Rat Breeding Scheudle (Help)

[Halfdawg]

I am thinking of setting up a Rat rack for breeding. At this time I have 6 Ball Pythons and more soon I am sure. I need 6 fuzzy rats every 5-7 days. How many female's would you suggest I setup and how much rest time for females? I was thinking of freezing all fuzzy's and feeding F/T.


Thank you Richard

[Kagez28]

i would say a good rule of thumb is as many breeding females as snake you own. that may seem like alot, but i am pretty sure the math works out. i am sure more experience breeders will give a good number, as i just started breeding myself.

[lord jackel]

Ideally you would want 12 females and 1 male.


You rotate the male ever week in with a different female. After about 4 weeks the females will start giving birth. It takes about 8 weeks to get this process started but once running you should never run out of the correct number of feeders.

Here is how it works assuming wk 1 the first female gives birth (to about 10 on avg.)

Wk1-4 the first female is with the male then the 2nd, then the 3rd finally the 4th
wk5 - female 1 delivers - male is with female 5 and moves ever week
wk6 - female 2 delivers
wk7 - female 3 delivers
wk8 - female 4 delivers - you feed off week 1's babies (they are 4 weeks old and pup size)
wk9 - female 5 delivers, feed of female 2's babies, female 1 is resting
wk 10 - female 6 delivers, feed of female 3's babies, female 1,2 are resting
wk11 - female 7 delivers, feed of female 4's babies, female 1, 2,3 are resting
wk 12 - female 8 delivers, feed of female 5's babies, male is now going back in with female 1, females 2,3,4 are resting.

See the pattern? Each female = 1 week with male, 4 weeks to give birth, 4 weeks to ween and 4 weeks to rest. (approx weeks as they are this exact)

I have this same setup but using 4 females for each week (48 females total) and for the past 3 years and have always had the correct number of feeders needed (any excess are sold off to a local pet store or friends)

You can work with less females but you will stress their bodies by over breeding them without the necessary rest period so they will die quicker and produce less.

Let me know if you have any questions.

[littleindiangirl]

i have an excel spreadsheet for 10 females, with a litter a week, and 3 weeks off for rest. I can send it to you if you want. *imma nerd*

[littleindiangirl]

I have been thinking about the current format I have for my spreadsheet, and I did notice a major flaw, that has been fixed just a few minutes ago. I still have a small problem when it comes to when the mother weans her pups. Since this isn't an exact science, she may have a visiting preggo female for a few days until I feed off her pups.

I've updated my version (again) just those few minutes ago to include:
3 weeks with the male,
1 week in limbo [when she should have birth]
4 full weeks with her pups.
She get 3 weeks off, and then back in with the male.
A full 8 week period.

This spreadsheet still includes 10 female, and 2 males, with each female having 3 full weeks of rest.

7 tubs total: 4 for nursing mothers, 2 for males, and 1 for Vacationing. One more can be added for weanlings. I didn't need it as my snakes should be able to finish off one litter a week.

It technically should also be able to switch to 5 females and 1 litter every 2 weeks, with the same 8 week period. Hopefully *crosses fingers*

[littleindiangirl]

Ha! I made myself sound stupid again... I can count I swear!
Week F1
1 M1
2 M1
3 M1
4 LITTER
5 T1
6 T1
7 T1
8 T1
9 V
10 V
11 V

So it's actually an 11 week round trip.