Hi! I'm going to be moving in just over another month, and at that point we'll be setting up our rats for breeding most of the feeders we need (16 snakes...). I have a couple questions, in case you might be able to help me with this.

1) Does it take more food to breed 3 female rats and raise the babies to 3 weeks of age, or to breed 3 female mice and raise the babies to adulthood? (I want to know if I want to continue feeding mice or switch to baby rats for a few of my snakes, once I'm breeding. I'll be breeding both, but I need to decide whether I go for 3 mice and 6 rats, or 6 mice and 3 rat females)

2) Since I'll be cycling the rats, would it be possible to introduce TWO females at a time with the male and leave them in for a week before I put them back into their living/nursing cages? My set-up would be three female rats per cage, each getting one week with the male and three weeks off for giving birth and resting - if I get more babies than I need, I put all girls back one week. BUT, I was thinking have two sets of girls, and have one from each with the male for that week and then get them back with their orriginal set...

3) We'll also be building our own cages, and I want to make sure there is enough room for them to breed and grow in. My husband is a woodworker, and I am wonding what the best wood is to use for the cages. I know it has to be fairly hard and thick, but is there anything you might suggest? I don't really want to just resort to the plastic tubs for them if I don't have to.


Thanks for whatever advice you have!

~Krystie

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