rack build tub ?

[Kristian]

I just picked up 2 sets of 1.2 ASF's to give breeding a go. They are in 10 gallon aquariums right now. Due to my rapidly shrinking available space, I would like to set up a typical rack system with tubs, gravity fed water and feed lab blocks on top of the screen.

I have seen racks that use kitty litter pans, mortar tubs and sterilite containers. None of these seem as good as glass aquariums. I have limited space so having a bunch of aquariums is out of the question. I have seen people mention those metal steam table pans, but I have never heard of anyone actually using them or building a rack for them. I think this is what I am going to use.

I plan on making a 6 shelf rack. 2 bins for the breeders, 2 bins for the weaned rats, and 2 bins for grow ups. My question is what size pan to use for each of these? I can get the pans in 4" and 6" deep. The 6" seems like it would be too deep for the weaned rats to reach the food and water at the top of the tub. the 4" pans seem very shallow. I am only 3 days into this project and would like to here from others that have experience with raising ASF's in racks. What depth should I go with?

[joshy171]

the 4 in work fine for me but if you want to go with the 6 you will need to have some sort of hopper that lowers the food to them. i personaly dont like feeding on top of the cage to i break up the lab mix. in which case the depth doesent mater.

[matt71915]

I would go with the 4 inch pans, less wasted space and its easier for the rats to get food if you put the food on the mesh.

[Kristian]

Problem. I originally told my wife that this project was going to cost about the same as a month's supply of feeders. So she is holding me to that budget ($150). Those metal pans alone would put me over budget. I picked up some mortar tubs instead. I also got the lumber and ordered the parts for the water system, and I am still within budget!

Now, I'm wondering if anyone can tell me from there own experience if these little guys can get through the 1/2" hardware cloth or not, and if so, can they get food through the 1/4"?

If the answers are yes and no respectfully, I'm going to have to come up with some other way to feed them. I was reading that some of you just throw food into the tubs. How's that working out? Would that work for all my tubs (breeder, weaned, grow ups)? I think it would be difficult to keep track of how much food is left in there.

[matt71915]

I would use 1/4 mesh. I have 1/2 I have had only 1 escape so far, i was surprised on how tight a space they can get out of.

this is the method i use to hold my food, i bent up a hopper like thing that i tied to the tub of the tubs. You could do the same thing but with 1/2 for block food.

mesh before i bent it


Tip:
if your tubs have a little hole in the top of 1 lip on the short length of the tub, they will chew it! All you have to do to prevent/ or fix it is wrap a piece of mesh around the lip like so:

[Kristian]

Ah, very good! Thank you very much, sir. I was wondering how I was going to plug that hole in the lip of the tub. I think I am ready to start building this thing.

[matt71915]

glad i could help. make sure to post some pics when you finish it