When to start breeding rats?

I have 10 snakes and breed my own rats. I also feed rats to my ferrets.
You generally want as many female rats as you do snakes, give or take.

I have pet quality rats and I sell off the really beautiful ones and feed off the rest.
For any kind of top eared rats intended for a pet, I sell them for $5 each. Rex or Dumbos go for $10. But I'm in the process of breeding out the top eared trait.
My American and Russian blue dumbos are in high demand. So just for 5 pups, that's $50. A 50 pound bag of Mazuri 6F is $30 for me and lasts around 2-3 months. 5 babies more than pay for a month's worth of food and bedding.

I really love my rats, so I don't mind cleaning after them. They're fun little critters.
But I'll admit that getting started wasn't easy. You won't break even until after the first couple litters.

All my extra's I sell, I even just made an ad for $25, you'll get the rat of your choice, a large bag of bedding (flax) and a 3 lb bag of rat food.

Here, local pet stores like PetLand, sell rats for $20! The 3.3 lb of food cost $12, and a large bag of bedding is $14.

So, they are saving about 50% off me. My cost for all that, I get my bags of bedding for $4.50, but I'll supply about half that which will last them easily 3 months or more. The large food I buy for 50 pounds, costs me $34. So, this should hopefully make me some side money, and cover all my costs.

I started breeding ASFs about 3 or 4 months ago. While it is extra work with cleaning/feeding and what not, I think its a great idea if you have a lot of snakes (I have 11).

Personally, I wouldn't want to breed rats. The ASFs are particularly nice because they have large back to back litters, they stay small enough for even my biggest BP to eat, and they don't make my house smell like a zoo. Plus they are fun to watch.

I currently have a 1.2 breeding trio and that produces approximately 15-25 rats per litter. They have litters about every 4 weeks. This works out pretty well for the number of snakes I have.

The hardest part for me has been waiting while the weaned babies grow up to be big enough for my adult snakes to eat. I have fed off a few here and there to my smaller ball pythons, but I still have about 15 that are still "growing". I feel that once they hit adulthood the cycle will even out and I will always have the correct sized feeders ready to go.

Now, I hear a lot of talk about why you shouldn't feed ASF to snakes, the big reason being that they will imprint on an ASF and never go back. I have fed ASF to all of my ball pythons a time or two, and I have never had an issue switching them back to f/t rats. That doesn't go without saying that there are always exceptions. Some ball pythons will imprint on ASFs just like some will imprint on mice or rats. It doesn't really matter. Ball pythons are picky feeders and they change their preferences. Sometimes they just don't want to eat. I think it has less to do with the ASF being irresistible and more to do with the fact that ball pythons are just finicky.

My point is, don't be turned away from ASFs just because you think your snakes will imprint. It is very unlikely.

I have one snake, and I breed rats for her. I also feed my cats and ferrets some. I bred them because I have always loved rats, and I enjoy it. I have the rats in an extra bedroom that also serves as a livingroom for me. I clean the cages once to twice a week and they don't smell. I have five to seven cages (depending on how many young I have growing out) and if I clean all at once time it takes me less then an hour.

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Originally Posted by Annageckos

I have one snake, and I breed rats for her. I also feed my cats and ferrets some. I bred them because I have always loved rats, and I enjoy it. I have the rats in an extra bedroom that also serves as a livingroom for me. I clean the cages once to twice a week and they don't smell. I have five to seven cages (depending on how many young I have growing out) and if I clean all at once time it takes me less then an hour.

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You feed them to your cat?????????

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Originally Posted by Mrl249

You feed them to your cat?????????

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Cats are carnivores...

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Originally Posted by Mrl249

You feed them to your cat?????????

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I feed my cats, dogs and ferrets a raw diet. Rats are a great whole prey for cats. Don't a lot of cats eat mice that they catch outside?

I feed my ferrets nohing but rats as wel. Its the bed diet for them ive heard. Believe it or not my tiger oscar(fish) also eats rats. Nothing too much bigger than a pinky though.