My new setup?

[ENA Reptiles]

Hi im new to breeding rats and i have a 10+ balls and plan on expanding. So its getting quite costly for rats and i dont want to go through the hastle of f/t because all of mine feed live. This is my setup i have a 2.4 in there and was wondering if this is enough rats to keep a good supply?

I believe they are all up to size but i have not witnessed any breeding. My aunt says she saw them but nothing for myself. How long before i should separate certain females i have read that they go into breeding mode every couple of days but i have had them for well over two weeks.


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[ENA Reptiles]

So i just checked my temps and it at 89F so now i see why. They are in my garage and i opened the garage door. My question now is how do i lower the temps?


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[artgecko]

Fans... Ice in water, etc. But most that successfully breed in a shed or garage have some sort of AC...I've heard that males can go sterile at temps over 80f, not sure how accurate that is.

It takes 21 days for females to give birth after being bred. Also, you will need separate tubs for mothers to birth and for pups to grow out. You have to separate male pups from their mothers at 4-5 weeks to prevent them breeding their mothers.

Personally, I'd also add hardware cloth to the sides...put more cutouts in. Rats can be susceptible to breathing issues and ammonia may still build up inside the tub with just the top screened.

[Marrissa]

Might as well start building a rack. You're going to get there very quick. I got up to about four freestanding tubs of rats when I had about 10 ball pythons to feed. Now that I'm at 15 snakes, I definitely need the racks. There's a few different ways to build them and it's not too hard or expensive. One is the cement tub rack. Another you can use those same kind of tubs and have shelves where you slide the tubs in and out.

That tub is going to be a mad house when you have several litters of 2-3 week old babies running around. Plus with dividing them up into racks, you can divide the females into groups of 2-3 and rotate the male through. Your females will be better off getting a break after babies and you won't have one massive population boom from a bunch of babies at once.

It's also good to get in contact with other local reptile keepers. I have a guy that has a burm and a retic that won't switch to bunnies so I sell him my retired females and rats that didn't get eaten before they got too big for my snakes. And before that (and before I moved) there was a local guy I gave all my extras to before they got too big. You'll come across a bunch of your snakes not eating at once and wonder what the heck to do with all the weanling rats before they get to big in a few weeks.

And welcome to breeding your own feeders! It's a learning curve for sure. I find it pretty rewarding. I really enjoy breeding the rats and mice. And the racks make cleaning/feeding/organizing/etc so much easier.