Is it possible to breed rats in an apartment?

[satomi325]

I breed in my apartment with no problems at all. I have 5 females, 2 males, and a few misc ones just for fun.

I have an air purifier, and it works magic! Keeps the smell and rat dander down. Also provides air flow. So I highly recommend a purifier.

You can also litter train your rats. They're smart animals who are very capable of learning. Litter training keeps messes to a minimum. And dumping a litter box beats dumping a cage or tub.

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[youbeyouibei]

That's why God invented freezers.

Hahahahaha! Shhh! That would refute my argument as to why I NEED to buy a blood python, to feed the "too large" of rats and retired breeders to, lol!

[The Serpent Merchant]

I tried to breed rats in my apartment. That ended after about a month. The smell was terrible. I completely changed the bedding out every 3 days and it still stunk. Can it be done? Yes. Is it pleasant? No

[zeion97]

I tried to breed rats in my apartment. That ended after about a month. The smell was terrible. I completely changed the bedding out every 3 days and it still stunk. Can it be done? Yes. Is it pleasant? No

I'm lucky, i'm in a small room and use 56 Quart tubs. The smell isn't bad besides one rat who ALWAYS knocks over the water bowl Tisk tisk tisk

Can it be done, as stated yes! of course! Should you? now that we can not answer.

[meowmeowkazoo]

I do breed rats in my apartment. I have my office set up in our master bedroom apartment, and that is where I keep my rats and snakes. They're probably not allowed, so I try to keep them a secret by keeping the cages in my closets. I just shut the doors whenever maintenance comes over.

I buy native earth lab blocks from nationalpetpharmacy.com. I add two bags of sunseed pine bedding to bring my order up to $49, which qualifies me for free shipping when I use autoship. You can set your autoship orders very far apart, so it's a great way to save money for most people.

I have a hoover brand air purifier in my room, on account of my horrible allergies, and the rat smell. It helps a lot with both, and I highly recommend air purifiers to anyone who breeds rodents.

I clean my cages every 5 days. I have homemade cages made of sterilite bins, so they are extremely easy to clean. I just dump the contents into a trash bag, wipe the entire thing down with clorox wipes, and put new bedding in.

I have food hoppers built into my cages, which helps tremendously with saving costs on food. The rats can no longer bury it, which means that I no longer have wasted food when I clean cages.

For euthanasia, I bought a C02 canister and regulator from amazon. You can get them filled at a local sports store (academy sports for me). I put the rats in a 10 gallon glass tank, put a towel over the top, slip the hose under the towel, and that's my gas chamber right there.

[Simple Man]

I tried to breed rats in my apartment. That ended after about a month. The smell was terrible. I completely changed the bedding out every 3 days and it still stunk. Can it be done? Yes. Is it pleasant? No

I just think you need to be realistic. Sure it can be done but the cost savings and sacrifice probably are a wash or close to it. I wouldn't even attempt to feed my large collection by breeding if I didn't have a house and a garage. Many people here are feeding a few snakes and that makes sense to me. You have a large diverse collection that is going to require a lot of rats, time, and money. I change mine weekly in the garage and I couldn't imagine what that would smell like in an apartment regardless of air purifiers, wall wart smelly things, and etc. The one thing that no one has really touched on is the time it takes to clean, feed, and water a breeding colony of rodents. You're apartment is going to smell like a rat factory unless you're OCD about changing every 3-4 days. I'd seriously take some of these things into account before you jump into this. I recall a thread you posted awhile back about your time being minimum and collection size etc. I would really suggest that you consider if you want that time to decrease. Rodent breeding might be cost saving but it is also time costing.

I'd personally probably recommend finding a rodent breeder locally. I supplement the large amounts I breed with a rodent breeder. This has saved me lots of space, time, and insanity It's time consuming, stinky, and costly to raise rats up. That's why I mostly feed pups and weans to almost my entire collection. The big girls get smalls and sometimes mediums from the local breeder. It's worth $2 to save the time, hassle, stink, and cost of raising rats beyond weanling/small size.

Just some food for thought and playing some devils advocate before you think it is an easy road. As always I wish you the best luck on it whichever way you decide to go!

Regards,

B

[Annageckos]

I use to live in a one bedroom apt and bred rats. I also kept some for pets. I cleaned everyone once or twice a week. My apt didn't smell, in fact I had people tell me that they wouldn't know I had any animals (by the smell) if they didn't see them. And I kept the rats in the living room, by the door. Can they smell? Sure. But it depends on how many you have and how often you clean them. Also what you feed them. I find they smell less eating rodent blocks then dog food.

[BPNoobie]

My rodent breeder uses corncob bedding for his rats. He swears by it, as it pretty much banishes all urine/feces smell.

[aldebono]

We got the DIY air purifier today. WOW the difference!!!!

We have 6 bins running a 1.4 in most and all with pups. AKA Lots of rats in each bin (Thinning the herds tomorrow). They are literally in my living room and the smell is not noticeable.

Love this contraption!

I am excited to see if it helps with my allergy/cold I have had for the past month.

[satomi325]

My rodent breeder uses corncob bedding for his rats. He swears by it, as it pretty much banishes all urine/feces smell.

I really love corncob bedding. It prevents RI as well as the odor.
But sadly, it's pretty expensive compared to other beddings. D: