How many Breeders should I start with?

[NathanNear]

I am new to breeding rats, and have a ball Python Collection that consists of:

1.2 Yellow Bellies currently eating 1 large mouse/wk
1.3 Albino Male het albino females 1 med mouse/wk
1.0 Spider 1 med rat/wk
.3 Normals 1 med rat/wk
and adding one more adult Pastel soon.

I have no idea what size of colony I am going to need in order to support this. I know the gestation of the rats will be approx a month, I will need 12 rats a week, and some will need to be a little older than others. Thats a total of 48/month. with an average of 12/litter I would need 4 females? or would I be better with 5? Also is one male sufficient enough to produce at this scale, or will I need a second? Also, Do I need to seperate parents from babies, and eachother or do the rats do alright on there own. Also what sized rack would I need in order to have sufficient space?

Please let me know, I would rather have too many than too few. Thanks.

[tonkatoyman]

It isn't that simple. Each female requires a gestation period, then the time to raise them up to the size you want them to be, also they need a break in between breeding. For your size collection I would recommend 2 to 3 females to every snake you are feeding. You will also need one male for every 4 or 5 females. Then the trick is getting them to rotate so some are in gestation, some are raising up and some are resting while you feed off the babies. Remember it takes approximately 8 weeks from the time she is bred to the time when she has raised wieners for you to feed off.

[tonkatoyman]

Here is our rat room to give you an idea of how to set up a rack. Also to answer your question, it is better if you group moms with babies separate from the breeding group to prevent death in the infants. They can get trampled in the tub. Sorry not used to the new youtube set upI will try again. Never mind I am a computer idiot.

[tonkatoyman]

If you want to see our set-up go to youtube and search for "The Rat Room" by Freakie-frog. Again sorry I'm an old !!! and not up on the internet.

[suzuki4life]

I am new to breeding rats, and have a ball Python Collection that consists of:

1.2 Yellow Bellies currently eating 1 large mouse/wk
1.3 Albino Male het albino females 1 med mouse/wk
1.0 Spider 1 med rat/wk
.3 Normals 1 med rat/wk
and adding one more adult Pastel soon.

I have no idea what size of colony I am going to need in order to support this. I know the gestation of the rats will be approx a month, I will need 12 rats a week, and some will need to be a little older than others. Thats a total of 48/month. with an average of 12/litter I would need 4 females? or would I be better with 5? Also is one male sufficient enough to produce at this scale, or will I need a second? Also, Do I need to seperate parents from babies, and eachother or do the rats do alright on there own. Also what sized rack would I need in order to have sufficient space?

Please let me know, I would rather have too many than too few. Thanks.

you will need a freezer to freeze the rats ....

it is easier to breed for a big quality of snakes than just a few.

12 a litter? figure on 5-8 to be reasonable

Do you need to separate them? NO, but in your case I probably would to expedite growth to the sizes you want.

If I was in your shoes, I would run 2 tubs of 1.4 and some sort of nursing tub setup.

First rats produced I would let grow to the largest size you need and freeze off any you don't need that instant. You can allow them to nurse 4-5 weeks before mom normally just weans them herself.

You need 48 a month of varying sizes. Once I had approx. 4-6 months in the freezer and the snakes were just fed, then I would separate the males from the females entirely.

[Greez1986]

I was reading up on this as well and from what I gather it would be a good idea to have as many female rats as you do snakes, so I would recommend setting up three tubs with a 1.4 ratio for them. As stated above, its best to separate females with young ones so they can be raised without incident. Once your breeding is set-up and running you can freeze a few of the ones you have left over or sell them

[BILLB OKC]

I just started raising rats for my 11 ball pythons.

I have 24 females and 4 males.

I introduce a male to 2 females every 7 days and leave them together for 10 days and then remove him.

Hopefuly i will get 1-2 litters each week once they start to reproduce.

[suzuki4life]

I just started raising rats for my 11 ball pythons.

I have 24 females and 4 males.

I introduce a male to 2 females every 7 days and leave them together for 10 days and then remove him.

Hopefuly i will get 1-2 litters each week once they start to reproduce.

sounds like a bunch of work....


let them mate...
let them be raised to size (either in group or single tubs scenario)
cull and freeze when you get to the right size needed....

fill your sizes in the freezer big to little...

[theturtlepond]

I have 17 snakes and 7 female rats. That works pretty well. But not all of the snakes eat every week and a lot eat mice so that is why 7 works for me.