Need help on Rat Qty.

[jglass38]

I have just about 18 adult breeding females to feed 16 snakes at any given time...

I saw that it was Sean who said 12 females to produce 10 rats per week. He also includes a 4 week rest after the weaning of a litter. I am not sure how many are doing that. I know I'm not. I don't allow girls to get pregnant when they are nursing but as soon as the babies are weaned they go back into the breeding rotation.

[littleindiangirl]

I saw that it was Sean who said 12 females to produce 10 rats per week. He also includes a 4 week rest after the weaning of a litter. I am not sure how many are doing that. I know I'm not. I don't allow girls to get pregnant when they are nursing but as soon as the babies are weaned they go back into the breeding rotation.

Yea we rotate (cycle) breed, giving them at least 4 weeks to regain weight and health. Whatever is refused at feeding is either gassed and frozen, or let to grow up. We have a a small handful of snakes eating FT, so it makes sense to freeze any leftovers.

If you were to not do cycle breeding like me, you could get by at far less females, but I like my numbers and my breeders will get to hang around for years.

[jglass38]

Yea we rotate (cycle) breed, giving them at least 4 weeks to regain weight and health. Whatever is refused at feeging is either gassed and frozen, or let to grow up. We have a a small handful of snakes eating FT, so it makes sense to freeze any leftovers.

If you were to not do cycle breeding like me, you could get by at far less females, but I like my numbers and my breeders will get to hang around for years.

I guess that is where the difference in quantity of breeders is coming in. The extra 4 weeks will necessitate a much larger number of breeders to get the same amount of production.

[Gloryhound]

Wow! 54 adult females to feed 24 snakes? In the past I was able to feed 50+ snakes per week with about 8 groups of 1.4. I think your numbers are off. Can you clarify?

As stated above we do the full 12 week cycles and also not every girl goes every time. Additionally we had some babies (still do) that require new borns at every feeding and generally we feed every 3-4 days till they pick up some weight. We have one that had to be force fed pinky mice and finally ate on her own during the last feeding. (Once she dropped to below 35 grams drastic measures kicked in and brought on the force feeding. Once she gets to between 50 and 60 grams we will swap her over to rat pinkies.) We like to produce more than we need and help out friends as we can, but as soon as babies come due the friends get cut off!

[JoshJP7]

Gloryhound you mentioned a grow out rack to get the rats larger... the rack in buying has 21 tubs and I only need 12 tubs right now so I can use a couple of the empty tubs to "grow up" some rats to larger size correct? I checked out the "grow out" racks and they dont seem much bigger than a "breeding rack"... I'm having the rack shipped out next week and I currently have some local pet stores I buy my live rats from work on getting me 24 females and 4 males... I have several snakes that eat FT so I plan on keeping some in the freezer incase I need them.

Can I keep the males in the same tub until they are ready to breed? Any pointers I should know before I dive in... please please let me know

[stangs13]

Gloryhound you mentioned a grow out rack to get the rats larger... the rack in buying has 21 tubs and I only need 12 tubs right now so I can use a couple of the empty tubs to "grow up" some rats to larger size correct? I checked out the "grow out" racks and they dont seem much bigger than a "breeding rack"... I'm having the rack shipped out next week and I currently have some local pet stores I buy my live rats from work on getting me 24 females and 4 males... I have several snakes that eat FT so I plan on keeping some in the freezer incase I need them.

Can I keep the males in the same tub until they are ready to breed? Any pointers I should know before I dive in... please please let me know

It wont hurt to keep the males together! They are social animals.
Yes, you can use the extra tubs to grow up feeders/breeders, just separate the sexes! Good luck, and we will need pics for sure!