Should I Breed? How Many to Breed?

Hm, the only thing I might disagree with is the cost of breeding versus f/t purchase.

Purchasing the initial animals and their cages is a one-time investment that doesn't have to be repeated. So, after the first year, you're only paying for the cost of food and bedding. That comes out to only 180 per year. If you need to get new breeding stock, you can always trade some of your extras, or sell some off to cover the cost of the new animals. You quickly recover the extra you spent setting them up, and from there it's significantly cheaper to raise your own, though it is labor-intensive.

I agree, this was a very helpful post.


Currently, my mind is a tad foggy, but later when it's cleared some, I'm going to attempt figuring out how I can make it so that I have fuzzy-sized rat babies each week. And, I do believe this is going to help me out in the long-run. Thanks for posting this!

A good rodent food really makes a diffrence as well.
We feed our's mazuri 6F for our rats / african rats / gerbils ect and it works great. And with a rest period in between breeding they bulk back up just fine. Hope this helps.:bow:

Excellent post, thank you for the information! In regards to the cost analysis: The cost comparison was made for a one year period with various amounts rats. This doesn't seem to include, however, if you keep resupplying your own breeders over many years. So there would only be the initial cost of buying the rats the first year, after that it would be just maintenance. So in the long run, the differences in cost between raising your own vs F/T would be amplified. correct?

How many female rats can you keep per tub/enclosure?

JonV

Quote:

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Originally Posted by nevohraalnavnoj

How many female rats can you keep per tub/enclosure?

JonV

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I personally use the concrete tubs (not extra large) and they can easily hold 1 male and 3 females. I prefer to not go anymore than 4 rats in a tub, even though I know some people would say you can do a group of 5 total.

If you think about it, using 1 litter per week, 12 female rats, you will have
3 tubs dedicated to a mom raising a litter,
1 tub for the mother that will give birth in a few days
1 tub with girls that have been with a male for 1, 2 and 3 week(s)
2 tubs with girls getting a break, or raise ups
1 tub of weaners

7-8 tubs total, easily met in a rack setup.

That's how it works out for my colony anyways.

I can't get the file on the opening post to open. I am on a Mac but I have microsoft office programs installed as well.

Is the file offered the graph already shown or is there more to it?

Typically I can just drag & drop attachments but my system is recognizing this as a link & it just opens up a blank page.

:-(

This post rocks!

Just a question.. what are some reputable dot com f/t sites to buy from at that $1 price range?

All I have found are still in the $2+ range...

My only question is on size of the rat to breed I have some that I are smaller then the 2 a have preg. right now. But I am pretty sure they are of breeding age at what weight should I breed or size should I breed them, because I know if I weight to long they have a chance of having a harder time.

It is optimal for the female rat to wait until she weighs 250 grams. As to what age she will be before she reaches that weight is completely dependent upon the quality of the animal itself. If you start off with a cheapy dollar or two rat from a local feeder bin, that rat might go it's entire life & never reach 250 grams.

it is harder on the animal if you go too early as well as too late

You also need to give the breeding female a rest in between weaning the litter & the next pregnancy. Back to back breeding is just as hard if not harder on the animal as breeding them too young or two old.

Ok, yeah I don't want to have them breeding to young or to old