Breeding Feeder Rats

Satomi is a gal ;)
But you're right
She's like a library :)

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Originally Posted by Bobbafett

Satomi is a gal ;)
But you're right
She's like a library :)

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Haha whoops I ment this wonderful lady :) either way has helped me lots lots so he should know

It's just that feeder rats looks a bit sickly and I wouldn't think anyone would be interested in buying them as pets. If they are not going to be fed to my BPs, I'd sell them as pets.

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Originally Posted by sorraia

Is there any particular reason you think you can't sell them as pets if they are inbred? Most rats out there are inbred or linebred to one degree or another. Your average pet owner may or may not care either, depending on their outlook. Someone who would just as soon buy a rat from a pet store is probably not going to care about the family history if you don't bother telling them. Someone who is looking for something more "specialty" may want more information and may or may not want to buy rats from if you are breeding for food any ways. But inbreeding in and of itself isn't going to necessarily turn people away, especially if you are able to explain why it is done and how it is helpful. I bred pet rats for 10 years, did do linebreeding and inbreeding, and rarely came across anyone who had a problem with it.

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I'm curious, how many BPs do you have? Thanks.

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Originally Posted by satomi325

For how many rats you need:
General rule of thumb is 1 female rat per snake you have. And you can just have whatever males you want. You may have to add or subtract rats accordingly.

Personally, I breed 2 female rats every 2 weeks to give me 2 weeks worth of food. And breeding every 2 weeks gives me a steady supply of the same size feeders when they're up to size.
I don't want to harem breed because that will give me too much food. You just have to try out a system that works for you.

And you can house the male with the females.

Though I did have one freak accident where I had grow outs in my male breeders' tub. I thought all of the grow outs were male. But one turned out female and all the males were taking turns breeding with her. It was the only time I have ever seen the boys not fight over mating rights.

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Originally Posted by digizure

It's just that feeder rats looks a bit sickly and I wouldn't think anyone would be interested in buying them as pets. If they are not going to be fed to my BPs, I'd sell them as pets.

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Inbreeding in and of itself wouldn't make a rat sickly looking, but lack of selection for a well built animal could. If you start with plump, well built animals, you'll have a better chance of producing plump, well built animals, with or without inbreeding. :)

Either way could work. I was just wondering. :)

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Originally Posted by carlson

Haha whoops I ment this wonderful lady :) either way has helped me lots lots so he should know

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Thank you for the kind words ! :)

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Originally Posted by digizure

I'm curious, how many BPs do you have? Thanks.

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Just 10.

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Alot of how they look depends on how often you breed and what you feed them. I have 2 mommas in each tub and just rotate a male or two through them. But my rats are way spoiled when it comes to food. They get a lot of variety. Nuts, cereal, fruits and veggies, bread, ensure, oatmeal and of course the rodent block. And mine are in the house so they get cleaned alot too.
I was just wondering if you really think you are in a "pet rat " market and are you going to purchase fancier rats right from the start or not. Most people dont want just normal colored hooded rats. I personally really liked the siamese rats so almost all of my females are those :) And I have a really dark colored male so I get hugely different looking babies. Just my two cents...
Good luck!!

I keep 4:1, seems to work well, already have 1 that had babies and another fixing to pop. Hopefully the other 2 will be ready soon. Also, I am separating the mom and babies in their own tanks!!!!


0.3 Normals (Coilette, Athena and Mary Jane)
1.0 Pastel (De Sol)
1.0 Spider (Zeus)
1.0 Mojave (Prometheus)

0.1 Brazilian Rainbow Boa (Stella)
0.1 BCI (Kiyoko)
0.1 Dumerils Boa

I'm just saying that if anyone wanted to buy my rats as pets, they could. I just wanted to be able to sell these rats as feeder or as pets. That's all. It's not like I'm hoping to make a profit off this by selling them as pets. I just wanted to sell some of them to support the cost of buying food and bedding for my rats and bedding for my ball pythons.

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Originally Posted by Wapadi

Alot of how they look depends on how often you breed and what you feed them. I have 2 mommas in each tub and just rotate a male or two through them. But my rats are way spoiled when it comes to food. They get a lot of variety. Nuts, cereal, fruits and veggies, bread, ensure, oatmeal and of course the rodent block. And mine are in the house so they get cleaned alot too.
I was just wondering if you really think you are in a "pet rat " market and are you going to purchase fancier rats right from the start or not. Most people dont want just normal colored hooded rats. I personally really liked the siamese rats so almost all of my females are those :) And I have a really dark colored male so I get hugely different looking babies. Just my two cents...
Good luck!!

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Feeder rats shouldn't look "sickly" and if they do, I would figure out why and not use any as breeders.

My feeders often look better and healthier than the rats being sold as pets. If the rats used as breeders are healthy and don't carry any genetic issues, then line-breeding or inbreeding shouldn't cause any issues, not for feeders or pets. Most rat colonies used in laboratories are inbred because they are closed colonies, yet they are very high quality, very healthy animals.

I keep anywhere from 1.3 to 1.5 depending on the size of the cage or bin. As soon as you have some moms that have had a litter or two, use one of those in with young females when you start a new bin. That way there's at least one experienced mom in the bin to show the newbies how to raise babies.