I'm going to save this thread about 500 posts.

Dog food is no good for rats!

Dog food is great for rats!

Blah blah blah!

Pine shaving will kill your rats! Use aspen!

Pine shavings work great!

Separate the moms into birthing tubs.

Leave everyone together. I never lose any babies that way.

Did I miss anything? Oh yeah...

Wean the babies at 21 days.

Wean the babies at 28 days.

Don't breed the female before she's 16 weeks old.

12 weeks is a great age for breeding females.

I think that's it LOL.

1.2 rats per tub if you leave them together. Up to 1.6 rats if you're pulling the pregnant moms.

Pine shavings work. People who don't know any better will tell you otherwise.

Macronutrient profiles make up good rat food. It doesn't matter if its dog food, hog feed, lab block, or anything else. As long as it has what you're looking for nutritionally and it's easy on your pocket you should use it.

Invest in the auto watering systems.

The smallest birthing tubs I would use would be the Petmate medium litter pans.

Everything else is up to you.