.14/tub.... So I would guess you would expect to spend around $45/month.

it really depends where you live, as the costs will be different. i spend ~ $45 a month. on ~600 rodents

i go through a 50lb bag of food about once a week
and a bale of pine about one a month, the pine is $4.75 a bag after tax

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Originally Posted by BAMReptiles

it really depends where you live, as the costs will be different. i spend ~ $45 a month. on ~600 rodents

i go through a 50lb bag of food about once a week
and a bale of pine about one a month, the pine is $4.75 a bag after tax

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My rats eat a lot more than yours!! :O I go through about 80lbs of food a week for 150 rats and 2 bags of pine. My food is $13/40lbs bag and the pine is $5/bag. I guess you are dead on with the location and the brand of food and bedding you use.

your rats are gnawing your food rather than eating it if you are going through 80lbs of food a week for 150 rodents.

Mazuri lasts longer than the doggie bag I use. I use a bag(50lbs) per 162 rats (3 racks) per week.

I use one bale per 6 racks per 10 days. That's 36 3x2 tubs. In the summer I switch to abm pellet bedding, I only use pine in the winter.

a big difference might be if you give them the food in the tubs or not, for most of mine its on top of he hardware cloth, it really cuts down how much they waste

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Originally Posted by BAMReptiles

a big difference might be if you give them the food in the tubs or not, for most of mine its on top of he hardware cloth, it really cuts down how much they waste

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Yeah it would be on top of the hardware cloth, I plan on building a rack with concrete mixing tubs, it seems to be a pretty common design as I keep seeing them everywhere. I've figured one of those to cost between $125-$150 including an auto watering system.

I find that females are usually the ones who gnaw the food. My grow out males don't do it, and my females don't do it if there is a male in the tub with them.

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Originally Posted by suzuki4life

your rats are gnawing your food rather than eating it if you are going through 80lbs of food a week for 150 rodents.

Mazuri lasts longer than the doggie bag I use. I use a bag(50lbs) per 162 rats (3 racks) per week.

I use one bale per 6 racks per 10 days. That's 36 3x2 tubs. In the summer I switch to abm pellet bedding, I only use pine in the winter.

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As a rule, you will go through about a bag of feed and a bag of pine every two weeks with a rack like that.

Check out Tractor Supply in Danville. You can save money on feed and pine there. They may or may not get Mazuri for you, but you can get the beloved Doggy Bag dog food there...$11.99 for 40 pounds. Their bales of pine are also under $6.00 a piece if I remember correctly.

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Originally Posted by Powerspythons

How much should one expect to pay for food and bedding for 6 tubs of 1.5 breeder rats? Where I get Mazuri 6F it costs $25 for a 50lb bag and about 6 cuft pine is around $7. Would 50lb of food and that much bedding last longer than a month? two months? I want to figure out for myself if breeding rats would be cheaper than buying frozen..I already figured the cost of building the rack and the cost of the rats(ie the initial investment) and now I'm trying to figure upkeep. So if anyone has any helpful input on how long a 50lb bag of mazuri and a big bag of pine generally lasts them, I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks for the help.

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the cost of a 4 tub rack, buying the supplies at lowes is around $75 tops. at least for the ones like i have. and that includes everything, tubs, hardware cloth, the works

i think i spent about $50 setting up the watering system on a 5 tub rack, but then basically only spent the cost of valves on the 4 tub. those are the most expensive part of the system