rat growth rate?

[nchapa]

Hello, I am thinking about breeding my own rats. I have 3 snakes soon to be 4, 2 balls eating weaned, and 2 dwarf retics that are eating large rats.

I have a couple of questions. How long does it take for a rat to get to 250 to 300 grams?

How many rats should I get for this project 1.2, or 1.3?

I read that cat food is just as good as rat food, if not better, what do you all think of this?

Is there a chart that says the approximate rat growth rate?

How many containers would I need? I assume at least 3. 1 for the breeders, 1 for females, and 1 for males, is that good?

Thanks,
Nick

[littleindiangirl]

Cat food is nothing like rat food. They are carnivores, rats are omnivores.

Senior dog food is better, but really rat food is the best for rats.

Take a look in our stickies section, there are quite a few stickies to help you figure out the best means for breeding your own feeders.

Male rats will reach 250-300 grams 2-3 months in, females will generally be around 3-4, sometimes 5.

I honestly believe that right now, buying them frozen online will work out best for you and be the most cost efficient.
http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showthread.php?t=69076

[nchapa]

Thanks for the reply. I am still not satisfied thinking its more cost effective to buy frozen.

I have several quotes for 25 weaned, 25 small, and 50 large, the cost for the rats is really good, its the shipping. shipping is something like $150 for 3 packages. total came out to almost $300 and that is 6 moths supply feeding once a week.

thats 600 a year, doesnt sound to cost effective for me. local stores are worse at 5 for small rats, and 10 dollars for large.

[littleindiangirl]

My quote from Rodent Pro for 50 jumbo rats, and 50 weaners used up 1 full box, and a half of the second box.

Total.... $207.09


You need 48 full size rats for a full size supply for 6 months. That is 48 rats that you will be feeding, watering and housing for 3-4 months before you can put them down and feed.

8 rats cost about $159 a year just to FEED. (not bedding or housing) <--- happened to be a number I had around from another thread

It costs about $19.88 to feed one rat for a year.
Divide by 52 weeks in a year....
$0.38 cents to raise a rat a week.

Multiply that $.38 cents by the approx 16 weeks you will raise each rat...
It costs $6.08 to raise each rat for 3.5 months.
Multiply by the 48 rats you need....

It will cost you $293.61 a half year (6 months) to raise each rat to feeding size.

That is NOT including bedding, and the cost of the feeding and housing the Breeder females and males.

[Bettacreek]

You could cut costs by quite a bit by using poultry or hog feed. That'll be about half the price of cat food, plus cat food is NOT ok for rats, because of such a high protein content.
You'll also want more than three tubs. One tub for each litter you plan to have at a time. Some people wean as early as 3 weeks, but, in optimal conditions, you should leave the babies with the mom for 4-6 weeks depending on genders, males should be seperated at about 4-5 weeks and females can be left with mom for 4-6 weeks (or forever for that matter).

From the little bit of research I did yesterday, 250-300g would be in the 3 month range.

[Somed00d]

It costs about $19.88 to feed one rat for a year.

Can I ask how you got that number? I am working on my own calculations but Its hard to gauge the feed cost.

Richard

[nchapa]

My quote from Rodent Pro for 50 jumbo rats, and 50 weaners used up 1 full box, and a half of the second box.

Total.... $207.09


You need 48 full size rats for a full size supply for 6 months. That is 48 rats that you will be feeding, watering and housing for 3-4 months before you can put them down and feed.

8 rats cost about $159 a year just to FEED. (not bedding or housing) <--- happened to be a number I had around from another thread

It costs about $19.88 to feed one rat for a year.
Divide by 52 weeks in a year....
$0.38 cents to raise a rat a week.

Multiply that $.38 cents by the approx 16 weeks you will raise each rat...
It costs $6.08 to raise each rat for 3.5 months.
Multiply by the 48 rats you need....

It will cost you $293.61 a half year (6 months) to raise each rat to feeding size.

That is NOT including bedding, and the cost of the feeding and housing the Breeder females and males.

Ok now its starting to make sense, I can see how its not to cost effective. Thanks for all the info, I think you just desuaded me from breeding rats.

The shipping on frozen rats is what kills me, but I just realized the rodent pro, and some other sellers use greyhound, I'll see if the price comes down from that. By the way Rodent pro is still charging me 297 in the quote must be the shipping to my area.

[SatanicIntention]

Don't do Rodent Pro, their feeders are disgusting and thin. I use Big Cheese Rodents and others have had good luck with The Mouse Factory. BCR is low on shipping and the feeders are good quality. TMF is also very high quality too, but more expensive.

[littleindiangirl]

Can I ask how you got that number? I am working on my own calculations but Its hard to gauge the feed cost.

Richard

The 19.88 was the
"8 rats cost about $159 a year just to FEED"

I divided $159/8 to get 19.88.

I had done some calculations about how many pounds I go through in a month a ways back and divided it up between the number of adult rats I always have around. (Since I feed or gas babies at 3 weeks of age).

I spend roughly over $50 a month for food for my rats. I have about 30 adults (6 large males in that number and at least 5 retired girls), and several grow ups. I spend in total about $70 a month to feed and bed my rats. (asf's too)

I really would try to persuade anyone before switching to a poultry diet to do their own research and feel 100% safe with it. There are several diets out there, and doing a little legwork as well as outlining the pros and cons would be instrumental.

I personally have not looked at poultry feed, so I can't say yes or no to it. However I hope everyone is following as close as possible to a lab diet for their rats to ensure they are providing the optimal nutrition for their breeders.

Mazuri and Harlan spend quite a bit of time, money and research formulating these diets to provide everything a rat needs. Mazuri can be special ordered from any Purina Dealer. (Or go on their website to find a dealer near you)

Following those guidelines as closely as possible in every aspect will go a long ways towards providing the best for our feeders and ultimately our snakes.





Nchapa, my outline is a very rough outline and I am sure there will be more cost effective ways to save a couple of bucks here or there without sacrificing quality of life. You could do it several different ways.

You could perhaps start raising your own weaners, and you feed prekilled right? My link I provided earlier in the thread is a write up on how to raise food for less than 5 snakes that all eat frozen thawed.
http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showthread.php?t=69076


You'd be raising your own weaners, so you only have to buy the jumbos. That may or may not save you money.

I suggest sitting down and doing the math to figure it out.

[Bettacreek]

Mazuri and Harlan spend quite a bit of time, money and research formulating these diets to provide everything a rat needs.

If you notice, they also have at least a dozen different formulas. As long as you keep the food within the "guidlines" of what rats thrive on, then you should be fine. Rats are omnivores, they're not eating a specific lab block out in the wild, but getting mixed grains, veggies, meats, insects, etc.

Another thing with poultry feed, make sure you do NOT get medicated (saw a bag of it when I was picking up bedding and duck food the other day).