Starting a breeding colony

I will be purchasing several rats to start a breedign colony to feed my snakes and I would like some opinions from more experienced breeders. I will be breeding rats to feed the 7 BP's I have and for future snakes I may aqcuire. I took my original plan from a sticky on these forums.

I am building two 6-tub racks (also taken from a sticky on these forums) and want to house one female in each tub, rotating a male into each tub every two weeks. My plan is to have two males, giving each male a two week break between pairings. The way it was explained, after the 12th pairing is complete I should be able to start from the begining again. If I ever need more feeders I can always add 1 or more to each tub and continue the process. My main concern is with the females being kept alone for so long. Would that be an issue? Does this sound like a good plan? Any and all suggestions are welcome. Thanks

Mike

I don't like to keep my rats alone for long periods of time because they are social creatures and crave social stimulation. If you ever had one as a pet you would totally understand, they beg to get out and play with you.

What I do is keep my two males (one is retired and refuses to die!!!) in a large storage tub and throw the females in with them that need breeding. I do a horrible job of keeping track of when I threw them in, but I'm pretty good at guessing how close to giving birth they are, usually within a couple days. Once they look super prego I put them in their own nursing tub.

These are my breeding/grow out tubs. I will be changing the food set up to a cage hanging from the lid so I don't get a mess outside the tub.
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t...rats/018-2.jpg

Some of my nursing tubs. I really like this set up because the females can stay in the nursing tubs for several weeks with their babies. That way the breeding tubs aren't jam packed. I often leave the female in the nursing tub and take the litter out once they are weaned so the female can have a break. A little R and R as I like to call it :D
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t...s/ASFs/015.jpg

Just an inexpensive idea, it works well for me. I've been using this set up for a couple years now. Before that, it was just a mess.

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Originally Posted by mikebab

I will be purchasing several rats to start a breedign colony to feed my snakes and I would like some opinions from more experienced breeders. I will be breeding rats to feed the 7 BP's I have and for future snakes I may aqcuire. I took my original plan from a sticky on these forums.

I am building two 6-tub racks (also taken from a sticky on these forums) and want to house one female in each tub, rotating a male into each tub every two weeks. My plan is to have two males, giving each male a two week break between pairings. The way it was explained, after the 12th pairing is complete I should be able to start from the begining again. If I ever need more feeders I can always add 1 or more to each tub and continue the process. My main concern is with the females being kept alone for so long. Would that be an issue? Does this sound like a good plan? Any and all suggestions are welcome. Thanks

Mike

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plan of attack depends on if you want to maximize their breeding potential or you are worried about every aspect of their life and view them as pets.

Personally, I would maximize their potential. Then allow offspring to grow to desired sizes, kill and freeze them until I had a stock pile. I will do this until my freezer approached getting full and then when my food ran out I would feed off or kill and freeze my breeders. This is how a farmer works.

Another way is rotating and resting which is more of a "pet owner" type of approach. This implies you plan to allow the breeders to have a life other than breeding. This will incur more materials, more investment in time, and more actual time. Personally, in this type of approach a rack is somewhat inhumane. They are crowded, dark, and secluded. If you want the involvement of a pet, raise them in more of a pet type cage.

This is from the sticky I was refering to. Instead of 12 females I may just use 24 so each female is housed with another female. I may have more feeders than I need but too many is probably better than not enough.

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Originally Posted by lord jackel

http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j2...ngCalendar.jpg

So why 12? Because 12 is the number of weeks it takes for one female to start the process and complete the birth, weaning and rest before starting over. So with 12 breeders that means every week you will have 1 litter ready to be fed off. If you assume 10 weaned babies each week (this is a very broad average) you can then figure out how many sets of 12 you need. ie. if you need 20 feeders per week you need 2 litters every week so that means twice the number or 24 breeders, need 30 feeders you need 36 breeders, etc. etc.

You can work with less females but you will stress their bodies by over breeding them without the necessary rest period so they will die quicker and produce less.

This system is designed so you produce all the feeders that are required each week...you can have less breeders if you want but the risk is the need to occassionally buy extra feeders (bad week, small litter, sick breeder, etc.) or to feed F/T on occassion.

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good luck getting a 21-23 gestation period like the chart implies.

Using a rack system, how many rats should we breed to feed 10 BP's? Male/female ratio? Should we just go with one 6-tub rack with harem style breeding? Maybe a 1.2 ratio?

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Originally Posted by mikebab

Using a rack system, how many rats should we breed to feed 10 BP's? Male/female ratio? Should we just go with one 6-tub rack with harem style breeding? Maybe a 1.2 ratio?

