Quote Originally Posted by Zombie View Post
I was considering getting a mouse rack (the ones that use the litter pans for tubs) to use as maternity to save space. I'd put just one mom in each cause they would be smaller tubs. The rack I just got is a 12 tub rack, but they are the medium sized mortar tubs. I also have 3 rubbermaid rat tubs with food hoppers and lids. I don't want to overcrowd the mortar tubs so I think 5 females should be fine in one. I will adjust as needed.

I feed about 16 mediums, 5 smalls, 2 weaned, 3 pups, and 4 fuzz a week now. My collection goes up and down as I have clutches, make trades, and sell. That's where I am sitting right now. How many females do you think will be needed for that amount?

I am also going to breed more than that to have a frozen stock pile (my adults eat both live and frozen), and to sell locally to friends. So I want to make sure I have enough space to accommodate all those breeders and grow outs. Having a set number in mind for how many females I will need to sustain just my collection will be very helpful...
The mouse rack will be fine as a maternity rack if you choose to use one.

And as to how many females you need. The general rule of thumb is 1 female per snake give or take. You may have to add more females depending on how often you feed. I only have 9 snakes, but have about 15 breeder female rats. I don't harem breed any more. I manually place the male with certain females (2 females every 2 weeks). And I've found a really nice schedule with the every 2 weeks thing. It gives me 2 litters every 2 weeks and it's about 2-3 weeks worth of food. The really fancy ones (dumbos, rex, dumbo rexes, dumbo double rex) get sold as pets. And any other extras get fed to the ferrets.

This sticky was pretty helpful when I was figuring how many females to have. http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...-Many-to-Breed