I just adopted a colony of rats and mice from a pet shop that went out of business. I intend on breeding them for snake food, but need some help as to how to set up a breeding colony the right way. I thank you in advance for any experience you can share with me.



Here's what I recieved:

2 ten gallon aquariums with about 20 mice in each ranging in all sizes (pinkies to adults). I haven't sexed them yet and I'm not sure who the mother is of the baby mice.



I also got 1 freedom breeder 2 level rat rack with 5 of the 7inch deep tubs and 1 of the 5 inch deep tubs. It also has 1 level of (5) 3 inch deep mouse tubs. It has approximately 6 weaned rats (very small, but covered in hair, eyes open, and eating rodent block), 24 medium sized rats (haven't counted # of each sex yet), and maybe 3 adult rats (one of which just dropped a litter today).



I have a few extra 10 gallon aquariums to help distribute the mice, but I'm not sure how many to put in each one. As for the rats. I put the small weaned ones into one of the 3 inch mouse trays so they could reach the food. I have two of the adult females in a 7 inch tub by themselves (one of them is the one that had the new litter today). I then have approximately 8 of the medium sized rats in 3 of the other 7 inch tubs. I currently have water bottles for each cage and plenty of fresh bedding.



How many animals should I keep in each tub? Is it necessary for me to separate the female with the new litter into her own tub? Are medium rats large enough to breed or should I let them get larger first? My breeding goals are to raise the rats to approximately 100g-400g. However, I don't see any rats in this colony that would get that large. I also don't really have any plans for mice at this time, but I would like to get them established for the hatchling season in the spring.



Sorry for the long post, but I'm a total noob at raising rodents. I still have a small freezer full of feeders. I appreciate your help.

Anthony-

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