Considering Breeding Rats

[brettsemrick]

In the past week my collection has gotten up to 17 snakes with plans for more in the near future. I have been considering breeding rats for a while and it seems to be a better idea the more snakes i get. I'm not really wanting to get into large scale rat breeding really, I would just like to maybe breed enough to feed most of my stuff that are live feeders on pups-small rats. I would continue buy all my larger and frozen stuff from a breeder. My main question I guess is could I maintain a small colony of rats in my house without there being a horrible smell and my snakes in the next room over always greeting me with a feeding response anytime I mess with them?

[anatess]

In the past week my collection has gotten up to 17 snakes with plans for more in the near future. I have been considering breeding rats for a while and it seems to be a better idea the more snakes i get. I'm not really wanting to get into large scale rat breeding really, I would just like to maybe breed enough to feed most of my stuff that are live feeders on pups-small rats. I would continue buy all my larger and frozen stuff from a breeder. My main question I guess is could I maintain a small colony of rats in my house without there being a horrible smell and my snakes in the next room over always greeting me with a feeding response anytime I mess with them?

Are your snakes all ball pythons? If so, it's cool to have a breeding colony of African soft furs. I only have 4 snakes and they're supported by a 1.2 ASF group.

ASF's don't smell as bad as mice and they can't outgrow an adult bp. A lot of people here raise their rats in the same room as the snakes without problems. I have 4 10-gal tanks for my ASF's - one for the breeders, 1 for the female grow outs, 1 for the male grow-outs and 1 empty and ready.

I clean the rats every Saturday morning as follows - I move the breeders to the empty clean tank. Then I clean the vacated tank, then move the next tank... Etc... Until I end up with an empty tank again. Takes an hour at most.

Lots of people here use racks for their rats. That's even easier to care for.

As long as you clean weekly you shouldn't have a smell problem.

Good luck.

[SlitherinSisters]

Depending on how many of your snakes are on live will decide how many rats you need. Plan on each of your females having about 10 babies a month, and then figure out how many rats you will need each week to feed your snakes. I have 9 snakes, and when I only had 7 female rats I was having trouble keeping up. I now have 10 females so we'll see how that goes.

I also keep my rat colony in my snake room. I've never had any feeding issues, or issues in general because of it. I think if helps their feeding response a little bit.

Oh and the smell won't be bad if you breed rats and keep them clean. Mice reek, ASFs smell, but rats aren't too bad. My grow out tub has a lot of rats in it, so it starts to stink quicker than all the other tubs. I use corn cob bedding under the pine bedding. The corn cob really helps to soak up the smell.

[brettsemrick]

Most of my live feeders are ball pythons except for a couple colubrids. So hypothetically for 4-6 live feeders would I need 4-6 female breeders? If there wont be too much of a smell if I keep them clean I think I might start working on getting something together.

[PghBall]

As long as you keep their tubs/cages (whichever you decide) well ventilated and clean once or twice a week, you should have no problems keeping the smell down. I have seven Balls and have 11 females. I keep them well fed with a few feeders to spare.

[SlitherinSisters]

Most of my live feeders are ball pythons except for a couple colubrids. So hypothetically for 4-6 live feeders would I need 4-6 female breeders? If there wont be too much of a smell if I keep them clean I think I might start working on getting something together.

I would think so. It seems like you need at least as many female breeders as snakes. I don't think they smell very bad as long as you keep them clean. I use finely shredded pine. I don't like the thicker shredded pine, I don't think it smells as piney as the finer stuff. Plus I don't like the texture as much, and I don't think the moms like it as much either.

[anatess]

Just FYI, ASF's generally produce more than other rats. I've been averaging 12 every 3-4 weeks.

[SlitherinSisters]

Just FYI, ASF's generally produce more than other rats. I've been averaging 12 every 3-4 weeks.

With your ASFs or rats? My rats produce 12-13 pretty regularly, and my ASFs produce 17-18 almost every time.

[snakesRkewl]

I use finely shredded pine. I don't like the thicker shredded pine, I don't think it smells as piney as the finer stuff.

I hope your using kiln dried pine, pine is more poisonous to rats than it is to snakes
I won't even use kiln dried, aspen only IMO

[SlitherinSisters]

I hope your using kiln dried pine, pine is more poisonous to rats than it is to snakes
I won't even use kiln dried, aspen only IMO

Yes it's kiln dried, I figured everyone would assume that? The thicker stuff is for chickens/horses/etc. The finer stuff is for rabbits, rats, etc.

I understand most people wouldn't use pine for rats, but I've been keeping rats on it for 3 years. I've got one female who will be three next month, a male that is probably already three, if not he's really close, I'm not sure what month he was born I got him as a small adult. I've never had a rat die-due to old age-under 2.5 years old, so in my experience, I don't think pine is any more dangerous than aspen/pellets/corn cob/etc. I did bring home a pet store plague that wiped out a bunch of my rats about two years ago, other wise I would have had a lot more rats make it to old age.