How many per breeding group? How many per tank?

I'm just curious what's everyones groups setup sizes and what type of enclosure you all are using.

Right now I have a 1.2 trio in a 10 gallon pumping out a litter every 2 weeks or so... I am going to pick up 1.3 group tomorrow morning from a local pet store owner. Not sure if they should go in a 20 gallon or a 10....

Id love to hear what you guys are doing.

You will get mixed replies on this.

I can tell you that I have twelve 10 gallon breeder tanks set up all with 1.3 groups and have not had any issues. My opinon is that 1.4 in this tank is too many... 1.3 is just right.

Keep in mind tho, I use my food hopper that is in the sticky section of the ASF forum, and when using a wheel I hang it from the top of the tank.... this means that the entire floor of the tank is open space. I also pull all babies from the breeding group as soon as their eyes are open.

Hope this helps.

I like to have 1.2 or 1.3 groups, and just like Mike my wheels and hoppers are hanging from the lid, so the floor is open. We also wean on day 18.

I keep my ASF's in 54 qt sterilite tubs.

1.2, 1.3 trios, and as many males as I can fit in seperate black tubs.

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Originally Posted by mcavana

You will get mixed replies on this.

I can tell you that I have twelve 10 gallon breeder tanks set up all with 1.3 groups and have not had any issues. My opinon is that 1.4 in this tank is too many... 1.3 is just right.

Keep in mind tho, I use my food hopper that is in the sticky section of the ASF forum, and when using a wheel I hang it from the top of the tank.... this means that the entire floor of the tank is open space. I also pull all babies from the breeding group as soon as their eyes are open.

Hope this helps.

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Thanks for the reply... Your food hopper is AWESOME! I'll have to give you credit on that one, when I saw the design I had to make them.

Does the wheel just hang off of the rim of the tank or the lid?

How many babies you producing per month with 10 tanks? I wish you were closer... Id buy a few off ya...

I drilled litte holes in the plastic top rim of the tank and attahched the wheel using a zip ties. You can also drill a hole in the top and do the same thing. Recently pulled all my wheels out though as an experiment... There is nothing wrong with wheels... I am just trying to cut costs any way I can as I expand.

Best way to figure it is once they are producing you can count on at least 10 females per female per month. That is pretty conservative... can be higher then that.

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Originally Posted by mcavana

I also pull all babies from the breeding group as soon as their eyes are open.

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Do you ever have a problem with them eating on their own at this size?

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Originally Posted by monk90222

Do you ever have a problem with them eating on their own at this size?

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To date, I have NEVER lost a baby that was pulled as soon as the eyes were open.

They go straight into the grow out tub. Don't make any special arrangements for them either. they eat 100% mazuri 6f out of my food hopper, and drink from the normal water bottle that is low enough for them to reach when standing on their back legs.

just another opinion...I had the best luck with 1.3 or 1.4 in 54qt tubs.

I have a 1.1 in a 20 gallon tub, and two 1.3 in 20 gallon tubs. I have my grow ups in 26 qt tubs (which I'm bout to upgrade, this is quickly becoming too small). I'm using the food hoppers as well so most of my floor space is open.

I'm not sure if you need as much space as I'm providing, but I've found that the most chewing occurs near the top of the container, so I have the 20 gallons so that they can't reach the top as easily (they do make it up their sometimes though by scaling the hopper...lol)

I think my biggest litter has been 19 and my smallest 9.

I lucked out and had a couple of 30 gallon tanks given to me free so I have 1.4 in each of those bigger tanks (as well as my 10 gallon tanks with 1.2 or 1.3 in them). Those 30's could likely easily take a 1.5 group but for now the 1.4 groups in them are doing great and pumping out young like crazy.

I pull my weanling ASF's about a week after their eyes are fully open and I observe them eating and using the water bottles. They spend about another week or so in mixed gender 10 gallon tanks before I seperate them by gender into my grow out feeder tanks.

