Some rat breeding questions

[Jabberwocky Dragons]

Hello, a few months ago I got some ball pythons who are strict live feeders. That is when I started getting in live rats, the last time I got a group of rats I noticed to late it was a nice mix of males and females. This resulted in ending up with 2 females which are pregnant now, hold them back instead of feeding them off. They should be laying soon and they already are making a nest, now after some looking around and reading I wanted some clear answers on some clear questions I have!

You know you're a herper when you refer to rats giving birth as laying . You know you're too much of a herper when you refer to your wife's pregnancy as being gravid... though, maybe that makes us more on the ball as the medical term is gravida.

I am breeding them for feeder rats, but I must admit I also like going for combinations and see what kind of pups come out! Are there any lethal combinations?

Since most of my ball pythons are feeding on frozen thawed and I have no intention of switching them to live, what is a good way to prepare them to go into the freezer (the excess)?

What do I need to look out for while picking my breeding stock ? (diseases etc.etc.)

Can I house multiple pregnant females together? If so what is the recommended size of this group and pro/cons ?

How big (in cm if possible ) should the tub be for 1 female or a group of females ?

Hopefully I can get some answers here

The previous poster did a good job answering these but I'll give my advice on a couple.

There's only two humane methods, for your purposes, to euthanize and that's CO2 and cervical dislocation. There are other humane methods, such as pithing and drug cocktails, but neither are going to be a good method for frozen rodents for obvious reasons.

Get a paintball CO2 canister. You can order the canister, tubing, and a regulator on ebay for pretty cheap. Get it filled at local place and avoid a big box sporting goods store if you can... I've never gotten good service at one for this. Drill a hole small enough into a container for the tube. Add rats and start SLOWLY filling it with CO2. If you go to fast, the rats will panic and we want this to be as easy on them as possible. They will fall asleep/drop unconscious. Once unconscious, you can open up the regulator full blast. I usually go a few minutes past when I notice the last rat has stopped breathing to make sure they are all deceased.

Other people use dry ice instead of a canister and regulator. This is discouraged, though still effective, as it will distress the rats because you have no control over the flow. You'll save a few bucks initially using dry ice but will quickly save more in the long run going the proper route with a canister/regulator anyway.


I house my groups in 1.2 or 1.3. Pregnant females are not separated. I have no problems as long as all the females in the group are from the same litter and grew up together. I do sometimes mix litters in groups and then it's important to introduce the new group mates as soon as they are weaned. I've only been breeding rats for a few years, and there are people here with way more insight and experience, but that's been my experience.