Thinking of starting a colony

Ok, so my ex-fiance and i absolutely love rats but when we split up i moved into an apartment with my snakes and she kept all the rats (go figure). I know i can get some of them and start a colony if i wanted. I can get about 3 female and 2 male about 6 months old.
I wanted to start breeding because i have 10 snakes and it's constantly growing. My hognoses eat rat pups, my ball pythons eat pups or full grown mice (which i can switch them to rats no problem) and my Red tail is also eating full size mice and should probably be on small rats by now, anyway.
Anywho, i was wondering if that would be a good start to my breeding project. I have 2 cages that will easily hold 2 breeding projects. I was thinking of getting 3 of the females and 1 male and do one larger colony, freezign what wasn't used. If i needed to slow down production i could seperate the male or cycle the male.
The problem i am having is that because of my break up i am tight on funds. Going and spending 40 dollars a week on feeders is not realistic to me, even if i feed every other week i'm still looking at 80 a month.
So, two questions:
1) Thing that is a enough to start a small colony? I love rats so breeding them is not a nusance, i actually enjoy them and like to see the birth, etc.
2)What kind of cost cutting supplies do you use? I have heard of people using chicken scratch for rat food, using some supply store bedding (not sure what kind), stuff like that. Any advice or supplies that you think would work?
So, i think breeding them for 10 snakes is good (5 hognoses, 4 bp's and 1 red tail). I just can't stand mice, i hate them with a passiona nd they smell so much more than rats.
Any ideas, suggestions, etc?
I've bred them before but as pets, not feed.

If they are all eating pups you should have 2 breeding groups and cycle the male from one to the other so that you will have babies every month. I would do 3 females per group so you should have a little over 40 rat pups a month.

You could easily build 2 large tub enclosures and one smaller tub enclosure for the male, I think I spent about $10 each on my tubs.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Clear

If they are all eating pups you should have 2 breeding groups and cycle the male from one to the other so that you will have babies every month. I would do 3 females per group so you should have a little over 40 rat pups a month.

You could easily build 2 large tub enclosures and one smaller tub enclosure for the male, I think I spent about $10 each on my tubs.

---

Awesome! do you have pictures of your tubs?

[QUOTE=Dragnbaron;959740]
2)What kind of cost cutting supplies do you use? I have heard of people using chicken scratch for rat food, using some supply store bedding (not sure what kind), stuff like that. Any advice or supplies that you think would work?
QUOTE]

alot of people feed them dog food but make sure there is no red dye in it, bad for snakes.
i would not feed them chicken or pig fed though, i know some people do
i use a mix of dog food, sun flower seed, corn, rabbit pellets, and i just got some range cubes (for cows) they seem to like it

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...k/PA090189.jpg


Try to find a seller of mazuri 6F, great food!

I have FRM rodent feed, half the price of mazuri. I honestly don't think I could get dog food and bird seed + extras that cheap. ($13 for 50 lbs) and I use equine fresh for bedding, $7 for a BIG bag.

Whats a link to the FRM rodent food?

http://www.frmfeeds.com/80712/74012.html

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by grammie

I have FRM rodent feed, half the price of mazuri. I honestly don't think I could get dog food and bird seed + extras that cheap. ($13 for 50 lbs) and I use equine fresh for bedding, $7 for a BIG bag.

---

where do you get FRM rodent feed from? i just started breeding rodents again. i looked around but couldn't find anyone that had rodent feed.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Clear

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...k/PA090189.jpg


Try to find a seller of mazuri 6F, great food!

---

No issues with chewing through the plastic?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by nova2door

where do you get FRM rodent feed from? i just started breeding rodents again. i looked around but couldn't find anyone that had rodent feed.

---

I just looked at their site and didn't realize they were as localized as they are. Sorry, I won't recommend again unless someone is in deep south. :(

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by grammie

http://www.frmfeeds.com/80712/74012.html

---

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Clear

Whats a link to the FRM rodent food?

---

You're going to need to watch that though. FRM seems to have really high protein levels to be an effective feed for rats. Most good rat food has a protein level of 16-18%. That's the general guideline that I've been taught.

I say go with Mazuri. I've got a colony of 12 and anywhere from 10-50 growouts at any time and a $25 bag of mazuri lasts me anywhere from a month and a half to 2 months.

No I dont have any trouble with them chewing on the tubs. I currently feed mazuri but if I could get a feed that was half the cost but almost the same I was going to go for it.

Thanks Adam, I went on a recommendation here. When work picks back up fulltime and this bag is gone, I'll make the switch.