Communal Breeding....Gone Wrong

[Twisted Reptiles]

Here is a pretty good link for rat racks and birthing racks and alot of info! I used his ideas for the rat breeding rack but had to put my own twist on it and I made up my own birthing rack just lloking at a few and got my own ideas. Here are mine so you can see.

Here is my breeding rack minus 2 tubs due to lowes being out when I got my supplies. I used clays measurements but had to only make it 4 high and not 6 due to the ceiling height in my basement so I just added another 4 to the right side of the original 4.

This is the birthing rack I made all with my own measurements and what not. Made it only 2 shelves high but can always add shelves higher as needed and as the ceiling height will allow. But Clays birthing rack should suit you good for your larger scale operation.

I just started out 2 months ago and got my first litters starting last monday. I had all my females go within 7 days and got 50 babies from 5 moms and I have one prego yet. I have had a few that have died due to unknown reasons. I lost 4 babies total out of them 50. They weren't chewed on or anything I just found them all blue and not moving. Just thought I would show you my small setup. I started with three groups of 1.3 and am gonna raise a few females up to make a few more groups.

What size pans are those you used in the birthing rack?

[BAD Morphs]

they are kitty litter tubs from walmart at 2.62 a piece. The dimensions of them tubs are 14"X10"X3.5". And I forgot to give you the link in my first post LOL. So here that is.
http://www.arbreptiles.com/cages/rat...ing_rack.shtml

[matt71915]

some dollar stores carry those same kitty pans...

[BAD Morphs]

Well where were you with that info last week? LOL Thats is good to know though! What dollar stores carry them? I would like to know for future additions!!

[rebeccabecca]

I had a really mean male who would kill any newly introduced female and was beating up the girls, I ended up killing him and getting a friendly pet rat to take his place. We have only had one fight so far with pinkies that left 2 dead . We have left sons of the male(by accedent as I didn't bother sexing oops)there has been no fights between them. What works for some might not work for others. All my females are giving me 8-15 pinkies which live until something eats them.

[matt71915]

Well where were you with that info last week? LOL Thats is good to know though! What dollar stores carry them? I would like to know for future additions!!

Im not sure exactly which ones carry them. I think stores in bigger citys might be more likely to have them. The one in town didnt have any but i went to one nearby milwaukee and they had them

[BAD Morphs]

Im not sure exactly which ones carry them. I think stores in bigger citys might be more likely to have them. The one in town didnt have any but i went to one nearby milwaukee and they had them

Well the only dollar stores we have here are dollar tree and family dollar. So I am gonna have to check there. We also have discount store like biglots and stuff so if I find them cheaper at one of them I will let everyone know!

[jglass38]

Setting up single Female Moms will give You the least deaths and most production.

Agreed! I had to often keep multiple moms together due to space issues and occasionally had torn up or killed babies. Keeping males in with mothers is even more of an issue.

[rjk890]

I also used Clays design and currently have 5 racks running with 6 concrete mixing tubs each. They are each stocked with 1.5 breeder rats.
I do not pull pregos, and have been doing it this way for about two years.
I leave the same 1.5 group in the same tub for life, and do not have many issues.

What size are your female breeders?
I have found that female rats under 250g do not make good mothers. They will eat their own litter.

If you touch the pinks with your bare hands, some males, or even some moms will eat them. I buy the cheap plastic gloves at the dollar store for moving pinks during cleaning. (They are $1. for 100ct.)

I have 1 rack with 6 concrete mixing tubs stocked with 1.5 ASF's running the same way, and have no issues with them either.

[BAD Morphs]

I also used Clays design and currently have 5 racks running with 6 concrete mixing tubs each. They are each stocked with 1.5 breeder rats.
I do not pull pregos, and have been doing it this way for about two years.
I leave the same 1.5 group in the same tub for life, and do not have many issues.

What size are your female breeders?
I have found that female rats under 250g do not make good mothers. They will eat their own litter.

If you touch the pinks with your bare hands, some males, or even some moms will eat them. I buy the cheap plastic gloves at the dollar store for moving pinks during cleaning. (They are $1. for 100ct.)

I have 1 rack with 6 concrete mixing tubs stocked with 1.5 ASF's running the same way, and have no issues with them either.

I am going to do an experiment by leaving prego's in with the male and females in a few tubs and pulling females out prego females from the other and see which yield the most babies and which have a better baby survival rate. So far I have had 50 babies in 7 days from 5 moms and all of which were pulled from the breeder rack. I have had 4 total lost babies but none were due to the mother eating them. So I think this way works well. I am gonna tray and leave a few in tubs like I said. I keep 1.3 in the tubs so we will see what happens. Oh and out of them 5 moms one wasn't a good mother so I fostered out her babies and am giving her one more chance cause that was her very first litter and she gave 16 babies 3 of which died for unkown reasons.