Breeding Feeder Rats

Hello, I am trying to gather information on breeding rats to feed my ball pythons. I do not want to interbreed my rats because I want to sell them as pets or feeders if I happen to have too many. I just bought a used rat rack system that holds five tubs.

How many male/female rats do I need? Here's the total count of rats I need every week:

2 large rats
2 medium rats
6 small rats
8 rat pups

Thank you.

If you don't want to inbreed you'll need to buy from ratterys that keep pedigrees. You'll also need to keep the rats in pairs - one male and one female - and keep pedigrees on the offspring you plan to keep and breed.

I don't actually think the above plan is the right way to go but whatever. You might try reading through this forum for tons of practical information.

What about rats from petsmart? Are they good to start with?

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Originally Posted by digizure

What about rats from petsmart? Are they good to start with?

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I'm guessing subtle isn't going to work. READ through the forum.

I have used males from petco n I got more males and females from other pet stores. The number most people do is one female rat per snake

Also, I read that I could keep one male with two females and I could keep them together even after they give birth. Is this true? Anyone do this? Thanks.

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I went through ten pages and I didn't find the answer I'm looking for which is why I'm posting. You can simply stop responding to my post and let other respond. Thank you!

Thank you carlson!

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Originally Posted by digizure

Also, I read that I could keep one male with two females and I could keep them together even after they give birth. Is this true? Anyone do this? Thanks.

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Really? You couldn't find an answer to THAT question?

I'm out. Good luck.

Whatever John. BYE!

No problem. You can keep males in I have one I do he doesn't eat any babies biggest problem is momma doesn't get breaks between litters. It's easier on mom to put her in her own tub to birth and wein the babies then put her back into breed an repeat. Not inbreeding can be hard keep records of what you have an who comes from who an is breed to who. I have a friend that we do trades either male for male or female for female to kinda mix up blood a little. You can find rats cheap on Craigslist too

An yes males can be housed with two or more girls. Don't house two males and girls together after sexual maturity the boys will fight to breed. You can keep males together with no girls tho most time it works fine I had five boys in a tank for a bit an they were fine one was a jerk too everyone for a min then it stopped.

I was just thinking and I think 18 female rats is too many. I should be good with six females and that would give me an average of 60 every three months? Or am I missing something here?

Nothing says a momma will give litters that big the girl I keep the male in with has litters of 5-6 so every month she has one cuz I keep boy in. How many snakes you have 18? It takes time to grow them out different sizes too

That's true. I was thinking of acquiring another 5 tub rack but now it seems like I need three more. I think I'll try and get another rack and slowly go from there. There is a store nearby where I can buy feeder rats so I can always buy some if I do not have enough. Maybe within six months, I'll have a better system.

Just slowly add an figure out what works for you that's way I do

Thanks for your advice.

No problem man we all start out somewhere with lots of questions

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.

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 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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^^^^ this guy great for info just an FYI for the OP :) haha.
That's nuts the boys didn't fight over her the picture forming in my mind involves velvet ropes and a snake acting as bouncer/door man

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.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

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.

We breed rats in 1.4 then ill separate females two to a bin to have their babies.I know which females are good together and which ones aren't some of them might steal each other's babies and some females will bully other females although most of the time they get along. I give the females a week off after weaning the babies before breeding them again. I find they take better care of their babies and you have less die rather than back to back breeding. It's a personal choice though. I breed for colour and temperament and sell for pets and feeders. I think feeders shouldn't be sickly and should be well fed and treated because you wouldn't want to feed a sickly rat to your bp. We have about 15 females and 4 males. I'll pick and choose nice young males for future breeders and put them in with the breeder males and have never had a problem, the males are fine together and i do the same with baby females I want to keep as future breeders.

i just want to thank everyone on this post. i didnt even have to post a question to get the information i needed. very helpful thread.

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Originally Posted by satomi325

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.

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Yeah, right now I have been harem breeding to make room in the rack for the triple het dwarf dumbo siamese rats. I don't know how I feel about it to be honest. I know in the wild the males can breed females the day they birth but it feels a little wrong to me. The males get excited the night before the babies are born and harass the females while they are swollen to the maximum and about to pop. The shrieks I hear tell me this is extremely unpleasant for the females even if they don't have visible damage from it. Also, the moms then have to fight off the pups that should be weaned while they are nursing pinkies. Worn out is really the best term to describe how my females are looking after 3 back to back breedings like this. I'm going to reduce my males and start rotating to make sure they don't have to do these back to back litters any more. Also, I have more food than I'll need for a few months so it seems like overkill to keep breeding. Time to buy a food saver...

TL;DR I can't force my moral perspective on anyone but I can share my experiences. After doing it for a few months I can say my determination is that harem breeding is not a practice I am comfortable with for myself.