Rat breeding questions??

[jordy1380]

Ok, so I have been breeding rats for the last 8-10 months and it has been goin great. It is a little bit of extra work to do it, but I think that it is fun to have all those rats. It also is nice to have food for the balls whenever I want. I have to admit, they stink really bad when the temperature goes up. I clean the shed once a week and by the end of the week they get pretty bad. Is there any odor absorber that they make? I know that someone told me of a product that farmers use for their livestock that takes away a lot of the smell. He said he uses that and it works great.

I have heard of the vanilla thing also, how much would you use per gallon of water if you are using a rack for mice and rats? There has been no real specific thing to tell me how much, people just say "put some vanilla in" so I am curious if anyone has any specific measurements. I have also wondered if anyone has come up with a very inconspicuous way to ventilate their rat sheds/barns if they live in a neighborhood. I know that I can have them, but it wouldn't be very appealing to have a big tube blowing up in the air and it wouldn't be very nice to blow the smell into my neighbors back yard, anyone got any ideas? I suppose I could make a box for a fan and blow it up in the air or to the side but I thought I would ask others about it.

I will have to make a video of my rat shed and put it up here eventually, I think that it is lots of fun.

[jordy1380]

I also forgot to ask about a type of food. Has anyone ever used the Masterfeeds Fusion food. I know that that pwilliams guy has a video on youtube where he says he uses Masterfeeds:Fusion that is a horsefood. It looks the same and apparently has the same nutritional value as the lab block.

Right now I use the purina rodent diet and my rats all seem fat and healthy. I get it for $26 a bag and he said that the masterfeeds is significantly cheaper which would be great.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Having an exhaust fan in your shed will help

Also you can use pine pellets (Equine fresh, equine pine) as your bedding it is very absorbent and a little goes a long way.

You can use Pine pellets alone with your breeders and nursing mom with pup over 2 weeks old however I highly recommend that you mix pellets and wood shaving for nursing mom with pups under 2 weeks old (this will prevent having too many losses)