Size of tubs vs number of rats/tub...

[Oxylepy]

Going to set myself up for breeding rats and probably going to start with 3 females and a male. I was wondering about tubs...

The 4 of them would need how much space (breeding tub)
What sized maternity tubs (assuming 1 rat/tub)
What size for how many rodents to keep feeders (until they are around 100g)

And would it be a bad idea to introduce the offspring from one female to the offspring from another (keeping all my feeders together based on sex)?

[izoid]

I keep 3 females to 1 male in the small cement mixing tubs from Home Depot. I do not separate my female once they are pregnant, they have the babies in the tub and I keep them there. I do move my male to a new tub every 2 weeks so that they can breed the next 3 females in line. I find that female rats often help other females once they give birth.

[tonkatoyman]

We use 7 inch deep bus tubs for breeding and birthing. we put 1.3 to 1.4 in breeder tubs, and .1 to .2 females in birthing tubs. The neat part is that you can farm out babies to other moms because they don't care. Mom will feed every one in the tub. This helps if you have one litter of 4 or 5 and then one mom blows out 13. You can give some to the mom with few to help mom #2 out. Or you feed some off from one mom leaving one or two left. Take the one or two and give them to another mom. Then the first mom is free to enter the cycle again. FYI We use the large mortar tubs for wieners, and the small ones for hold backs and resting moms. I do not use the tubs from Lowes but Home Depot or Tractor Supply. They are heavier built.

[PghBall]

Going to set myself up for breeding rats and probably going to start with 3 females and a male. I was wondering about tubs...

The 4 of them would need how much space (breeding tub)
What sized maternity tubs (assuming 1 rat/tub)
What size for how many rodents to keep feeders (until they are around 100g)

And would it be a bad idea to introduce the offspring from one female to the offspring from another (keeping all my feeders together based on sex)?

I have been keeping a 1.2 ratio for my breeders and just leave the babies in there until they are weaned. I put all of the babies in the same bin later and have had offspring from multiple litters together without any issues. also I have a siamese male and female plus a grey hooded female I could give you to start your colony. Let me know if you would be interested. They are all around 4 months old now and big enough to breed.

[SnakeGirl3]

I keep a colony of 1.5 together in my mortar tubs. It seems to work well for me. I don't move any dads out of the tubs--they won't hurt their own babies. I also don't move moms out. I just let them all stay together as a family "unit", and the moms all help one another (have had an issue in the past with moms fighting over babies, so I made those that wanted to fight into feeders and replaced them with other new moms, and that solved my problem). The only thing you have to consider when keeping a breeding group this large together is: once the babies are weaned, get them OUT! If rats begin to feel overcrowded, they will begin fighting with/killing any of the smaller rats in order to make space for the larger ones.