Building & Plumbing a Rodent Rack

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MarkS

Make sure that all of the valves are firmly screwed in through the hardware cloth into the PVC tubing and make sure that the whole assembly is level to cut down on air pockets.

Mark

---

Would it have to be level or would you want the farthest point away to be slightly lower so that water follows gravity to the lowest point? asking alot of questions, sorry.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by twh

. . . imitation vanilla in my rodents water for years with no problems (bottles).vanilla retards smell and as mentioned bleach kills the bad stuff.

---

How much vanilla per 5 gallons would you use?

per 5 gallons i add 5 teaspoons of imiation vanilla and 2 teaspoons of bleach.hope this helps.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by whytepizza

Would it have to be level or would you want the farthest point away to be slightly lower so that water follows gravity to the lowest point? asking alot of questions, sorry.

---

I keep mine level and there isn't a problem, it's only a distance of about 3-4 feet and the tubing is wide enough so there aren't any air pockets forming. I suppose if the distance were longer you might want to angle it downward somewhat.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by whytepizza

Quick question, do you think having a filter running in the resivoir, and/or having one of those uv water treatment lights would reduce all, if any, build up in the piping?
Also, do you think this can be modifited to allow a drip system instead of the ones rats would chew on? Wondering if i could change it around a little and use it for tropical snakes to keep humidity up.

---

I've got a friend who has filtered water and a UV sterilizer on his water system, but he raises tens of thousands of rodents. I don't think it would be worth while for as small a scale as I have here.

I'm not sure if a drip system would work all that well, the water reservoir is up high and that creates more pressure. It might come out as a stream instead of a drip. I really don't know though since I've never tried it.

Awesome, sounds good, thank you!
I built one and have tried the fish idea. I used to work at a pet store and we were thinking up ways to ship fish long distances without having to worry about oxogen. We tried several things but silver in water can create some O2 as it oxidizes. We tried it, but silver is expencive and we quickly gave up on 'out shipment with silver' idea, but we kept it for some of our large tanks. Thanks to old computers we pulled out alot of silver and platinum (also works).
So, i put it in my resevoir. It works well! Sometimes, if it's hot or if i just refill the resevoir i hear a snap, crackle, and pop as the oxogen rises, but it eliminates ALOT of the fungal gunk. It's still not perfect for the tubes, but it does help. I also keep a carbon filter over the hole leading to the PVC inside the resevoir. This eliminates alot of the oxogen passing through but i use about a quarter of the bleach and have had no buildup! On one section of every horizontal piping i used a clear piece of tubing. It's hard plastic like pvc but it allows me to see if there is anything growing that i need to take care of.
Thanks so much! I could not have built this without your diagrams!
My next step is to try and bring the pipe down into the cage and into a built-in bowl for snakes. Kind of like those automatic dog waterers with a 2L bottle of soda. Just means i have to put a lid on my resevoir :-D We'll see!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MarkS

I've got a friend who has filtered water and a UV sterilizer on his water system, but he raises tens of thousands of rodents. I don't think it would be worth while for as small a scale as I have here.

I'm not sure if a drip system would work all that well, the water reservoir is up high and that creates more pressure. It might come out as a stream instead of a drip. I really don't know though since I've never tried it.

---

First i just want to say that is a very awesome design. I also want to say the the automatic watering system is great. This may be a dumb question but what about the food. Do you use bowls of food in each tub, or add lab blocks to the top of each tub on the wire mesh?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Camel413

Do you use bowls of food in each tub, or add lab blocks to the top of each tub on the wire mesh?

---

The lab blocks go on top of the wire mesh and the rats eat it through the holes. One tip, don't let the food level get too low or the rats have a hard time eating it. The weight of the food holds the bottom food from moving and when the food level is low the rats end up pushing the food around instead of being able to eat it.

Have you ever had problems with them chewing on those tubs?:confused:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by rocko2527

Have you ever had problems with them chewing on those tubs?:confused:

---

Surprisingly no. I've got tooth marks on many of the tubs, but they haven't put any holes in them and I've never had to replace one yet.