rat rack tubs

Ok I built about stepmber as rat rack with those plastic bins from lowes/home depot. well even with fresh food and chew items all but one tub been chewed up. I tried everything and am so irked at the fact they chewed up the tubs it not funny. I am gonigo t ask my uncle ( who a welder ) if get him the measurements if he can make me 6 metal based ones for use in the rack. ( might need ot make some small adjustments to the rack but It be long lasting and better for me in the long run asi can sand and paint these ( or coat them with bed liner paint) and they can chew all the want on 1/4 inch metal lol . it alwasy with the newest group I get from a store or from someone ..

How big is the gap between the tub and the hardware cloth? If the gap is too big and the rats are able to get their teeth on the edges of the tubs, you may get chewouts.

Don't get discouraged dude it happens. Feed off the chewers and keep plugging away. We are up to 56 tubs breeding right now in the mortar tubs and we have chewers but they are really rare and we feed em off ASAP. The mortar tubs are the way to go.

it the spending about 7-8 bucks for the tubs that giving me fits. The only space between the tubs and th framming is on the middle row ( I got them set up as a side by side ( might be the problem) )set up since Mom likes to give them treats and they too much for her high up when she in her wheelchair. My chewers seem to be the new rats I get and i need so many small ones I can't toss or feed off a breeder when they finally producing for me lol ( went 3 months with no productiong and it killed me I need this rack system to work out so Ican rotate the breeding ages .

You said your uncle is a welder. If he can roll sheet steal to the contour of the tubs, just "cap" the upper portions that they are chewing. I just started getting into it, but that's my plan.

I know this is crazy but I just found a pair of stainless steel double sinks that were being thrown away from a church's re-modeling. So now i'm in the process of building a rack for these to slide in. I made a plug to plug the drains and now I'll have 4 sepperate "bins".

the things i have noticed is that if they have 24/7 food,water and cleanliness you dont get any chewers.. maybe there is something that you are doing that is causing them to want to chew out. maybe temps play a roll? too hot or too cold. ive been using teh same tubs for over a year and i dont have as much as a single chew mark in any of them. maybe i got lucky, but im betting that you are missing something that they need.
adam jeffery
btw my setup is home depot tubs, automatic watering, i clean every 3 to 4 days. always have hoppers full of food.

I agree with Adam. I don't have as much as a mark on any of my tubs from chewing. That's even with supplementing my normal production with external rats from a big local commercial breeder. I occasionally house feeder rats from the big breeder and they don't even chew on my tubs. There's usually a reason behind it.

Regards,

B

post pictures of your racks. close ups.

i had only one chew out once the screen and tub space was too much.

pictures always help to point out mistakes

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Simple Man

I agree with Adam. I don't have as much as a mark on any of my tubs from chewing. That's even with supplementing my normal production with external rats from a big local commercial breeder. I occasionally house feeder rats from the big breeder and they don't even chew on my tubs. There's usually a reason behind it.

Regards,

B

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brian, you clean twice a week as well correct?
maybe that is our secret.
adam jeffery