Reptile & Amphibian Forums

We are thinking of beginning a small breeding program for our Snakes and Tegus and need some advice. After referencing this forum, we have settled on going with rats instead of mice (less smell, more rapid production etc.) So I am looking for some specific advice.

We want a small to medium size rat - don't need anything jumbo for our collection. Is there any specific strain or type of rat with which any of you have had experience, either good or bad? Or is it O.K. to just allow size to be the determining factor and buy a few at random. Your thoughts, experinece and advice is appreciated. Thanks.
MAP

Rats are Rats... There's like only 2 main type of rats... What you see are usually Ratus ratus.. Or Ratus Norvegicus (Spelling may be somewhat off) Norvegicus is the Norway or wild type rat. Ratus ratus is the domesticated fancy rat. When choosing breeder stock you want large and healthy. Since mostly you'll be feeding off your young ones not your breeders. You raise them to the size you need and freeze them if your animals will take f/t... I'm pretty sure a Tegu would...

I have about 20 cages of breeders setup by color. Albino, brown, black, black hooded, tan, and tan hooded. Out of these, the hooded both black and tan seem to produce the largest litters for me.

I just recently started working with CDR rats from harlan labs and have been very impressed with production, I have had them about 6 months now and they have been putting out approx 30% more than my other colonies. I am switching over all my rats to the CDR. They are expensive to start, but they pay for themselves quickly. Craig Kade