I'm not sure but wire mesh floors are rumored to give rats bumblefoot.
I use pelleted bedding meant for wood pellet stoves for heat and it works well, it is a bit dusty if you let it go too long.....
As far as shuffling females around, I let the females stay with the male until they start to get fat with babies. I just love saying that, fat with babies. I personally keep the females in pairs for consistency, but they are very tolerant of being shuffled about, as long as they have a cagemate for some company. Some females will steal babies from the other mommy until they have too many to care for, and some mommies will literally steal babies from each other until the babies die from being handled to death. I try to keep those separated by at least a week so they don't both have babies in the same cage at the same time. This behavior is more often seen in pet store rats, not tamed well-adjusted rats. That's why I keep them in pairs, so the cagemates in the maternity wards are compatible. I have two breeding cages, and remember where the mommies go based on timing and markings. Everybody has a different system, and if the rats are fairly well-adjusted almost any system will work.

If you got snakes that will take mice hoppers, they will take rat day-olds.

[ Show Entire Thread ]