I am doing mostly 1.3 with a couple 1.4 groups. I am now pulling them as soon as the eyes are open and seeing less babies being killed. I still lose the occasional one in the breeding group and in the grow out tubs. So far none have stayed long enough to be separated by sex. I guess now I need to start holding back some for breeders to replace my current ones. Nice job on that food hopper! I am going to put a couple of those together and am working on plans for a watering system for my 10 gallon tanks as well. :)

You do have to plan a bit ahead with these rats, Jamie. They take awhile to hit their stride as a breeding group and considering they have a relatively short breeding life, it's always something I'm forgetting to plan for myself. I started putting labels on their tanks with the date that group produced their first young so I can get a better handle on when they will wind down and I should have a replacement group ready to go.

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Originally Posted by frankykeno

You do have to plan a bit ahead with these rats, Jamie. They take awhile to hit their stride as a breeding group and considering they have a relatively short breeding life, it's always something I'm forgetting to plan for myself. I started putting labels on their tanks with the date that group produced their first young so I can get a better handle on when they will wind down and I should have a replacement group ready to go.

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I am definitely going to do that. Do you set up your replacement groups while they are still young or when you need a new group do you just pull a male and 3 females from your raise up tubs? I don't have the space to always have 7 extra groups waiting to go if they need to be already together. Hope that makes sense.

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Originally Posted by jglass38

I am definitely going to do that. Do you set up your replacement groups while they are still young or when you need a new group do you just pull a male and 3 females from your raise up tubs? I don't have the space to always have 7 extra groups waiting to go if they need to be already together. Hope that makes sense.

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Yep sure does. When I first pull my weanlings I put them all in 10 gallon tanks just for a week or two to see that they are all healthy and adjusting to being without their family group. After that week I seperate the males and females into grow out feeder tanks since I do need some larger sized ASF's (some of my female balls would eat a whole damn little litter of ASF's if I didn't LOL). At that time I pull my future breeders and put the one male and X number of females in a 10 gallon tank.

It does mean I've got tanks full of not-as-yet producing groups taking up space but I'm just not sure if I can wait until they are bigger. I'd hate to see the females turn on the "stranger" male and kill him, wasting all my time in growing them to breeding size in the first place. They seem so unaccepting of new rats once they've started to grow up that I'm just hesitant to do it any other way right now.

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Originally Posted by frankykeno

Yep sure does. When I first pull my weanlings I put them all in 10 gallon tanks just for a week or two to see that they are all healthy and adjusting to being without their family group. After that week I seperate the males and females into grow out feeder tanks since I do need some larger sized ASF's (some of my female balls would eat a whole damn little litter of ASF's if I didn't LOL). At that time I pull my future breeders and put the one male and X number of females in a 10 gallon tank.

It does mean I've got tanks full of not-as-yet producing groups taking up space but I'm just not sure if I can wait until they are bigger. I'd hate to see the females turn on the "stranger" male and kill him, wasting all my time in growing them to breeding size in the first place. They seem so unaccepting of new rats once they've started to grow up that I'm just hesitant to do it any other way right now.

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Some good info there! I guess I need some more 10 gallon tanks. I am going to get to work on a watering system for the 10 gallon tanks. I can't stand filling bottles.

I have successfully put together two, 2 mo. old females from a holding bin (from the same litter) in with their father that was well full grown. I thought they might not take a male so close to full grown, but they did.

They are such excellent breeders, I get 17 and 18 from each one. That's a line I will hopefully maintain.

Just an update, still no chewing whatsoever in my tubs. Not a mark on them ;)

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Originally Posted by jglass38

Some good info there! I guess I need some more 10 gallon tanks. I am going to get to work on a watering system for the 10 gallon tanks. I can't stand filling bottles.

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A buddy of Mike's just gave us this huge 55 gallon tank. If I can figure out how to divide it up into two seperate areas I think I may have an excellent and roomy male/female grow out tank. :) I'm thinking a thick piece of plexigass siliconed in might work to divide the thing.

I tried putting 3 trios in one tub of my rat rack and I can tell you having 3 males together is BAD. 1 male is perfect and the other 2 are beat up really bad. So whatever you do keep it to one male per tub. They dont harm the male babies just the adults.

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Originally Posted by Somed00d

I tried putting 3 trios in one tub of my rat rack and I can tell you having 3 males together is BAD. 1 male is perfect and the other 2 are beat up really bad. So whatever you do keep it to one male per tub. They dont harm the male babies just the adults.

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Ya.. dont put a bunch of males together. You ever watch National geographic or go to the bar? LOL Males fight. ;)