Reptile & Amphibian Forums

so how about a smaller collony something like say 2 tubs of breeders maybe 1.3 how involved does it get for a smaller scale like that.

i was thinking about maybe breeding rats for my little collecting but dont know where to start i have read back in the forum a little but it seems to be alot of high production im not looking for quite that much

when i do go to the pet store to pick up feeders i get all diff sizes from small to jumbo, my question is do you need to breed jumbo rats to get jumbos? or is it that a rat is a rat and they get raised up to whatever size is needed?

the reason i ask is i just spent $20 at the pet store and i figure it worth looking into, my other option is to pick up a miny freezer and start ordering frozen, but befor i jump into either i kinda want to looking to it a bit. i have to admit i dont care for the thought of having to deal with thawing at every feeding, on the other hand it might turn out to be alot easier than trying to maintain a breeding group...
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-Stephen-

0.1 soon to be wifey (Babe)
1.0 rotwiler/chow (Boomer)
1.0 norm corn (Jake)
1.0 col redtail boa (Switch, formally known as Dixie)
0.1 ball python (Bella)
1.1 Brazilian Rainbow Boa (Torpaz & Saphira)

The thing with rats is that it is easier to breed a full rack than just one cage. Sure it takes a bit more time but in the end the cost per rat goes down. I spend about 45min a week in winter 90min in the summer caring for 10 tubs worth of rats. I keep mine 1.2 and the males rotate...

Jumbo rats are just old breeder males of a large nature. Like people some rat gene pools get larger. Dumbo rats have a tendency to be larger than normal Norwegian rats though. There is a difference between Dumbo the trait and Jumbo as a size.

Its good to have a baseline of what you want out of the colony.

For example if you need pinks every week you need about 6 females, if you are feeding F/T than you can get by with less. It can take weeks to get large rats, months to get the jumbo sizes. Remember that you have to house these while they are growing and males don't house well together when they mature.

Timing is everything and its way easier to over produce cull and freeze the excess. I'm super producing hopper through small rats atm...as when my females drop I'll need ever pinky I can muster...

Always keep in mind that what you take from the clutch won't be there to grow up, inevitable its sometimes easier to simple buy frozen rats for the large animals.

I maintain a snake room of 20 animals feeding on pinks - XXL rats...my 10 tubs works out just fine.

I hope to add another 5 breeder and 10 grow out tubs this coming winter...
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Jeremy Payne
JB Reptile

1.0 Snow "Kahl"
0.2 Triple Het Moonglow "Kahl"
0.1 Orange Tail Hypo Het Leopard
0.1 Double Het "Sharp" Snow
1.0 Ghost
0.1 Possible Super Hypo
0.1 DH Ghost
1.1 "Kahl" Albino
1.0 Hypomelenistic
1.3 Pastel Hypo
0.1 Suriname/Columbian cross
0.1 Anerthrystic

1.1 Morelia Clastolepis

Agreed, except, I do keeep groups of males together with no problems. I have bred (actually culled is the better term) for calm handleable rats. Anyhting not calm is culled w/out breeding. As long as not overcrowded, food and water always available and cleaned as necessary, mine do just fine.

Also, for the growout racks, I divide into male and female tubs and try to feed off the females first. Males get larger quicker and are more econimical in the long run to produce the arger feeders. I do keep a tub of future female breeders growing up at all times to replace retiring breeders.

>>The thing with rats is that it is easier to breed a full rack than just one cage. Sure it takes a bit more time but in the end the cost per rat goes down. I spend about 45min a week in winter 90min in the summer caring for 10 tubs worth of rats. I keep mine 1.2 and the males rotate...
>>
>>Jumbo rats are just old breeder males of a large nature. Like people some rat gene pools get larger. Dumbo rats have a tendency to be larger than normal Norwegian rats though. There is a difference between Dumbo the trait and Jumbo as a size.
>>
>>Its good to have a baseline of what you want out of the colony.
>>
>>For example if you need pinks every week you need about 6 females, if you are feeding F/T than you can get by with less. It can take weeks to get large rats, months to get the jumbo sizes. Remember that you have to house these while they are growing and males don't house well together when they mature.
>>
>>Timing is everything and its way easier to over produce cull and freeze the excess. I'm super producing hopper through small rats atm...as when my females drop I'll need ever pinky I can muster...
>>
>>Always keep in mind that what you take from the clutch won't be there to grow up, inevitable its sometimes easier to simple buy frozen rats for the large animals.
>>
>>I maintain a snake room of 20 animals feeding on pinks - XXL rats...my 10 tubs works out just fine.
>>
>>I hope to add another 5 breeder and 10 grow out tubs this coming winter...
>>-----
>>Jeremy Payne
>>JB Reptile
>>
>>1.0 Snow "Kahl"
>>0.2 Triple Het Moonglow "Kahl"
>>0.1 Orange Tail Hypo Het Leopard
>>0.1 Double Het "Sharp" Snow
>>1.0 Ghost
>>0.1 Possible Super Hypo
>>0.1 DH Ghost
>>1.1 "Kahl" Albino
>>1.0 Hypomelenistic
>>1.3 Pastel Hypo
>>0.1 Suriname/Columbian cross
>>0.1 Anerthrystic
>>
>>1.1 Morelia Clastolepis
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
26.49 BRB
20.21 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

I do keep males for grow out as they grow 10 times quicker. But I find that once a male has had his way with a female you can know longer introduce a male into the mix....at least my colony.

