Reptile & Amphibian Forums

been searching forsome info on this. for yall who raise your own rats what kind of tanks or cages do yall keep them in. Tired of spending money on tanks.

Right now I'm like you, using tanks but need to redo things to gain more room. I'll soon be building a small rack using the mixing tubs found at home improvement stores. I think they're somewhere around 18-in x 30-in and about $5 each. There are several free plans online.

Have a good one!
HH
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Due to political correctness run amuck,
this ol' hillbilly is now referred to as an:
Appalachian American

that sounds like an idea, i seen what your talking about the concrete mixing tubs. what u think about a top for it, i was thinking maybe a sheet of plywood. What u think???

Wire mesh should be used for the tops so the rats/mice can get fresh air. If you were to cover it with plywood you'd have to cut vent panels in the sides or else it could cause condensation inside the tubs.

There's a pic of a mouse rack & rat rack on the opening page of the Feeder Food Discussion forum: forums.kingsnake.com/forum.php?catid=9

Cheap & space-saving.

Later!
HH
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Due to political correctness run amuck,
this ol' hillbilly is now referred to as an:
Appalachian American

ty hillbilly i think i got it figured out.

Wish, wish, wish! Check these systems out! I work with these in the research lab. I may try and build something similar but money is an issue. As long as the animals cannot get ahold of the material with their teeth, it should work. Wire tops so the animals can eat their food through the wires and water bottle holders. The auto water and air supply systems on the top of the racks shown are wicked cool. Every cage has a lix-it spout and the animals drink from the spout that sticks through a hole in the back of the cage (all stainless steel). Maybe you could contact a research center and see if they are throwing away older systems. You would probably have to build the rack but the cages are perfect. Here's the link

http://www.allentowninc.com/PDFs/PNC.pdf
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DZ

"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." -- George Orwell

Hey!
I just wanted to make sure you saw my latest post, link to plans.

[url=http://forums.kingsnake.com/view.php?id=1328979,1329370]Check out these plans[/url

Later!
HH
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Due to political correctness run amuck,
this ol' hillbilly is now referred to as an:
Appalachian American

Oops! Too much of a hurry. Sorry 'bout that.

Check out these plans
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Due to political correctness run amuck,
this ol' hillbilly is now referred to as an:
Appalachian American

That's pretty sweet! 4 hours my python! That's only if you have the exact tools needed, all wood is perfectly cut to length, all holes pre-drilled so the wood doesn't split and you know exactly where and how each piece goes on etc. Then you hope you connected all legs exactly even so it does not wobble and that you've braced it properly to also prevent wobble. I don't like the wood idea because trying to clean wood, weather bare or treated, is not very sanitary. Stainless steel is the way to go and who can afford that!

Where do you plan to obtain litter and what kind? Will you filter the water? Where will you get enough food? How will you provide the food? If left on the ground it will dirty the cage allot quicker. How will you vent the smell of so many animals? What kind of enrichment devices will you use for the animals to stay healthy and feel secure?

It looks like those large tubs hold allot of animals, how many do you plan on raising? You'll also need breeder tubs to separate mom and littlens from the general population. Male from female to control the amount and contingency cages for possible large litters.

Man, I've been working here to long.

I do like the rack though. Good luck.
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DZ

"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." -- George Orwell

> > > "Man, I've been working here to long."

Ha! Ha! They're not experimenting on you, too, are they? LOL!

It doesn't need to be sanitary for raising feeders. The germs don't penetrate the wood, they reside on the surface of it, and that can easily be wiped down the same as stainless.

> > > "Where do you plan to obtain litter and what kind? Will you filter the water? Where will you get enough food? How will you provide the food? If left on the ground it will dirty the cage allot quicker. How will you vent the smell of so many animals? What kind of enrichment devices will you use for the animals to stay healthy and feel secure?"

1. I use pelleted rabbit feed. 50lb bag for $8.
2. No
3. I buy 50lb bags of Mazuri Rodent Breeder pellets for $20 per bag.
4. Basically the same as the lab rack in your link.
5. With regular cleaning, not a problem.
6. Other rats. Most aren't around for very long, except for the breeders, and they get their exercise from, uh,....... well, you know. Ha!

Catch ya later!
HH
-----
Due to political correctness run amuck,
this ol' hillbilly is now referred to as an:
Appalachian American

Hey,
Ya'll check out these plans I found online.

[quote]"The total cost for the entire rack, including water system was around $100, and around 4 hours total time."[unquote]

I imagine the "4-hr building time" is for someone that's built one before. For the average person that's somewhat handy I'd imagine it would take a little longer, but not a whole lot.

http://www.arbreptiles.com/cages/rat_rack/ratrack.shtml

It might be a good idea to post the link to these plans on the Feeder forum and/or Cage & Habitat forum for those experienced with these can point out anything that might be better if modified a tad. That's what I was planning on doing before I started building it.

I've got another set of plans I found a few yrs ago but when I saved it to an MS Word document dummy me left out the site it was posted on. I can't give credit where credit's due. The plans are nearly identical to the ones in the above link. I'll see if I can't find out where I got them from & will post them if I do.

Catch ya later!
HH
-----
Due to political correctness run amuck,
this ol' hillbilly is now referred to as an:
Appalachian American