Rats for fun and maybe food

[greenmonkey51]

I've been throwing around the idea of keeping a pair of rats for the fun of it and to get my own feeders. How hard is it to raise the babies and do you keep the male and females together.

[unimom]

I have been daydreaming too, is there a thread or website anyone knows of that will explain all the basics?

[Shelby]

It's sooo easy.

Get a girl rat, and a boy rat. Make sure they are at least 4 months old, and put them together. Wait about a month. Ooh and aah over the cute pinkies. Raise them to the right size, and feed off.

Wow, that was hard.

[unimom]

Smart Aleck

I meant things like diet, housing, etc.

[Shelby]

Diet - quality dog food that has meat as 1st ingredient.. and a mix of puffed rice/wheat, cherios and oats.

housing.. wire cages, lab style cages.. whatever really.

[unimom]

Thanks

[SatanicIntention]

I have 15 of them, so I would hope I would know how to care for all of the mooching boogers.

Try www.rattiusmaximus.com Chrissy Knight has wonderful care information, not to mention gorgeous babies

You can also sign up for www.the-real-rat-community.com but don't mention breeding or feeding them to your snakes. You won't be looked at too kindly, LoL. There are alot of wonderful, knowledgeable people and Chrissy owns the forum. They know everything from making your own food mixes to care to medical advice.

I can post my own food mix here if anyone wants to know. Costs maybe $25-$30 every 2-3 months, but I am feeding ALOT of ratties.

You can also get a good quality lab block. http://www.teklad.com/index.htm has great products. I would get a lab block that has 14-16% protein. Any more and you are looking for protein allergies. Any dog food you use shouldn't have anymore than 16-18% protein. I found an Iams brand, Lamb and Rice, that only has 18% protein and my girls and guy are doing great on it, no scabbies or itching. But I barely put any in my mix, so they aren't getting very much per day. They get mainly grains, pastas, fruit, nuts, and anything we had for dinner that night

And yes, they should be kept in wire cages or custom cabinet cages. I only recommend Martin's Cages, www.martinscages.com These are very well-built cages and are a great price. Very easy to put together too. I built my own cabinet cage as I prefer easier cleaning. My cage is a 3'x2'x4' melamine-coated particle board cage. It has 4 doors, and 4 levels with smaller shelves interspersed throughout the levels. Only cost about $120 to build, and I only have to clean it once a month There are 10 girls living in this cage right now and they have PLENTY of room.

Ok, I'll stop going on and on... If anyone wants to know anything specific about diet, care, medical/health issues, let me know.

[frankykeno]

We have 4 pet adult rats (the 2 females should be preggie right now). Like Becky we mix our own feed....very easy! Cost effective too as most of the mixes sold at the pet store are way too expensive and a lot of waste. We just put some lab block in, then a bit of dog food (we get this free from samples for the local pet store and feed store...very nice quality stuff), add in some mixed cereals, a bit of big flake oatmeal, and some trail mix (for people) we get cheap in bulk. The love chocolate btw and it is not dangerous for them as it is for dogs. Avoid citrus fruits.

There is a list out there of recommended and not recommended foods for rats but darned if I can find it (Becky do you have it?)

Rats are easy to keep, have little smell relative to the stink mice put out, are well mannered if handled reguarily (watch the females with babies tho!), and not picky eaters. We give ours steak and ham bones to chew on for their teeth and a bit of whatever was on the dinner menu too. The love pasta!

Once per week they get an end slice of bread dipped in a little bit of olive oil (one slice split between 4 big rats). It keeps their coats in perfect condition and costs basically pennies.

We just figured out our first order from The Mouse Factory though and it comes out (with shipping) to only about $1.12 per prey item (3 different sized rats) or less....so I'm not sure if it's even cost effective to raise my own.


~~Jo~~

[mlededee]

becky, did you get any of your breeder rats from rattius maximus or just your pet rats? i don't know anything about all the different pedigrees and whatnot, but they have some seriously CUTE babies!

[SatanicIntention]

Yep, I have some of her babies! Look at Bruxy McClickerson's litter. See that girl in the top, left corner? She's MINE! Mmm... Double Blues... *drool* I'm getting 4 more boys from her: a fawn dumbo named RMAX Macula Lutea(Mack), a pearl hairless dumbo named RMAX Skeetereeter(Skeet), a mismarked Black eyed white named RMAX The Moose Is Loose(Moose), and a Black wedge-blazed capped dalmation dumbo named RMAX Dually Dun It(Dually). They are all so fat and gorgeous I'll have to post pictures when I FINALLY get them.

I don't breed rats, as it is against the contracts that I sign with Chrissy. I don't breed my other rats because it would cost me too stinkin' much to get the size babies I need. So I just order frozen ones and be done with it.