let me see if i got this right..

[llovelace]

I sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but can't you time the breedings so that the rats aren't all preggo together so that you have a constant supply without having to freeze any?

[littleindiangirl]

I sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but can't you time the breedings so that the rats aren't all preggo together so that you have a constant supply without having to freeze any?

To have enough to feed weekly like you asked, at minimum you'd need 12 females to accurately pull it off. There are sticky's here in the forum to peruse through about setting up to have enough weaners to feed weekly. And again, you'd need about 8+ snakes for it to be worth it.

If you were breeding mice or ASF, then you would have no problems, since they do not grow too big for BP's, but domestic rats just grow too quickly.

[llovelace]

I get my rats 3 weeks worth (9) at a time for my three snakes $9.00, so no complaints thus far, I plan on breeding asf's here shortly cause I don't think they will outgrow the snakes like regular rats can.

[JenH]

I get my rats 3 weeks worth (9) at a time for my three snakes $9.00, so no complaints thus far, I plan on breeding asf's here shortly cause I don't think they will outgrow the snakes like regular rats can.

If I could buy rats for a buck a piece, I would not breed. But the cheapest I can get them is $3-5 a piece. I was speading 30-40 a WEEK! So far I'm only spending 30-40 a month on rat chow and bedding. My baby snakes ate most of the first litters before they got too big. With winter I only have 3-4 adults eating so I have enough till the next litter which is expected in another week or so.

If you have 4 bins of rat females and you rotate the male every 3 weeks you should get babies every 3 weeks or so and let mom have 12 or so weeks between her last litter and getting prego again. You just need to figure the female will give you 10 or so pups - if you need 30 rats a month, you need 3 females per tub, etc....

I also have 3 tubs of mice - I think I have 60+ babies right now.....