Rat Enclosure questions.

Hey guys,

So I started building rat bins, and ATM I have only made 65qt grow-out bins.

I was wondering what sizes work best for breeding trios, or quad groups? I'd like to make a rack of these bins but I feel like I'd be wasting space making shelving for a couple dozen 65 qt bins.

Basically I don't know what the requirements are for enclosure sizes lol

Thanks guys,
Chris.

Requirements are whatever is easiest to keep clean.
The small sized concrete tubs work the best, some people use the larger concrete tubs and do fine, but for 1.3 and 1.4 groups the smaller tubs work best, imo.

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Requirements are whatever is easiest to keep clean.
The small sized concrete tubs work the best, some people use the larger concrete tubs and do fine, but for 1.3 and 1.4 groups the smaller tubs work best, imo.

I have all my rats in racks of the small concrete mixing tubs from home depot. I don't remember the exact dimensions off the top of my head.

I have a rodent rack now, but I used to use stand alone tubs to breed rats.
For the rack, its the standard mixing tubs from Lowes/Home Depot.

I don't know if you're asking for rack tub or just storage tub kind of set up.

But here was my stand alone sterilite tubs, which are around ~50 qts. They work great for 3 large adults of 4 smaller adults.
They're sitting on a 4 level Home Depot storage shelf that was ~20.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v9...f/IMAG1083.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v9...s/Untitled.jpg

Historically most home breeders use the Small (27"X24") Home Depot Concrete tubs for breeding (1.4 ) and also for maternity and the large (36"X24") Concrete tubs for Grow out tubs. We only use Home Depot tubs are they are a little thicker plastic and the tubs do not have ribs to chew through. The Tubs from lowes have ribs built into the sides for strength and the material thickness is thinner. Some of the Lowes stored carry the smaller tubs without the ribs but they are still very thin and flimsy in our opinions so we never have used them. The large tubs at Home Depot here in Arizona cost $12.65 and the small one are $5.69. So the small one are the most space saving and cost effective for the purpose.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by satomi325

I have a rodent rack now, but I used to use stand alone tubs to breed rats.
For the rack, its the standard mixing tubs from Lowes/Home Depot.

I don't know if you're asking for rack tub or just storage tub kind of set up.

But here was my stand alone sterilite tubs, which are around ~50 qts. They work great for 3 large adults of 4 smaller adults.
They're sitting on a 4 level Home Depot storage shelf that was ~20.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v9...f/IMAG1083.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v9...s/Untitled.jpg

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Thank you for all the responses! I am also using sterilite bins. This is my design, I'm going to play around with side ventilation tonight.
http://i1056.photobucket.com/albums/...0812-00195.jpg

I noticed you've built feed columns in your bins. How do you find they work? ATM I just put the food in the cored on the bedding lol.

I was looking at the dimensions of the concrete mixing pans and they appear to be similar in quart capacity but there's more floor space in the pans as they are more shallow. Should I just stick with the 65 qt bins and keep my groups to 1.3? Maybe make some bigger bins for grow outs?

Thanks guys/

These are the tubs I use from Lowes. $5.47ea

http://www.lowes.com/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10151&catalogId=10051&productId=1054711&cId=

Quote:

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Originally Posted by decensored

I noticed you've built feed columns in your bins. How do you find they work? ATM I just put the food in the cored on the bedding lol.

I was looking at the dimensions of the concrete mixing pans and they appear to be similar in quart capacity but there's more floor space in the pans as they are more shallow. Should I just stick with the 65 qt bins and keep my groups to 1.3? Maybe make some bigger bins for grow outs?

Thanks guys/

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I find that the food hoppers help A LOT.
I didn't have to refill food everyday like when I had a food dish. The hopper lasted about a week before I had to refill food.
And back when I used a food dish, the rats soiled a lot of food with urine. The hopper prevents wasted food.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v9...f/IMAG1169.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v9...f/IMAG1170.jpg

I used a big 160+qt(<-- Estimate.I can't remember the exact size) tub for grow outs. It's twice the length of the ones I posted before.
Didn't have any problems when I used it.