Trial

Thanks a lot. I will probably get the rats from the Petco up the street. They sell both males and females.

I will look up the threads about the rat colonies. I will have little space when I move. There is one question I had. Is it ok to keep the rats in the same room as reptiles?

Yep lots of us keep our rodent colonies in the same room as the snakes and it seems to be fine. Just don't forget to never smell like a rat when you go to water the snakes (boy have I forgotten a time or two LOL). PetCo is a good source for healthy young, properly sexed rodents. Just don't tell them you are buying them as future breeder/feeders as some PetCo's object to that. Too bad you don't live close to me. I've tons of young, healthy rats around here. (If anyone does live in Toledo and needs start up rats for a colony just let me know, you're welcome to come pick some out. :) )

In that thread the white shelving units I use for my colony are just great. They take up very little space, are very sturdy, easy to clean, snap together without any tools and cost under $20.00. I've had one over 2 years now and the thing is like new still.

About the tubs. Do the rats ever chew through them? Since I will be living with other people and in a townhome, escaped rats is a big No No. Also, I have cats, who chase anything that moves. I would love to use tubs since they are generally easier to clean.

i used rubbermaid tubs for a long time with my rats before i got my racks. i cut out a section of the lid and secured wire mesh over it with zip ties. at first they didn't mess with it but then some of them started chewing the zip ties. i switched to metal ties and they started chewing the lid around the mesh. a few of them were so bad about it that they would chew until they had made a hole that extended out past the mesh so they could get out (they overlapped by several inches). i think you can put cayenne pepper or some other chew deterrent on any areas prone to chewing but i just switched to racks so i never tried it.

I noticed in the picture in the rat colony with little space thread, the hardwire cloth was on top of the lid. Would it make any difference if the wire was under the lid? That way it would be harder for them to chew the plastic edge left when making the hole.

Some folks actually line the edges of the cut out lid with thin metal (I'm not that handy though lol). I don't have a lot of issues with chewing out of the tubs. If they aren't overcrowded and fed sufficiently with lots to chew on they don't seem all that prone to it. Just make sure the entrance hole for the water bottle spigot is only just big enough and no bigger. Any hole will get enlarged. Occasionally I get a very bad chewer and they end up being fed off since if one starts up with the heavy chewing it tends to spread to the other rats in that tub. Very spicey hot sauce smeared in an area they are chewing at sometimes stops them but some of them I swear like the taste of the darn stuff.

As an alternative, even though they are heavier to clean, you can pick up used glass tanks for next to nothing at yard sales and some pet shops/fish stores sell off their older tanks. Then you'd never have any chewing issues. I use a combination of both tubs and tanks for our colony.

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Originally Posted by Jay_Bunny

The only problem with breeding rats is that at the moment, I have a 63gram corn snake and a very small king. The corn is on mouse hoppers and the king is on mouse pinkies. Would the corn or king be able to eat rats? I know they would not be able to eat full grown rats unless they were very small and thats months and months down the road.

I wouldn't mind rats. I think they are wonderful and I want two for pets.

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A rat pinky is quite a bit bigger than a mouse pinky. Mouse hopper size is about 3-4 day rat pinky size.....

Ooops, someone else already gave you comparisons.



I MUCH RATHER enjoy breeding the rats vs. mice. Rats don't stink NEARLY as bad, have more personality as pets and tend to be less fussy breeding/rearing. I lost 3 litters of mice b/c they ate 'em...and I've only had 2 single baby fatalities out of 10 LITTERS w/the rats. (And one was a stillborn, the other died that night). One litter of the 10 was 5, one was 7 babies, and the remaining 8 litters were 13 babies. :D MUCH easier to raise rats, but with small corns and/or baby kings, you don't need bigger prey right yet.

The king will remain on mice until he is old enough to take rat pinkies. I don't plan on breeding until I can use a majority of the litter and store away the rest.

I have someone at work who has a 3 year old rat that she wants to give me. She says she wants him to live out his days with someone who can provide him with a friend and lots of attention. I told her I'd be more than happy to. I won't ever breed him, given his age, but I think he'd make a nice pet. So I guess my first pair of rats will be males. Are they any different from females, temperment and smell wise?

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Originally Posted by frankykeno

Occasionally I get a very bad chewer and they end up being fed off since if one starts up with the heavy chewing it tends to spread to the other rats in that tub.

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that was exactly my problem--it was one of the girls in particular that chewed like crazy, but she is one of my favs so i just dealt with it. a few of the others picked up her habit and it got outta control! i could literally sit and watch her babies learning her habit too--as soon as they could reach the top of the tub while standing on their igloo they would look over to mom who was happily gnawing away and a few seconds later they'd be trying to reach an edge to taste. gah!

Yep Em rats learn from each other especially their momma's.

Wow a 3 year old rat, that's a real oldster! As far as differences in male and female rats, the males do tend to be quite lazy as they mature. I personally feel they make slightly better pets as they are more "lap rats" than the always busy females. Really though it's all about individual temperment and good care with rats. If they are healthy, well fed, handled gently and used to you being the Great God/Goddess of the Food Bowl, they generally consider you a good thing (rats are very VERY food driven). Some folks are a bit put off by an adult male rat's butt pillows though LOL.