how cold it too cold for rats?

[Miranda2]

I have to keep my rats in the basement. Normally this isnt a problem it stays around 60-65 in winter. But with these brutal cold nights weve been having its been dropping down to 40/45. I only have 4 females and one male but I have a cage for the females(with hammocks etc) and the male is in a 40 gallon. I put a 60 watt CHE on his cage since he doesnt have anyone to snuggle with. These are pets as much as breeders so I dont want any sick rats. Its impossible to heat the whole basement, its big.
Any ideas on how to heat a cage safely. Luckily no babies or pregos at the moment to worry about.


Its almost impossible to find rats that arent sick in our area so I am really wanting to keep my healthy breeders that way. I have no myco or sneezing or any of that going on here.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

65/75 is optimum

You can go as low as 45 but production will start to slow down

40 you may experience some losses especially among the babies.

[wolfy-hound]

Using racks, my rats did just find in low-40s, because I set a piece of cardboard on top of each bin, covering 1/2 to 2/3 of the bin. The rats would move from front to back if they wanted to be warmer or cooler. I usually found them up front because the back area would be that warm. Rats generate a surprising amount of body heat apparently.

If you use a tank, provide a thick cardboard box big enough for the rats to fit into and nesting material and they will probably still be okay.

If they have no protection(an enclosed smallish spot to nest in) then you may have issues. Rats are super hardy critters.

[Miranda2]

Okay thanks. they have a box but prefer the hammock no matter what the weather, they all 4 pile in it rather then use the box(which has fleece in it too).

[wolfy-hound]

If they get cold enough, they'll probably move to the box. That's probably why they don't stay in it, in fact. Too warm with all of them piled in there, like rats love to sleep.

[cchardwick]

Personally I'd keep them at around 70F if possible. You could get a portable greenhouse and use an oil filled heater with a thermostat, maybe a fan for air circulation. You can get this greenhouse on Amazon for about $60.

[Miranda2]

Well its been cold but we got 35 babies and all are healthy so I guess they arent getting too cold. Thanks everyone.