Rat's

I got two pair's ready to go.Hopefully it will be cool and well worth the extra work.I also wanna compare breeding them to just buying them at the store.Well I'll let you guy's know what happen's

I love breeding them. It's great when u come down and look and you have 11 babies siting in there. good luck


Chris

Well I used to have to pay $4.99 a rat at the local pet store that bred them. That's any size rat, even a pinkie! So when I started breeding my own I'd peek in and see a new litter of say 10 pinkies and do a little dance and chant..."I just saved 50 bucks!" LOL

Granted you have to take into account your time and supplies and sort of like with the snakes, if you don't like rats...you're not going to enjoy breeding them even for feeders.

Wow you did save alot , In my case I feed all 6 of my guy's for 11.00 dollar's a week live so I guess it's not that bad.I do want to save money but I think I'm doing it for an extra challenge.Also I want to have feeder's when ever I need them so I won't have to depend on anyone

It is very nice to have all sorts of feeders handy. I can have two snakes both on weanling rats but since some weans are bigger than others (males outsize their sisters pretty quickly it seems) I can tailor the meal to a specific snakes needs. Also if I get a refusal...no muss no fuss...back in with your buddies till next week LOL.

To be fair though, breeding rats whether you live feed or not is work. They need and deserve a lot of decent care and it's just not for everyone. Nothing at all wrong with buying frozen in bulk or going with a local supplier either. I just personally enjoy raising rats so it works out good all around (years ago I raised chickens, ducks and geese for our own freezer so I must be a slightly frustrated secret farmer LOL).

Thank's alot for the info I think it'll be cool.If for some reason I don't like it which I doubt I just go back to buying them.

Do you guy's feed your rat's everyday and or alway's have food available for them.

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Originally Posted by emilio

Do you guy's feed your rat's everyday and or alway's have food available for them.

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i feed mine a scoop of the rat food receipe from becky on here and they also have mazuri lab blocks at all times.
I can almost gauge who is prego just by how much food they are consuming.. Great indicator

Chris

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Originally Posted by emilio

Do you guy's feed your rat's everyday and or alway's have food available for them.

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some peope build cages with toppers, allows you to heap up food and keep them fed 24x7

plus you can always open it up and toss them a treat

I had 3 snakes, but now I have 6.



It used to be 11.00 and some change for 1 medium rat, and 2 large mice.

They charge 6.99 for the rat and like 2.10 for large mice.



But now I have 6 snakes. Which is 3 medium rats a week, and 3 large mice a week. That's 27.25 a week.



And I had a 25 lot of baby ball pythons, which were 1.15 for hoppers. Luckily I sold them off in 2 weeks and didnt have to pay 25 bucks extra to feed them more than twice.



But now, I have around 400+ frozen feeders that will last quite a while.

But I will start breeding rats, not only for me but I have friends that will constantly buy off my excess. I need to find me a good rodent rack...

If you are handy you can build this. I like them due to easy of building and they dont take much space.



http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...ad.php?t=29097

Bryan

Eighteen day's and counting guy's all I've noticed is the poop get bigger.I weighed one of the female's and she's at 200gram's does that sound like a ready to go female.

Smallest I'd recommend to start females is 250 grams...

I mean, they can go much smaller than that, but I wouldn't recommend it.

That being said I've mis-sorted before and had females get pregnant at 180 grams or so... after giving birth 3 weeks later she weighed 230 grams and she is doing fine... but that isnt always the case

You want your females about 4, better yet 5 months of age so about 250 grams should be about right for a well fed female of that age (give or take). I'd give those girls a bit more time and a bit more food and you're likely to get a way bigger litter for your patience.

Thanx alot guy's I'll keep you posted.One thing though I don't think these female's are 4month's old.The friend who gave them to me wasn't really sure but he told me they were about 2 month's old.I guess I'll just wait it out.

Alright here's the update , well the female's look bigger than before.Also they all seem to be sneezeing alot I have them on pine bedding.I guess it's an RI right , is there anything to help them or is it not a problem.

Put them on aspen...


NO carefresh, NO pine(unless you are using the hardwood bedding from Tractor Supply that isn't 100% pine), NO cedar, etc.

Soft Sorb is good stuff too, as is Carefresh Ultra(white).

Thanks I'll change it soon , I thought it was O.k to use pine for rodent's.

