The Time Has Come To Start Breeding My Own Rats (Open To Advice & Recommendations!)

Yeah, I'm in CA, so I wouldn't have to worry about it getting cold enough for the waterlines to freeze. Still, I wouldn't want the temp to fluctuate too much. If I can find a shed in good shape I figure I could insulate it, run an extension cord out, add a small room heater, and maybe a swamp cooler for the summer. I suppose I could even install a thermostat to control it all, but I don't have any experience with those.

Maybe I'll just end up putting them all in the laundry room. I'll probably start there and see how it goes. I can always move them if the smell becomes a problem, but it may not be. I just started using pine pellet bedding and so far I'm really impressed with the odor control.

It's good to hear that odor isn't being a problem for you. Pine pellets seem to be pretty cheap, too...

Okay... Well... I'm finally getting ready to build my rat breeding rack(s) and i'm getting my plans and material list together. I guess i'll just use this thread as my progression thread for the project since a lot of questions have already been answered here. I haven't decided exactly how many rack spaces I want to build my racks for yet, but I know i'm going to start out with 20 females and 4 males. So, that would be 5 females per male. In earlier posts in this thread it was recommended to have 1 female breeder rat per snake to keep up with supply and demand. At the moment I only have 15 snakes in my collection, but that # will likely go up to around 20 before too long. So, I may as well prepare now and get ahead of the game. My plan is to design an all in one breeder + maternity rack instead of designing and building multiple racks. I will go into more detail about the rack design soon, but right now I have to decide which route I want to go for watering before I can proceed with my design ideas. I have been planning on going the self-watering system route, which would definitely make things a lot easier than having to be filling up individual water bottles constantly and the space in between rack levels wouldn't have to be so large, either. But, I can foresee a lot of potential problems with the self-watering systems. Judging by the fact that rodent drinking valve rebuild kits are sold, I think it's a pretty safe bet that the spring loaded type drinking valves must get screwed up a lot. I just spoke with one of my local snake breeder friends, who also breeds rats and he confirmed my suspicions. He said he used to have a self-watering system and ended up switching to individual water bottles, because of lines clogging, drinking valves malfunctioning and tubs getting flooded. So, the first thing I would like to know is, what kind of experiences have all of you guys had with self-watering systems that are composed of the supplies purchased from Reptile Basics (rodent drinking valves & flexible water tubing, etc)?

http://www.reptilebasics.com/rodent-watering/

My other question is, does anyone know of a rodent drinking valve on the market, which uses the ball bearing stoppers in them like the water bottles, instead of the spring loaded type? I would almost even be willing to buy a bunch of the cheap little 8 oz. $2.48 Walmart bottles just for the screw on tips if I could come up with a way to use them in a self-watering system...

Welp... Construction begins today on two 7 tub rat breeder racks with auto watering system. I'm definitely not looking forward to the added work load of caring for rats and i'm praying that i'll be able to keep the smell under control in my basement! But, a rat breeding program has become a necessity for me, so it has to be done...

Photos coming soon!

I'm about half way finished building these and my hands feel like they're going to fall off from cutting the 1/2" x 1/2" wire screen! Only 3 more to go then I get to abuse my hands some more stapling it all down... :( Other than that this has been a fairly quick and simple project so far. Once these are done I will be jumping right into building another 10 - 41 qt. tub melamine snake rack for my Bloods and Short Tails, because they are outgrowing the 28 qt. rack. One of my Boas has pretty much outgrown my other 41 qt. rack, so there is a new 6' x 2' x 18" enclosure in his near future as well... *sigh*

Well growth is good?

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Originally Posted by cncmachineguy

Well growth is good?

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Yes... Growth is definitely good! It's just that building snake enclosures and racks is going to be an ongoing, never ending thing... lol I knew that coming in, so i'm not complaining. It just all gets to be so much time, work and money at times. Hopefully these guys will start helping pay some bills some day! lol