New Breeder

As my collection grows my current supplier will probably not be able to keep up. Soooo.. I’m getting ready to purchase two ARS rat rack systems. Each is a total of 32 tubs. If I work off a 1.3 ratio in 32 of the 64 tubs and each female produces 6 rats I would be looking at a total of 576 offspring correct? For some reason I think I’m having a stroke during my calculations but if that’s the case How many raiser tubs would I need? Thanks for any help as I start a new adventure.

I was just making a write up on this.

Rats are live stock. With live stock you work averages.

I've found you need 1.2 rats to snakes to be at a good production number so far. 12 rats to feed 10 snakes.

I use home made racks and cement tubs. Nothing fancy. I've got something like 35 females in rotation soon.

Paul

Were my numbers off though? That just seems like a crazy number of rats for 32 tubs. They (ARS Racks) will pay for themselves in like 4 months.

Averages by the math?

Each rat at maximum will give you a litter every other month, so 6 litters per year maximum. It's probably closer to be 4 litters per year.

Average litter size for most rats tends about 10. My lines have more, so 1 female rat will yield 40 offspring per year maximum with an average litter.

1.3 groupings in 32 tubs with those numbers is 3,840 off spring per year.

Since you'll want some rotation, you won't need nearly that many males, and you'll want to spread your litters out a bit, but yeah, you'll be producing enough rats to feed 70 or so snakes one meal per week at those numbers. Probably closer to 55 to 60 to be safe with hold back and anything coming in below average. More likely you'll be selling excess.

Best,

Paul

As stated, rotate the males. Unlike ASF, pull the male rat out before the females give birth. The male will bother the heck out of your girls otherwise.

Now, how many an what type of snakes are you raising? Might be smart to have one colony of mice or ASF also.

You should start by asking yourself how many rats you need to produce and what size those rats need to be. It is very easy to find yourself with an overabundance of rats and nowhere to put them. Also, do yourself a favor and cull hard in the beginning. Buy the best stock that you can find and select the best breeders out of the animals that you produce. If you cull hard in the beginning you will be left with much better stock for the long haul.