All my larger feeders are either large or XL males that were never bred.
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Jeremy Payne
JB Reptile

1.0 Snow "Kahl"
0.2 Triple Het Moonglow "Kahl"
0.1 Orange Tail Hypo Het Leopard
0.1 Double Het "Sharp" Snow
1.0 Ghost
0.1 Possible Super Hypo
0.1 DH Ghost
1.1 "Kahl" Albino
1.0 Hypomelenistic
1.3 Pastel Hypo
0.1 Suriname/Columbian cross
0.1 Anerthrystic

1.1 Morelia Clastolepis

Ahhh, good point, I've never kept previously bred males together before. I have 13 dedicated breeder males and when I retire them it's straight into the waiting jaws of a snake!!

Some reward for working hard each week with a new female. At least over the time I've kept them they must had a few virgins along with the tried and true females. On average, about one every 8 weeks ish???
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
26.49 BRB
20.21 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

okay so now its time for everyones favorite "what if" game lol sorry in advance for this

i have 5 snakes right now (hopefully that wont change anytime soon) that eat 1 adult mouse, 2 sm rats, 1 md rat, and 1 jb rat, every two weeks.... now i know thats not a ton but to me its worth looking into

now with that in mind lets say i went ahead and got myself a bunch of tubs, im thinking start with maybe 2 males and 4 females seprated into 2 tubs. would that be a good start or would that turn into more rats than my few snake are taking. i would imagine that it can be controlled to a degree as far as dont introduce any females when the grow out bins are over flowing, but is that somthing that i can only lean how to manage by jumping in and fine tuning as i go? im just courious about it all right now ya know what the theory is behind it all.

assuming they get started right away and i start to sperate the babies male from female, then start filling up grow out tubs, then whats the process as far as how long does the breeding cycle take when is a female ready for a second clutch. so now i have 4 females that just dropped litters where do i go from here?
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-Stephen-

0.1 soon to be wifey (Babe)
1.0 rotwiler/chow (Boomer)
1.0 norm corn (Jake)
1.0 col redtail boa (Switch, formally known as Dixie)
0.1 ball python (Bella)
1.1 Brazilian Rainbow Boa (Torpaz & Saphira)

Which is why we run multiple tubs I only have two males atm the rest of the tubs are for grow out, which takes time, a long time for Jumbo's.

A female rat will ovulate upon birth, so that by the time the babies are weaned she has another litter. I don't cycle my female like that as they burn out quick. But it can be done and if you are always bringing in new females...

If I was in your situation I would keep 3 tubs and separate the moms from the male as she births. Slows down the breeding. Then I would create an account and order mediums and jumbos online...

Fair warning I started breeding again cause mediums are hard to come by frozen...everyone is always out!

BTW you need to update your signature unless the rott is eating Jumbos....
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Jeremy Payne
JB Reptile

1.0 Snow "Kahl"
0.2 Triple Het Moonglow "Kahl"
0.1 Orange Tail Hypo Het Leopard
0.1 Double Het "Sharp" Snow
1.0 Ghost
0.1 Possible Super Hypo
0.1 DH Ghost
1.1 "Kahl" Albino
1.0 Hypomelenistic
1.3 Pastel Hypo
0.1 Suriname/Columbian cross
0.1 Anerthrystic

1.1 Morelia Clastolepis

this is me...but it might help.
I have 30 or so snakes ranging from 5 Children's Pythons (27inches) a couple of western hognose and on up to several ratsnakes and to two bloods, and four boa. No babies this year but normally I would breed the Children's some of the Rats and something else....Hogs Milks.

Right now because I raise some small species I need mouse pinks so I have 6 or 7 tubs of mice. Each is about 1.5. I also have 7 or 8 cages of rats. Generally they are 1.3 but one is smaller and one bigger. The bigger one was supposed to be grow out and turned into breeding when I didn't freeze or sell them fast enough. Anyway, I KNOW I can sell to two local pet stores. I also freeze some off too for sale and my own. That said I usually make money each month. I can trade the rats in and feed my birds (15 of them) and fish (5 tanks) from all that. And of course feed my own snakes and buy the food and bedding for the rodents. They are the only living things right now that more than pay for themselves. Parakeets used to too.
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Sonya

I'm not mean. You're just a sissy.
Happy Bunny