Quote Originally Posted by Orangephoner View Post
I have two small rats in a 20 gallon long tank.

Christian
Something I missed while reading the original post the first time.
You said small rats? It could be possible that they're just not mature enough to breed. 5-6 week old rats are "small" in my book.
Technically rats can start breeding as young as 5 weeks, but I've found that they don't breed due to their mental immaturity at that age.
I would say 3-5 month olds would be the minimum age for a female to accept a male.

Quote Originally Posted by snakehobbyist View Post
This is a very good thread. I have 2 ball pythons (and two coming in September sometime) and 4 corn snakes. I would save so much money if I could breed my own food. However, mice smell so I've been waiting until I can get a shed with a window unit to put in the back yard so it doesn't get too hot for them. Rats, however, I could probably keep a male/female pair in my bedroom no problems. Silly mice. I could have a whole rodent breeding operation in my room if they just didn't smell!

This thread has given me some valuable information when I'm ready to take the leap into breeding my own food.
I keep a rat rack in my room. I honestly can't smell them unless it's day 6+ after cleaning day. I change bedding once a week. Type of bedding and quality of food does make a difference in the odor as well.

My friend breeds fancy mice in her bed room. She probably has 20-50 mice at a time and it smells awful.
I'm temporarily housing 2 mice and one of their litters. I can't really smell them until bedding changing day.

And if you breed ASFs, there is little to no odor with them. They're a desert species so they don't urinate a lot (the main smell with mice). And when they do, they urinate in a specific "potty corner".

Here are a few tips to keep the odor down:
Change bedding at least once a week minimum.
The key is ventilation. Still stagnant air is bad. Air flow helps A LOT when keeping breeding rodents. Maybe invest in an air purifier or a small fan.
You can also put a little baking soda into the enclosures before filling it up with bedding. And putting a few drops of vanilla extract into their water bottles help as well.