In open-air cages they aren't "as" prone to respiratory issues if they are housed on pine. But if they are in tanks or racks, then the ventilation isn't keeping the dust down or the smell. Ever put your face and your hands into pine? Yeah, try living in it for a week, along with your urine and feces(and the ammonia the urine produces). Yep... That's REAL fun.

Pine shavings that are low-dust and have been kiln dried, are better, but if they are still having issues, you need to change them to something that isn't going to upset their respiratory tracts. Constantly being exposed to dusty bedding can set them up for a very bad respiratory infection that can lead to pneumonia.

I really recommend the aspen shavings. If you have a Tractor Supply near you, they have HUGE bags of aspen (5cu.ft. expanded), for around $8. Their hardwood bedding is around $4. I use the hardwood bedding for my mice and they don't have issues with it. It can be slightly dusty sometimes, but usually it's ok.

I got rid of the pine for now they'll be on paper til I buy the aspen. Thanx for the info.

What's wrong with Carefresh?

It's too dusty. Try sifting it through some window screening and you will see what I'm talking about. Or put your face in it and breathe for a few minutes. I only use it if one of my animals has just had surgery and needs to be on something soft and absorbent(but usually I just use paper towels).

Carefresh causes alot of respiratory distress because of how dusty it is. Most of the animals at Petco and Petsmart are kept on that junk, and they usually have porphyrin in their eyes and nose and are sneezing like nobody's business. Of course that could also be stress, but the carefresh doesn't help.

I really recommend aspen, or if you have allergies to wood beddings, try Soft Sorb. It's a soft pelleted paper(cream colored) and isn't too damaging to your wallet. A friend of mine uses it and just loves it. I don't think her rats have ever sneezed, LoL.

Hmmmm, I'll have to check that out. I've had my rodents on gray Carefresh for over a month now and none of them are sneezing or have runny noses/eyes...but I don't want to risk the chance that they could get sick.

Now out of curiosity, why do you recommend the white Carefresh but not the gray? Is the white less dusty? If so, I may switch to that...I much prefer this kind of bedding to any kind of wood bedding and would like to stay with it if possible.

I tried that vanilla water trick and have noticed a big difference. Plus I'm sure they like the taste. :)

-- I think the funniest thing I've ever seen is a mouse pushing along a huge chunk of Carefresh to bring it to her nest. She managed to get it all the way from one side of a 20L to the other. No idea why she wanted that particular piece over the couple hundred others in there, but she was determined to bring it home! lol!

I know! It's so funny watching those little waddling golf balls carry bedding from here and yon, instead of what is next to them... Mice!

I've found(by sifting mostly) that the white carefresh doesn't have much dust at all. I don't know WHY exactly, but it doesn't. The animals I've kept it on never had issues with it.

You may try that and see how it works for you. I know it's a bit more expensive, but it's less expensive than a vet bill for antibiotics for one of your rats' RI's.

It's only $3 more than the gray stuff, well worth it to keep them healthy and happy.

Another question -- I got the idea to use the gray stuff for my snakes from a breeder/friend back home in Wisconsin (Al Guetzkow - NEWReptiles). He uses it for his collection and he has 60+ snakes now, I believe. Is that stuff still safe for ball pythons or should I switch to the white for them too?

Random - what about the colored stuff? Would it be less dusty like the white? I thought it'd be cute to keep them on pink bedding. lol! ;)

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Originally Posted by emilio

I got two pair's ready to go.Hopefully it will be cool and well worth the extra work.I also wanna compare breeding them to just buying them at the store.Well I'll let you guy's know what happen's

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Financially, unless you feed them steak and a nice wine instead of water, it will be far more financially advantageous to bred :)

LoL, I like the colored stuff, it's cute. I have only tried it once, and it didn't seem too dusty. Maybe it's the dye that gets rid of some of the dust, and since the grey stuff is unbleached and natural, it has alot of dust. Granted, it's just paper, but still not good for any animals lungs on a long-term basis.

I like the white because you can see if there is a mess or a water spill, anything really. For some reason, the grey always looks dirty to me, but that just may be my opinion :)

You can always try it out, the white and the colored. If they don't suit your fancy, you can just sift the grey stuff on some window screening and that should get rid of the majority of the dust. I always do that if I get a free bag from someone.

