Unfortunately, I have 3 snakes that take 1-3 day old mice, and two that take peach fuzzy mice... Maybe in another 3-5 months I can switch to rat pinks, but not yet.

You have the rat females paired, and keep the babies at least 2 weeks apart, right? Hmmm... It makes sense, but I'm just thinking about how many babies I'm going to need from the 6 females I'm planning on - if you have 20 babies, would 1 female be able to handle all those babies while the other female is off being bred for a week?

I was thinking if I have THREE in each cage, I can take one at a time from each cage for breeding and there's still two that can feed the babies. Then put her back later to continue the care of the babies while she gets set for her next litter 3 weeks later.

As for the bumblefoot, I think that's mostly for many of the other cages sold that are made of wire - most of their holes are 1/4"x1/2" or 1/2"x1". The 1/4" hardware cloth isn't enough to really allow problems, I don't think. I'm also considering doubling the hardware cloth up so as there's only 1/8" holes instead... I'll do so if anybody has issues with the 1/4".

Also, What size cage do you have your two females in with the babies? What size would be good for three females plus the babies? What about the size of your breeder tanks? I'd like to make sure there's room for the rats, babies, and a wheel or two with the food, nest sites, and water bottles....

Thanks for all the help!
~Krystie

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