Quote Originally Posted by Deborah View Post
You don't have to add anything I have been using this for 7 to 8 years straight without issue and observed proper weight gain, you can't push animals and it's about having the right animal, from what I gathered from your previous post your colony is not strong as it should be and if it was me I would start from scratch.

A good rat colony need to be build on solid foundation, health issues that need to be treated or addressed should be addressed by culling and starting of again when it comes to feeders.

You should be able to have a colony that is healthy with no respiratory issue or neurological issue.
rat colony is being rebuilt, still don’t have the best of rats but the quality is much better and the neurological issue was due to out of hand URI and those all have been taken care of. the new waive has been and is currently is being treated. I have noticed sine beginning of treatment last Thursday, water and food consumption is going through the roof so I take that as a good sign. The litters I have been having are all healthy and no issues so far and are being treated with a slight lower dose for toxicity or over dosing issues.

Quote Originally Posted by Neal View Post
As Deborah said. You would see the best results from starting fresh. Get a 1 male to 3-4 females, that's what I did and it worked perfect for me, I eventually had more than I could use. A important part of having a healthy colony is feeding them properly. The mazuri food always worked for me and I never had to supplement with anything else.

Call your local feed stores and even in the other cities nearby and see if they can get and how much. I was paying $26 for a 50 lb bag from my local feed store.
I do a 1 to 3 ratio with my colony, and it is yealding good results so far, I just wish I had more up to size rats due to a few of my good hardy breeders are on their off weeks currently... I did call the feed store and have it on order for $23 a bag before tax. I just didn’t I know how this would compare to crappy dog food, I would expect it to be a lot better but I do have to drive quite the distance for my liking, but if I buy in bulk i shouldn’t have to drive it as often.

thanks for the reply’s y’all, it’s been quite the adventure so far. I just think my growth timeline in my own mind is off for how fast weight gain should be vs what I want it to be honestly. And to add to it the quality of food that I have been providing isn’t the greatest is compunding some issues with good growth.