Worth Breeding rats?

[Brownspidey]

So I currently have 6 snakes. I was wondering if it would be worth getting a single pair of breeding rats to help feed my collection?

I don't feel a need to work my way to a colony yet but maybe every couple months supplying my snakes with my own food maybe fun and a little cost saving.

Thoughts? Suggestions?


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[Sunnieskys]

I can't because feeding live makes me cry like a baby. And I would never be able to put them down myself. If you can, more power to you.

[Zincubus]

Fun ?


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[redshepherd]

It's not worth it unless you personally like pet rats to begin with, like a fun side hobby. It barely saves any money per month compared to buying frozen in bulk. They smell, take up room, and require cost of care and food, time and effort. A LOT more care and time than snakes do.

I remember seeing someone post that they breed the fancy desirable variations in coats for rats, and breed for good temperament, so they end up selling the quality ones as pets for up to $30 or $50 per rat! And then save some others for food. That's nice, but you gotta love rats lol.

[redshepherd]

Fun ?


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Some people find breeding rats fun, sorta crazy isn’t it

[Zincubus]

Some people find breeding rats fun, sorta crazy isn’t it

I'm sure breeding rats is fabulous but not for food though .... ain't my definition of fun tbh ..


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[Brownspidey]

Fun ?


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I have never breed rats before so it's something new I'd be learning how to do. That is the fun part.


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[PythonBabes]

I only have one snake myself and I breed my own rats. It's fun to me, except the one male I have can get stinky sometimes. As for breeding them for food/attachment, I'm only really attached to my first breeding pair, Wendi and Bluey, and maybe a few I know I'm holding back. When you have 8-10 babies being born, you can't be like 'oh he/she is soo cute I can't feed him'.

It's a great way to make a little side cash too. I don't have pet quality vs feeder quality, all of my rats are friendly and are suitable for pet homes. I sell my extra rats (I do only have just one snake) to pet owners and my small local pet shop will also buy the females.

[cchardwick]

If you are breeding rats for feeders I would recommend getting all white rats so you don't get attached to one color or another. Otherwise you'll save all the pretty ones, they will have pretty babies and you will stop feeding them off LOL. That's how I started, then made the hard decision to feed off all of them except the white ones. Now it's much easier.

You can actually save quite a bit of money breeding rats. If you breed in aquariums it soils the food quickly, they waste a lot, there a lot of time cleaning, etc. But if you go to a rack system you can feed them once a week in bins above and the food never spoils and never gets wasted. You can save more money on feed if you switch to dog food but I prefer a professional rodent diet. The bedding is the next expense, if you can find shredded paper it's free and cuts your costs in half.

Right now I have 50 bins of rats and mice, takes me about 2 hours to clean them all. I prefer to clean twice a week, so that's 4 hours of cleaning per week. It's not too bad if you consider the time it would take to thaw and feed frozen rodents for all my snakes. I actually prefer to feed live now, I can feed almost 50 snakes in about 20 minutes. I'm sure it would take much longer feeding frozen and you would get a lot more snakes that don't eat. There are a few I do fresh kill for with CO2 (jumbo rats for my retics and adult mice for my King snake).

I would recommend breeding your own rats on a small scale to try it out. You have to have the nerve to feed live or to gas them with CO2, probably the biggest hurdle for most people. I have plenty of local snake breeders and pet stores that can take all of my excess, in fact there's a local pet store that buys 300 rats per week and he runs out by Tuesday and is out the rest of the week. He needs more but the supply isn't there, so I never worry about getting too many.

[Brownspidey]

If you are breeding rats for feeders I would recommend getting all white rats so you don't get attached to one color or another. Otherwise you'll save all the pretty ones, they will have pretty babies and you will stop feeding them off LOL. That's how I started, then made the hard decision to feed off all of them except the white ones. Now it's much easier.

You can actually save quite a bit of money breeding rats. If you breed in aquariums it soils the food quickly, they waste a lot, there a lot of time cleaning, etc. But if you go to a rack system you can feed them once a week in bins above and the food never spoils and never gets wasted. You can save more money on feed if you switch to dog food but I prefer a professional rodent diet. The bedding is the next expense, if you can find shredded paper it's free and cuts your costs in half.

Right now I have 50 bins of rats and mice, takes me about 2 hours to clean them all. I prefer to clean twice a week, so that's 4 hours of cleaning per week. It's not too bad if you consider the time it would take to thaw and feed frozen rodents for all my snakes. I actually prefer to feed live now, I can feed almost 50 snakes in about 20 minutes. I'm sure it would take much longer feeding frozen and you would get a lot more snakes that don't eat. There are a few I do fresh kill for with CO2 (jumbo rats for my retics and adult mice for my King snake).

I would recommend breeding your own rats on a small scale to try it out. You have to have the nerve to feed live or to gas them with CO2, probably the biggest hurdle for most people. I have plenty of local snake breeders and pet stores that can take all of my excess, in fact there's a local pet store that buys 300 rats per week and he runs out by Tuesday and is out the rest of the week. He needs more but the supply isn't there, so I never worry about getting too many.

This was very helpful information thank you so much. I think I will start small to get the feel for it.

I think I'll build a mini 3 rack so I can hold them in bins as suggested.

Where do you keep the rats ? I would like to not keep them in the house? Would the garage be fine?


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