Housing rats on screened-in back porch?

Hello all,

We are buying a house with a projected closing date of June 30th. There is plenty of room in the house to have a reptile room and I am planning on housing my rodents in the same room temporarily. Unfortunately the back yard isn't big enough for a shed to house rodents, however, it does have a screened-in back porch and I was wondering what your thoughts were on housing the rats there? We are planning on having a ceiling fan installed on the porch and will be having the backyard fenced with a privacy fence. Aside from security issues (which I hope the privacy fence and a locking door to the back porch will fix), what are your thoughts on the rats surviving in warm GA summer temps (mid 90's - 100f) if a ceiling fan was used? Also if you have any input on other issues (like predators, insects that might infest them if housed outside, etc.) that would be great.

I am pretty sure that they'd need to be moved inside during the winter months (when it is below freezing) but it would be great to have them in the ventilated back porch during the warmer months if possible.

The warmer months are the problem. In Georgia it'll probably be too hot without more serious ventilation, or an AC unit. I think my rodents maximum comfort level is 80, and that's pushing it.

Too cold in the winter and too warm in the summer, your production will severy drop under 45 and above 85 and temps below that and they will start dying.

Not to mention that you will attract a lot of wild critters, field mice, possums and racoon on your porsch and they will get in and eat the food and try to eat your feeders as well.

Yeah not a good idea. I worry more about too hot rather than the cold.

Ugh... Guess they'll be staying in the snake room. Thanks for your input guys.

You can also section out a piece of the garage to make a rodent room. You can insulate it and ad an AC unit for the summer months and a space heater for the winter months.

Yeah my buddy has a building he keeps his 10,000's of rats in - his AC broke one day, 2 years ago, when it was 100 degrees out and even with all the industrial fans blowing the air out he lost most of his animals.

BHReptiles- unfortunately the house does not have a garage, it only has a carport with a small storage room... One of the downsides to buying an older house I guess.

I will have to think about this. At the moment I only have a few rats, mostly as pets and to be the foundation for my breeding colony... But if they're going to stay inside I'll have to figure out more ways to reduce odor before committing to raising my own feeders.

Thanks again for your input everyone.

Mine live outside in my barn. I live in middle Tennessee and it does get pretty hot and cold here. The barn rarely gets above 85 degrees bit it does happen and none of my rats ever died. I keep them in an insulated "closet" if you will with doors and top open in the summer. In the winter I close the "closet" and have a heater installed with thermostat to kick on at 60 degrees. Never lost a single pink in the winter either. I have about 100 rats going in this set up at any one time. It can be done:)

Even if your rats don't die or suffer any real health issues, temperature extremes on either end will drastically reduce your production.

There are ways to control the odors, but there really isn't any way to eliminate it completely. However, unless someone is allergic or has a very sensitive nose, it isn't too bad, depending on how big of a rat colony you'll need.