Thinking about breeding

[whispersinmyhead]

I am seriously thinking about breeding my own rats. The local pet shop is charging $7 a rat and that is too much.

So I have 4 ball pythons and plan on having 6 total. If I breed I am guessing I will need one female for every snake.

So for 6 females and one or two male rats. How many bins and what sizes do I need? I don't think I am going to build a rack because I have shelving to keep the bins on already.

Thanks.


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[ROACH]

I keep 1 Male and 2-3 Females together at all times to each bin. After 3 litters from each Female I replace the Females with new ones. I will replace the Male about every 4-6 months. This is what works for me.

[whispersinmyhead]

So you don't have to remove the male? I thought I may need a bunch of tubs for the females to birth in.


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[Sama]

If you want to you can rotate the females in with the males but I just leave them in. They are a big help to the females and watching them with the babies is adorable. 1.3 or 1.2 is a good set up. I use the home depo concert mixing tub for my 1.3 groups. It is a 10g size that runs 6.5 high. 20 wide and 27 deep.

[PitOnTheProwl]

I keep 4 females per tub and rotate males through, less mouths to feed instead of keeping so many males (I have 24 tubs)
Females stay together all the time.

[ROACH]

So you don't have to remove the male? I thought I may need a bunch of tubs for the females to birth in.


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Ive never taken the male out of the tub, But ive heard that some people do. Ive only got a 6 tub rack and have a male and 2-3 females in each one. Ive got 6 tanks that I use for growing out the babies.

[ROACH]

I keep 4 females per tub and rotate males through, less mouths to feed instead of keeping so many males (I have 24 tubs)
Females stay together all the time.

I like this! How often and for how long do you add the Male? Ive never tried this! Also how many Males do you use?

[PitOnTheProwl]

I like this! How often and for how long do you add the Male? Ive never tried this! Also how many Males do you use?

2 Weeks, I have 5 to 7 males on hand at all times. I also keep an extra 5 to 7 females just incase.

[ROACH]

2 Weeks, I have 5 to 7 males on hand at all times. I also keep an extra 5 to 7 females just incase.

So you put the male in for 2 weeks then take him out and put him into another tub? Or you put them all in each tub for 2 weeks? Can you use 1 Male for all the tubs?

[PitOnTheProwl]

My current schedule gets them 2 weeks in a tub with the 4 girls, then at the end of that 2 weeks the male might get 1 or 2 weeks vacation.
After I clear the tub of all the babies I give the girls in that tub a month off before they see another male again.