I was wondering if the aspen will mask the urine smell? Cause I woke up this morning and it smelled pretty bad.

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Originally Posted by emilio

I was wondering if the aspen will mask the urine smell? Cause I woke up this morning and it smelled pretty bad.

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I dont know why yours smell so bad? maybe its your diet what are you feeding them?

I already switched them to aspen today.What I meant to say in my previou's post was that I changed them from pine to newspaper over night and the smell was terrible.Well I have not heard any more sneezing since I changed the bedding.I should be getting some babie's soon I'll let you guy's know if I have any luck.

funny... my ratties sniffle if i put them on aspen but when i switched them to grey carefresh their breathing completely cleared up!

so i keep them on it... as it works best for them!

I added another female to the mix , so now I have two male's three female's.This female is bigger than the other's , wish me luck no babie's yet.

Alright one of my girls is definitely going to pop in the next few day's. I shouldn't mess with her or the babie's right? Let's say she has a litter of 12 if I start taking some to feed off will she keep nursing the other's? If I touch them wil she still accept them and nurse them? I'm super excited can't wait.

My rats don't seem to care what I do with the babies. I remove some to feed off at intervals, and they still don't care. Move them bin to bin, still nada.
Of course these are my rats, in my care, your results may vary.
Wolfy

Thanx Wolfy , I guess I'll see then.

Shouldn't be a problem other than watch your hands. Some female rats (not all of them but some) get very aggressive and protective of their litters and will nip. I got a hard bite from one of my more docile females the other day and she hasn't even delivered yet....apparently preggie rats are as mean as preggie women LOL (Wendy is so going to kill me for that comment!)


I usually handle and do a quick health check on all our rat litters when they are about 4 to 8 hours old. I just remove the female to a holding tub, count and check each baby and I've yet to have a mother refuse her young afterwards. Rats are pretty smart and by now they likely recognize your scent so I wouldn't worry about it. Mice are far more likely to turn on their own young if disturbed, Rats don't seem to much care.

Well she finally had her first litter , can't believe it 11 or 12 I'm not sure.I'll get a pic up soon I'm super happy guy's.

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...7/100_1662.JPG

They are squeaking like crazy.

Oh nice first litter! Squeeking is good LOL. They will complain and wiggle about and push for the "best" teat, it's what baby rats do best. Just make sure mom rat has extra food and tons of fresh water (especially in this heatwave) so she can make lots of milk for the pinks.

I was wrong it was 14 , thank's for all help guy's and gal's.

Second one look's about ready to go , I already separated her from the other's.What I've done so far is use the 10 gallon aquarium's for the birth's.When the bigger girl get's to that point one of the first two female's will be back with the male's.This is so exciting.

Yep I use some 10's I have for maternity tanks (one female per). Works out nicely. They have enough room but not so much they can wander off and shed babies all over the place. Glad to hear your rat breeding efforts are going so well. 14 for a first litter! That's a female I'd be pampering and eventually keeping a couple of her best daughters back for 2nd gen breeders.

I keep a 1.2 trio of rats in a 20-long tank. I have always kept them on pine and haven't noticed any problems but I may switch to aspen after having read this thread. One thing I have noticed is that since I switched from dog food to Mazuri rodent their cage doesn't smell bad like it did before.

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Originally Posted by frankykeno

Yep I use some 10's I have for maternity tanks (one female per). Works out nicely. They have enough room but not so much they can wander off and shed babies all over the place. Glad to hear your rat breeding efforts are going so well. 14 for a first litter! That's a female I'd be pampering and eventually keeping a couple of her best daughters back for 2nd gen breeders.

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Thank's Joanna that's exactly what I'm going to do , my wife will get first pic then I'll get the second female. We will most probably go with albino tan and light color's.

Second mama just had twelve I'm super happy again!!!

Isn't it rewarding? :) I love looking in the rattie cage and seeing those babies; hearing them squeak; it is a job well done!

I wanted to point out one more great reason for breeding your own feeder's. I've noticed the big difference in how well feed and chunky my feeder's are. The feeder's I used to buy were very dehydrated and hungry being separated from mom for day's.My breeder rat's get low protein dog food carrot's and other treat's , I think it's working pretty good me. Side note my 3rd female had a litter of 11 , kinda crazy she's the biggest one and she gave me the smallest litter. So the month of Aug which is my first breeding month gave me 37 feeder's.