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those questions can only be answered by the keeper....


the how to's are everywhere here....but the "whys" you ahve to decide for yourself.

I personally bred rats for myself to save cash. Therefore, I bred rats to produce the most I could as cheaply as possible. Others get rats, form their own opinions and the rats become a pet that helps them feed their snakes. It all depends on your mentality.

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Originally Posted by mikebab

Using a rack system, how many rats should we breed to feed 10 BP's? Male/female ratio? Should we just go with one 6-tub rack with harem style breeding? Maybe a 1.2 ratio?

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idk that id consider 1.2 a harem. i generally run 1.6-1.10 in each rack. depending of course on how many females have litters. i just hit a boom right now and most racks only have 1.3 lol. lots of preggos and babies popping this week, just the way i like it

Sorry, I meant either a harem or 1.2, not that 1.2 was a harem. :)

Feeders is the reason I am doing this. I am trying to save money on food for my snakes. My concern is that I will have an abundance of babies either too small or too big at some point and I'll still have to buy from a pet store. FYI, I prefer to feed live so freezing extra doesn't help much. My main thought was to rotate males in so I would have babies at different times. Does that make sense?

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Originally Posted by mikebab

Sorry, I meant either a harem or 1.2, not that 1.2 was a harem. :)

Feeders is the reason I am doing this. I am trying to save money on food for my snakes. My concern is that I will have an abundance of babies either too small or too big at some point and I'll still have to buy from a pet store. FYI, I prefer to feed live so freezing extra doesn't help much. My main thought was to rotate males in so I would have babies at different times. Does that make sense?

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switch your stuff to frozen...

watch craigslist for a free mini freezer

and freeze freeze freeze.

much healthier to feed your stuff from the freezer than live.

Thanks for all the info. I think I'll just make one 6-tub rack and fill it with 1.2 or 1.3 breeders.

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Originally Posted by mikebab

Thanks for all the info. I think I'll just make one 6-tub rack and fill it with 1.2 or 1.3 breeders.

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I ran 1.4 in the small mortar tubs.

larger mortar tubs, you can run 1.8

Stumbled across this when "researching" before making my own thread. Apologies for any highjacking that may ensue...

The local shop isn't super cheap, and I've been considering breeding, putting the extras right into the freezer as suggested.

What are my initial costs likely to be? I'm a big CL fan so that's probably where I would get the rack.. And what is the cost to maintain? Am I better off just continuing to buy seeing as my collection is so small (1 BP and 1 baby RTB)? No real desire for pets, so this would purely be for food...

Also, where do you keep your rat racks? Is smell a big issue? Is it possibly to keep them in a garage, or is that far too warm? I appreciate all expertise and wisdom!

i keep mine in the garage. they can handle the high temp. i just have a fan running in there all the time. small little one. and it was in the upper 90's and 100's one day the past week

won't be worth the headache or expense for 2 snakes most likely.

Go to shows and buy frozen.


Frozen feeders are normally cheap IF you can get them without shipping costs.

Any websites you all suggest if I can't find bulk frozen locally? Guess I need to start looking for a mini fridge/freezer...

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Originally Posted by ALTownsend1

Any websites you all suggest if I can't find bulk frozen locally? Guess I need to start looking for a mini fridge/freezer...

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the freezer in a mini fridge normally isn't worth bothering with(size wise). You want an actual freezer.

Even if I'm only feeding two snakes? I hate to buy an entire mini fridge, let alone a full size fridge, but the GF and roomates wouldn't appreciate Rats next to their ice cream and TV dinners...

http://www.southfloridarodents.com/ try this place :gj:

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Originally Posted by ALTownsend1

Even if I'm only feeding two snakes? I hate to buy an entire mini fridge, let alone a full size fridge, but the GF and roomates wouldn't appreciate Rats next to their ice cream and TV dinners...

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why buy one?

watch craiglist or freecycle....they are on there for free all the time up here.

Mini-fridges are worthless for rat storage...

**RodentPro is one of the most used...Good prices, so so packing
*The Mouse Factory is an awesome company...High Price, phenomenal packing
American Rodent Supply is another one...haven't tried yet...

**I still order monthly from
*I used to order, but their shipping was too much for me

american rodent is a GREAT place to deal with but you have to order at least 100 bux worth but thats ok because then all you have to pay for shipping is 10 bux per box for the packing...thats it...i love em

I use American Rodent as well. The almost free shipping is awesome. They pretty much compete in rodent pricing as well. Rats are a bit more expensive though.