Questions about breeding rats

[Blubb]

Thanks a lot Tom ! When you say I should have 1.1 in four tubs, do you mean I never should pick out the male and let them breed all the time?

Also for you guys who suggested to buy a rat rack: we don't have those things where I live. It's the same thing when it comes to snake racks. Seriously, swedes buy their racks in ikea. Pretty sad

I was thinking that 1 litter each week should be good. Thanks !

[wolfy-hound]

You can build a rat rack. All you need for the set up Tom is suggesting is kitty liter pans(large ones) and lumber and wire mesh and screws. There's a few DIY threads detailing how to build them too. You could be the envy of everyone with the first rat rack. And they are so much easier to clean, take up less space... you'd love them.

[PassionsPythons]

Here's my advice, and I've been breeding at least 2000 rats for at least 3 years now.

You should ALWAYS separate each female if possible (tubs permitting) and their litter so other females don't fight over the babies. Your yield will be much higher than putting mulitple females together at once. Cat litter pans are the best for maternity racks. If you are going to house multiple females together make sure that they don't fight over the babies and if you catch them fighting over them separate the moms that were fighting and leave the rest.

You should NEVER feed dog food or swine food to a rat. It's not designed for them. Yes it can save you money, but the money you save you will most definitely spend in rats replacing the ones you kill feeding it.

You should retire females after about 6-8 months of breeding. Eventually their litter size will drop below 8 and they are worhtless at that point.

A good ratio is 1.8 per week.

You should clean your rats AT LEAST once a week. Healthy rats = Healthy snakes.

Contrary to popular belief you can house 2 males together in a tub of females, they just have to have been raised their entire lives together otherwise they'll fight. But we do it all the time with semi-lazy breeders.

If you ever find a chewer. Euthenise it immediately. It will not only chew tubs, but teach the other rats how to chew. So it's in your best interest to get rid of any chewers as soon as they are found.

You can also use flax seed to get rid of tumors in rats (just have a strong stomach). After a couple weeks of tossing flax up there when you feed you'll notice that the tumors begin to fester and puss. But eventually they will just fall off and the wound will close. It's best to separate rats that have festering tumors and best to keep them on something like equine pine that stays dryer longer.

This is my advice. You can take it for what it's worth. I produce somwhere between 100-400 rats per week give or take depending on the time of year (dead of winter and heat of summer are the slowest times).

[JohnNJ]

Here's my advice, and I've been breeding at least 2000 rats for at least 3 years now.

You should ALWAYS separate each female if possible (tubs permitting) and their litter so other females don't fight over the babies. Your yield will be much higher than putting mulitple females together at once. Cat litter pans are the best for maternity racks. If you are going to house multiple females together make sure that they don't fight over the babies and if you catch them fighting over them separate the moms that were fighting and leave the rest.

This is my advice. You can take it for what it's worth. I produce somwhere between 100-400 rats per week give or take depending on the time of year (dead of winter and heat of summer are the slowest times).

I agree that separating moms produces more live babies but at what cost.

How long does it take you to clean all of the tubs each week?

Do you do it alone or do you have help?

Do you empty/wash/disinfect each tub? If not, how do you clean?

Thanks.

[Blubb]

My plan is to buy 2.8 rats and go with 1.4 ratio. I don't feed live so when I get 4 litters I let them grow and then at the right size I freeze them. That should feed my snakes for about 2 months. Later on I will keep some females and get a larger rat breeding group.

[JohnNJ]

I agree that separating moms produces more live babies but at what cost.

How long does it take you to clean all of the tubs each week?

Do you do it alone or do you have help?

Do you empty/wash/disinfect each tub? If not, how do you clean?

Thanks.

I have not seen a reply to this. I'm really curious.

Thanks.

[wolfy-hound]

I have a great mom who has a large tumor on her chest. I want to try the flax seed, but how much to give? Just give a handful in addition to her food?

The reason I won't seperate moms with their litters is space. I don't have space for that many individual pans, and my moms don't fight over the babies, they just share.

Cleaning is very important in my mind. Not just "Oh you don't want the smell" but the rats don't need to be walking in their feces and breathing all that ammonia either. I clean once a week and then clean anyone during the week(usually if they have larger babies). I do need a better system to keep track of EVERYTHING in each bin. Right now I'm taping bits of paper to the front of each bin with the 1.3 15 babies 1/21 info. It's inefficient and a pain, but so far it's ok. The issue comes when I go to take care of rats, don't know what the date is but find a new litter... I guess I could put a calander in the room, but it just seems like there should be a better way.

[Michelle.C]

To keep track of genetics, take a picture of each animal and add it to a private (or open folder) in Facebook, iherp, etc. Give it a name and add it's parentage/genetics to the description.

As far as keeping track with who is in what tub, use index cards or buy a Brother P-touch labeling system. You can get one for around $18.

Adding flaxseed is fine. If she's a favorite though, take her to the vet and have it removed. They usually won't charge too much to remove a tumor on a rat. Otherwise, when you see it start messing with the quality of her life, euthanize her.

You might want to try a supplement with Resveratrol (those wine supplement pills) in it. While I don't think studies have shown it to help humans, they have shown to help rodents. Dosage varies, but it's hard to overdose even a rodent on them. Try just mixing a small amount in their water bottle.

[wolfy-hound]

The tumor doesn't seem to bother her any. I can't get a decent picture out of every 100 pictures of rats, so I can't get pic IDs, and with more than one mom, it's impossible to track each rat's production, so I have to track bin production.

Index cards pretty much = pieces of paper with the info. So I guess what I've got is the same. It just seems less efficient than it could be. If I had individual mom tubs, I could track each rat, but I'm tracking what # of babies is in each tub now.

My vet mentioned $300 for surgery on a rat to remove a tumor(talking to me in passing about another rat he'd done surgery on, not discussing doing one of my rats). He's pretty pricy, for anything. The other vet I use won't work on a rat at all. But I'll ask my vet to see if he'd charge less for any reason. But if feeding flaxseed makes it drain and go away, that's way cheaper than surgery and easier on the rat.

[chondrogal]

Wolfy, if you want to consider a tumor removal we have an excellent vet down in Orlando that is less than $100 for surgery. We just had one of my older girls down there about a month ago, we came home with tumor removed, on pain meds and he prescribed me antibiotics because she is one that seems to stress into URI's. Go figure, she did fine after her surgery and they weren't necessary.

He does a LOT of rats for the pedigree breeders and they have him trained well