Need opinions on getting rats as big as possible

[cassandra]

Hey folks,

My rat colony's destination is my boa and burm (and bp when she'll eat one). Getting rats to a size for the boa and bp is no problem, but I really want to get rats as large as possible for the burm so I can feed less per feeding.

Using my two breeder boys as a yardstick, they weigh in at 375 - 405g. But the grow out boys are just taking forever to get even to 350g. I should mention that I am working with getting the boys huge as the male rats seem to get bigger than the girls.

I don't want too high a fat content on them as I know that's not desirable, but does anyone have any tips on additional foods that may help speed up growth? I'm feeding Mazuri 6F in the hoppers.

I haven't wanted to put in Becky's mix in bowls just I'm just afraid they'll waste more than they eat...but...what else can I put in their tubs help healthy weight gain? Stuff I've thought about: apples, corn on the cob, carrots...opinions?

I do give them scraps from the kitchen I can, but honestly I just don't produce a lot of rat-eatable scraps, other than occ. beef/pork/chicken bones.

[cassandra]

Oh, the other thing I've been experimenting with is chew toys. I give everyone 6-8" cuts of thick cardboard tubes, but they a) don't last long and b) doesn't seem to satisfy their need to chew.

My grocery store sells tons of stuff in bulk (<3 Winco!) including dried pigs ears and various rawhide chews for dogs. I've given them all pig ears, which they seem to enjoy nomming on with various results, but do you think the rawhide is bad or okay?

[SnakesvsRodents]

What about switching over to rabbits for the burm?

[wilomn]

Why not stick with rabbits?

[FatBoy]

Had a burm....I found my best bet was FT guinie pigs from rodent pro. Can get them up to 4X, about the same size as a s/m rabbit.

[littleindiangirl]

My largest male rat is 800+ grams, he's mostly fat. His son is also close to 700 grams, a lot of fat on him too.

My leanest male is 400, and I consider him small (the same size as a lot of my female rats). The rest are right around 600 and just big loppy fuzzie butts

As far as I can tell, it's one line of rats where the males get large, but not too large. I have been taking care to not breed the overly fat ones and breeding ones I consider a good size and sticking with that. It's been working out well so far.

[Drew87]

My largest male rat is 800+ grams, he's mostly fat. His son is also close to 700 grams, a lot of fat on him too.

My leanest male is 400, and I consider him small (the same size as a lot of my female rats). The rest are right around 600 and just big loppy fuzzie butts

As far as I can tell, it's one line of rats where the males get large, but not too large. I have been taking care to not breed the overly fat ones and breeding ones I consider a good size and sticking with that. It's been working out well so far.

MY god thats huge, haha post some pics of the big boys please

[cassandra]

What about switching over to rabbits for the burm?

Why not stick with rabbits?

Rabbits are great and I can occ. get them for $8 from a feed store in Pomona, but gas is not great. The idea was to see if I could be self-sustaining...but at the size I can get these rats, Lourdes will mow right through them...

Soooo, yeah...guess I'll downsize the herd and go stock up on buns (call the feed store, see when they get buns in, take the truck, buy enough to fill the freezer).

Thanks for the comments guys!

[kc261]

One thing you might look in to is breeding guinea pigs. I really don't know much about it, but my limited understanding is that they are easy to breed. I know they grow up pretty fast. Their litter sizes are much smaller than rats though, so you might not really come out ahead.

[cassandra]

I think if I'm gonna breed another large species, I'd go with rabbits actually...but I don't think I have the space nor can the buns take the outdoors temperatures here (and I'm sure not gonna breed them in the house!).