Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok I had someone give me two female rats today so I went out and bought a male rat. I have 14 snakes so I am going to experiment with breeing a small group of rats for food. I was wanting to see some peoples small colonies of rats and how they do it. I am curious how to cut down on smell, what you feed your rats and what you keep them in. I mean if this doesnt work out I can always just feed these rats to my larger snakes but it would be nice to get some pinkies, fuzzies, and smaller stuff to freeze and feed. So I would love any pics or info anyone has to offer.
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1.1 Motley het butter corns
0.1 Snow corn
0.1 Okeetee corn
1.0 Anery mutt corn
0.1 Stripe Ghost corn
0.1 Amelanistic corn het carmel
2.1 Colombian Redtails
1.0 Hypo Colombian redtail
1.0 Brazilian Rainbow Boa
1.0 Anery Kenyan sand boa
0.1 Normal Kenyan sand boa

i have been breeding rats off and on since i was 17, im 37 now, dang im old....
use aspen for the bedding, change it once a week, a male and 2 females is what i have currently..... i usually get litters at about the same time from each female, rats are great parents the male will help, the females will keep the babies to gether in a nest and take turns, thats works well for me because i have a female who gets lazy after the first week and the other female takes over..... mine are in a 55 gallon tank...... and they have hides to(LOL) rats like to hide, they play to...
for the smell a little vanilla extract in the water bottle helps.
food:
mine get lab blocks first and fore most...
but they also get dog kibble, cooked meats, cooked dry beans, cooked and fresh veggies, fruits, peanut butter sandwiches, bananas they love bananas, chicken bones, hard boiled eggs with the shells cracked(that keeps them busy all night)dandelion leaves, chickweed.... when feeding rats foods that are high in protiens keep a watch on their ears and eyes any signs of brown spots(little sores) cut the protien out for a few weeks.
i cut down the way i feed my rat for 2 months, and this litter of babies was smaller than usual, i think the diet makes for "fatter" babies, the pic below is week old babies.
hope i helped

I used 56 qt sterilite containers with a screen in the top(cut a hole and wire in METAL screen), a food bowl on the side(made from the same srceen as top)and a water bottle on the outside all held in place with wire. The plastic is easy to clean and with the water bottle on the outside you can change it easily.
I also made a rack system out of wood to hold ten of these containers.
I used lab rodent food and whole ears of corn.
I would put one male with two female in them.
If you want to know more about these let me know.
I also would put some baking soda in them before I put in the bedding, it really helps cut down on the smell.
Hope this helps....
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Cory
Corns(Adults)
1.0 Snow(Ghost)
0.1 Banded het Amel(Rogue)
0.1 Blizzard(Storm)
Corns(Sub-adult)
1.0 Bloodred het Pewter(La Magra)
1.0 Anerythristic (First egg ever hatched)(Sam)
Pythons
1.1 Ball(Wolverine & Jubilee)

I have taken rubbermaid boxes and cut the centers of the tops out,replacing the center with ratwire(hardware cloth)I used nylon zip ties to secure it the top.I will post a pic shortly.

Don't expect babies in less than a month, (gestation is 21-23 days); my first litter was born 2 months after I got the rats. For first time moms, don't expect more than 10 babies, the numbers should go up as the females get older. For 1.2 rats I use a Sterilite 32q container, but be careful, the rats may chew through this. I add 1-2 teaspoons of imitation vanilla extract to a gallon of water, and it really helps cut down on the smell. I would put a hide in there, cardboard boxes work great. Also, if you use a Sterilite or Rubbermaid, put in a piece of wood for them to chew on instead of the cage. If you leave the male in, expect more babies in about a month, but this is hard on the females, you may get smaller litters and the moms won't last as long. I feed my rats a mix of Mazuri rat food and Iams adult dog food. They love Cheerios, apples, carrots, bread, and pizza crusts(don't feed too much of this; not very nutritional). Clean the cage once a week, I just dump the litter out and pour some new litter in. Use aspen, NOT PINE! I have heard it is best to have 2 cages so you can move the rats into the clean one then clean the other one. I don't do that though, I put the moms in a tall Rubbermaid and throw in some treats. Then I take the babies out and put them and some old bedding in a bowl. I dump out the litter and put new litter in, and add the wood and new hide box. Then I put the babies back in, then the moms. This way I don't get bit, (the moms are very protective of their young).

If you don't want to get attached to them, DON'T HOLD THE BABY RATS. I know that sounds stupid, but I am already keeping 2 pretty females because one fell asleep in my hand and the other has a perfect heart shape on her belly. (Guess I'll just have to get more snakes to keep up with all this extra food!)

Also, don't expect a lot of help on the feeder forum when you ask a basic care question. You might get more responses if you ask a specific question. Read through the old info, you will find a lot of answers from people with a lot of experience.

That's all I can think of right now...Good Luck!

I agree with most that has been said.

I've bred rats on and off since 1972. My best rats seem to be my pets as a kid that ate good base foods like lab blocks or dog food, but plus what I ate. DArn near anything.

I disagree on pine. As long as you have good ventilation I have had little trouble, and aspen is better, but paper products are even better, each costing more.

OUr local breeder uses cedar and has no issues. And since he may stop I might have to take over for a lot of reasons.

Good diet, good ventilation, and water. Rats are easy. Maybe oil sunflower and corn as extras.

I was wonderin if you could give me details on how you built your rat rack. Because I am planing on building one and would like the help. or plans for one.

I posted this in the feeder forume as well then I saw your tub of rats in the WIR so I thought I would at least ask.

I was just wondering if any of you that have built your own rat racks using HD mortar tub can post detailed pic's to help me with building mine. I looked at this post Mouse Rack plans with pictures. (very long) but it is using smaller tubs. I plan to model my rack after this one but I want to use the mortar tubs. I am sure I could modify it to suit my needs, but I am not that handy with building something from scratch lol. Any help with this will be greatly appreciated thanks
Brian

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1.2.0 ball python (aragorn, arwen,`eowyn)
1.0.0 100% het pied (frodo)
1.0.0 columbian boa (squiggles)
1.0.0 rat snake (alabastered)
0.1.0 corn snake (baby)
0.0.2 whites tree frog (trevor, kirmet)
0.0.5 pacific green tree frogs
3.2.0 cats (rockie, bs, brownie, lerrado, kole)
1.3.0 kids (dilyen, dakota, chyanne, sierra)
Brian n Chrissy
"snakes are kind of like potato chips, you cant have just one"