Looks like it's going to happen again...

I used to breed pet rats, I stopped over a year ago when I became pregnant while my husband was in the military. Long story short, it was more than I could handle on my own at the time! I've missed the rats, regret losing the hard work I put into them and the progress I made on those bloodlines, but do not regret the decision. When I added snakes to the household last year, I wasn't planning on breeding my own food, but now I'm reconsidering...

All of my snakes are on f/t. No desire to go to live, this works best for all of us. Easy for me, and the snakes are accepting their food without problem, and growing. HOWEVER lately I've been having a harder time sourcing my f/t. The store I've been going to has been having an inconsistent and unreliable supply lately. So far I have been able to get the food needed (buying quantity ahead of time and before I run out so I DON'T run out), but it is making me nervous. I have looked into ordering online, but the cost and quantity I would have to order to make it worthwhile is just too much. If worst come to worst, local stores can provide me with live that can then be p/k, but I really don't want to have to pay $4 per rat on a regular basis when frozen costs $1 each.

So here I am actually considering breeding rats again. I kept pet rats for some 20 years or longer, and I bred pet rats for 10 years, so I'm pretty confident I know what i need to in order to successfully produce and raise rats. No problem there. There is however going to be a difference in HOW I do this. Before I had no need for quantity nor consistent quantity. I only needed a few litters a year to maintain my lines, and if a female refused to breed, that was ok, I could try again later. I realize with breeding for my snakes I'm not going to have that luxury, because their food supply will depend on successful production. (Not unlike my chickens who are producing eggs - if they don't lay I have to go buy eggs while still paying to feed them.) Another difference is going to be efficiency in time, space, and money. So I'm looking into the various options out there, including a rodent rack. After all those years with strictly pets, it is a little foreign (although I know there ARE pet/show breeders who use similar rack systems... I've been in their homes and seen it). And then there's the matter of sourcing quality rats to start with.

Anyone have any tips for me?

I followed some plans that I found in the DIY section to build my rat rack. Loved the results! I am currently producing more rats than I can use, so I sell off the extras for a buck a piece, and use that money to buy food and bedding.

http://imageshack.us/a/img214/1670/img0999ce.jpg

Here is a link to a thread I posted a while back on building a maternity rack. Each tub is ideal for a mom and her babies.

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...089#post550089

Some people like to pull the females to raise their babies seperately and some just leave them in with the regular colony. It's pretty much a matter of choice. I think it's nice so that the mom isn't being pestered by the male while raising a litter and then she also has some place to recuperate for a while before going back into the breeding rotation.

If you make a rat rack like the one above, make sure you either A- plan to plumb it and use a watering system or B- leave enough space between the shelves to slide the bins out without removing the water bottles.

I didn't do either and it's a huge pain. I might upgrade to a watering system soon.

I leaning toward a watering system. Filling water bottles daily was one annoyance I dealt with while breeding pets only, and it really took so much time. A good watering systems seems like it will be so much easier.

I switched to racks love it but my next one will be with 1X4s for the legs I used 1x2s and the both work fine but my six bin one needs to rest on something or till tip over haha but o well it works good still. I started by getting a blue dumbo pair (Rex male) from a local pet store and a feeder male from petco and a male from my buddy. Through breeding and trading I now have 9 females four are related five were completely seperate lines and I just rotate. Most the girls go into their own tub for birthing I'm trying a pair of sisters keeping them together they went to same male and have been together since birth so hoping they do good together. I feed live tho its easier for me to get the different sized rats I need and I never gotta worry about a feeder getting to big because my carpet can take the largest male with ease when she wants so it works good for me. I use water bottles but its more of a forcing me to check on everyone then not wanting a watering system

I love the watering system, I just fill all my buckets every other day.