When to breed my own rats?

[Fraido]

It's possible.

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[Gerardo]

So... like 5 rats should be good to start off? I won't be keeping hundreds and I will clean everyday if I have to.

[Fraido]

I say go ahead and start with five, trial and error, find out what number works best for you. If you find you need more, get more.

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[chilliscale]

I say go ahead and start with five, trial and error, find out what number works best for you. If you find you need more, get more.

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Agreed. And if you have surplus you can sell them locally to recoup a little cost or justify getting more snakes

[Fraido]

I like the whole getting more snakes thing 😉

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[chilliscale]

Ya . works until the wife sees bank statements....

[Caspian]

I give my extras to a local pet store, to sell as pets or feeders. My breeder rats are all pets. They're remarkably intelligent, personable animals - unlike mice, which are just annoying, though I've had those as pets as well. I recently discovered that I have a Retic and a Burmese breeder near me, so any rats that get too big for my BP's will have a place to go...

Just be sure you don't make the same mistake I did, and put your male(s) in with all of your females at once. I had four rats give birth within a few days of each other, which was waaaay too many rats all at once. It worked out, sort of, since my breeders (purchased, unhandled, unfriendly and aggressive) have now been phased out and culled, so that I can raise some of their offspring to be more tame and replace them. Though the male I ended up keeping... he's pretty mellow. I'm still trying to figure out how I got Cream, Siamese, and Siamese Hooded rats from black Berkshire parents. Rat genetics completely elude me.

[Kokorobosoi]

I hear you on the genetics. I bred two himis together and got black hooded, himi, pew, and this weird himi with dark markings from the base of her tail up to her neck. Lol!!

I never know what's going to pop out.