Anyone Breed Rats in their Garage?

[EvergladesExotics]

Hello all,

I’ll be moving to a new home in just over a month. The home has an attached garage and I was hoping I could successfully breed my rats in there. In my current home, the rats are kept on my screened in patio. This has posed two problems:

1) I cannot keep feed out on top of the wire mesh because other critters will come feast on it, so I’ve been wasting food by putting it inside the tubs with the rats.
2) In the South Florida heat, my production slows to a near dead stop for several months over the summer.

I’m hoping that by putting them into a garage with a window a/c unit set at 78-80°F my current issues will be solved.

My only concern is smell because the garage is connected to the house and is rather not smell rats in my living room. I run approximately 60 breeder females. I’m assuming some sort of exhaust fan will be needed, but how will that interfere with the a/c? Also, the garage is enclosed, but not insulated. Is this an issue? Anyways, if someone has thoughts or has had success in a set up such as this, please chime in! Thanks

[Bogertophis]

Short answer: Yes, & you should be able to make this work too.

When I lived in the desert, I had a "swamp" cooler* installed on the roof of my garage (that was attached to my house). *You have plenty of humidity, so
you'll need a regular A/C (which unfortunately costs more to run than a swamp cooler). My cooler was controlled by thermostat.

The cooler down-drafted into the approximate center of the garage (a huge 4+ car garage, btw- if yours is smaller, it won't take as much to cool), & I also
had 4 "up-ducts" installed, so that when the cooler ran, the stale warm air rose up & out of the garage. This kept the odors out of the attached house very
well. The up-ducts automatically flap closed when the air wasn't running, so in the winter the warm air stayed in. I used the garage for my one vehicle at
the same time too, but it wasn't opened frequently...just when I came & went to work etc. (My garage was 'fininshed'- ie. insulated, even the door.)

[EvergladesExotics]

Short answer: Yes, & you should be able to make this work too.

When I lived in the desert, I had a "swamp" cooler* installed on the roof of my garage (that was attached to my house). *You have plenty of humidity, so
you'll need a regular A/C (which unfortunately costs more to run than a swamp cooler). My cooler was controlled by thermostat.

The cooler down-drafted into the approximate center of the garage (a huge 4+ car garage, btw- if yours is smaller, it won't take as much to cool), & I also
had 4 "up-ducts" installed, so that when the cooler ran, the stale warm air rose up & out of the garage. This kept the odors out of the attached house very
well. The up-ducts automatically flap closed when the air wasn't running, so in the winter the warm air stayed in. I used the garage for my one vehicle at
the same time too, but it wasn't opened frequently...just when I came & went to work etc. (My garage was 'fininshed'- ie. insulated, even the door.)

This is really helpful! The garage I’ll have is only a one car garage, so much smaller. I’m going to look into the up-ducts that you installed, as they sound like they will be what I need to keep the air circulation going and smell down. I’ll look into seeing how much insulating the garage would be, hopefully not too much. Thanks!!

[Bogertophis]

You could probably do a lot of insulating of the garage (even the door) yourself...it would be cheaper than hiring someone, & save money in the long run.

With your garage being so much smaller, you'd probably only need 1 or 2 up-ducts; I don't remember them being very expensive to install either- those who
work on HVAC should know all about them, & maybe you can find a good handyman to install them for you. They work simply & by themselves, a win.

But now that I think about it...my garage was "finished" meaning I also had a ceiling...you don't, right? So you'd just need venting above to the outside.
But same idea, cool air sinks, heat rises...they make fans for attics etc...you might want control for the seasons?

[EvergladesExotics]

You could probably do a lot of insulating of the garage (even the door) yourself...it would be cheaper than hiring someone, & save money in the long run.

With your garage being so much smaller, you'd probably only need 1 or 2 up-ducts; I don't remember them being very expensive to install either- those who
work on HVAC should know all about them, & maybe you can find a good handyman to install them for you. They work simply & by themselves, a win.

But now that I think about it...my garage was "finished" meaning I also had a ceiling...you don't, right? So you'd just need venting above to the outside.
But same idea, cool air sinks, heat rises...they make fans for attics etc...you might want control for the seasons?

Correct, there’s no ceiling, just the roof. There is mesh venting on the underside of the soffits on the outside. Do you think these combined with two up-ducts would be enough to keep the smell from coming inside the main house? I’ll also be putting in a window a/c unit if that matters. Thanks!

[Bogertophis]

Correct, there’s no ceiling, just the roof. There is mesh venting on the underside of the soffits on the outside. Do you think these combined with two up-ducts would be enough to keep the smell from coming inside the main house? I’ll also be putting in a window a/c unit if that matters. Thanks!

You wouldn't use up-ducts, they go in the ceiling (that you don't have). (-sorry, didn't mean to confuse-)

I think a window a/c should be fine. Cool air sinks & warm air rises- you'll have to try it, I'm not sure if it will vent out the soffit vents well enough- you still might
need an exhaust fan for best circulation. Make sure the bottom of your garage door has a good rubber seal on it, otherwise you'll lose a lot of cool air under it, &
lots of wild creatures may also want to come in. (for cool air or the rodent perfume, lol) Also, make sure the door into the house has good weather-sealing
on it (to help keep out the garage air).

[Danger noodles]

Short answer: Yes, & you should be able to make this work too.

When I lived in the desert, I had a "swamp" cooler* installed on the roof of my garage (that was attached to my house). *You have plenty of humidity, so
you'll need a regular A/C (which unfortunately costs more to run than a swamp cooler). My cooler was controlled by thermostat.

The cooler down-drafted into the approximate center of the garage (a huge 4+ car garage, btw- if yours is smaller, it won't take as much to cool), & I also
had 4 "up-ducts" installed, so that when the cooler ran, the stale warm air rose up & out of the garage. This kept the odors out of the attached house very
well. The up-ducts automatically flap closed when the air wasn't running, so in the winter the warm air stayed in. I used the garage for my one vehicle at
the same time too, but it wasn't opened frequently...just when I came & went to work etc. (My garage was 'fininshed'- ie. insulated, even the door.)

Four car garage!!!

[Bogertophis]

Four car garage!!!

Yeah...a garage "to die for", with a bathroom, laundry sink & cabinets everywhere. I miss that house. A local builder built it custom for his parents & then there
was a pretty big earthquake (-that was in So. Calif.) & they pretty much fled the state. Home sales were in a slump for a while (go figure?) so there it sat, still
waiting for a buyer when I happened to be in the market, & they were tired of waiting for a buyer, so I made an offer & they took it. I'm sure the real estate
agent expected to sell it to a guy- not expecting a woman to be so excited for a huge garage, lol- though it had lots more going for it anyway. I couldn't believe
it either, to tell you the truth.