Rat breeding

[JoshJP7]

Ight so the other day I picked up some aspen, a rat water bottle and some rat food... I was only planning on using my 20L for a holding tank for live feeders since I only have a couple feeding on live rats. I think I want to pick up a male and female rat and try breeding my own rats... Down the road when I have more room I plan on breeding all my feeders for my snakes to cut out costs... Anyways enough background ... to the question...

Am I good with just picking up a male and female... putting em in the 20l set up with food and water and letting them do their thing? Ive heard stories of one eating the other(dunno if that was rats, mice, hamsters...etc) Do I need a separate tub for the male or female for whatever reason? Potentially how many rats could I keep in the 20L? I dont plan on doing this today or anything Im just trying to see what else I need to do research/set up wise before I start. Thanks in advance.

[rabernet]

Josh, I started out picking up two young females and raising them up to size (they need to be 250 grams before they breed). Then I went and picked up my male. I had both females in with Caesar in the 20 gallon long for breeding, and then when the females started to show (3 weeks after a succesful breed), each female was put into their own 10 gallon maternity tank to have their litters. You really want to at least have companions for each sex, because they are very social animals.

After the females babies were weaned or fed off, they were put together (without the male) to rest for three weeks before they went back with the male. In order to keep a steady production, you may even want four females. Two resting together, two in with the male, and rotate that way, so that the male isn't alone.

You don't want the female to have babies with the male, because he will get her pregnant immediately, and that's far too stressful on her to be nursing one litter while pregnant with another.

Hope that helps.

[Ginevive]

I agree with you Robin. I put my pregnant females alone, each in their own 10g tank, one I realize that they are bred. They have a nice secure place to have their babies alone and not be bothered by other rats. Then they get some time off (at least 2 weeks) between litters.. In between breedings, I keep the girls together in a community "sorority house" all-female tank. Another 20g tank is used for my male and whatever female he is breeding, until I see that she is pregnant.
I would get subadults and raise them up to breeding size. Make sure that they are not housed altogether, males and females, at the store or "breeder's" place. This would lead to too-young females that are already pregnant. This is bad; I only had one female that I bought young who had already been bred (unbeknownst to me) and unfortunately she died while nursing; it really upset me and I don't buy from the place that I got her from anymore. Mixing juvies by sex is just stupid
There are so many aspects to rat care/breeding. Quarantine, proper feeding.. I would search the forum for more info. If you have any specifics, please ask away!

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Mice are prone to cannibalism, rats are not.

You can pick up some young females (ideally 2) raise them up to 250 grams, which take time and than get a male. (1.2 is recommended for starter). Older up to size females might be too old to breed.

Once breeding you want to remove the male from the enclosure soon as you notice that the females are pregnant. (back to back breeding is not recommended, being pregnant and nursing take it’s toll on the females very quick). Healthy well taking care of females that is not over bred will produce bigger, healthier litters.

A good diet is very important, too much protein is not good thing, most people who breed use Mazuri Lab Block which can be found at feed stores. I mix the Mazuri with some dog food (3/4 Mazuri 1/4 dog food)

As far as housing glass tank or tubs it does not matter, since I have 2.12 I wanted to make it space efficient so I designed my own rack and build it (the DIY is on the forum http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...ad.php?t=41913) I house 2 females per tubs and the 2 males are rotating through the tubs.

If you build a rack with 3 tubs you can have 1 tub for your 2 females one to put your male, and one for the babies once weaned.

If you use tanks having 3 would be a good idea.

My females always stay together from breeding to nursing and I have been successful at it, which is not the case for everyone (I used to separate the females when it was their first litter but I no longer do it)

Breeding takes time and work but if you breed on a small scale it should be pretty easy.

As far as substrate I use wood pellet, it cut the smell down and I don’t need to clean but once a week (again on a small scale the smell should not be an issue)

Just like for snakes if you get 2 females and raise them up, and than get a male you will need to quarantine him.

Supply

Make sure if you use a water bottle to get a spring loaded one, they are less prone to leakage.

Food place in a bowl is often wasted so making some kind of homemade feeder with hardware cloth might be a good idea and will prevent the waste (in a rack the eat through the wire so no waste)

I guess it covers a bit of everything if you have additional question just ask.

[frankykeno]

Josh you might want to have a look at a sticky here in Feeders about a rat colony when you have little space. I originally did it to show Robin how I set up a smaller colony and it might be of some help to you. There's also another one by me on bigger rat tubs and well as a number of fantastic stickies on rat racks, etc. by our other members.

I agree with Robin. You want to grab a couple of nice just weaned females, raise them up to about 4.5 months of age or about 250 grams and then introduce them to a nice young healthy male rat. Don't fall into the mistake of buying big rats from pet stores. They are often used up breeders or just big old rats that won't give you a very long productive breeding life plus most have never been handled and you just do not want to deal with a big mean breeder rat believe me.

If possible try to find a person that breeds rats for their snakes, their rats will likely be better than what you could find in a pet store. Some snake shows have rodent vendors as well.

Pick healthy rats much like you'd pick a healthy puppy or kitten. Clear eyes, clear nose & ears, nice fur with no scabby skin under it, no sneezing, wheezing or red discharge from nose or eyes, dry butt, no sore on tail or bottoms of the feet....that sort of stuff. Healthy rats make healthy feeders.

Becky has a wonderful sticky on a homemade dry rat mix. I've always used it and found it to be very good.

[Ginevive]

I like the idea of a rack, to save space. The only reason I use the tanks is, they were cheap/free, and also provide satisfactory housing. But they do take up a lot of room.. I plan on building a rodent rack this spring or maybe overwinter.. darnit if I didn't wish I had more spare time!