Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Do most of you guys and gals breed rats yourself? Or do you order frozen?
If you do, how do you keep the cages from getting to smelley. My parents don't particularly like the smell of them, so they have refused to let me breed them for some years now. But they gave me another chance. And yes, I know there is no way of getting around the smell completly. So, I already have 2 females and a male in a 10 gallon tank. Do you think thats big enough?
Sorry for the off-topic question, thanks though.
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Got Balls?
Josh Molone

I normally buy rats online, but I breed mice(in 10 gallon fishtank too)sometimes around egg laying season to get my newborns up and eating. I read that some people put small piles of rabbit pellets in the corners and in middle against the side. This is where the mice pee I guess and it is supposed to keep the smell down? I tried it and it seemed to help. Also, nothing is as good as frequent bedding changes. Get a second tank and always have one in use and the other setup with fresh bedding. That way you can just swap the tank out every few days.

I've bred rats for feeding for a few years but I'm planning to stop. My snake collection hovers around 2 dozen or so and I prefer to feed live. Economically speaking, it definitely is a money saver however, I find myself spending way more time with the rats than I do my snakes and that's been bugging me. I have the rats in a shed and every year, a fluke of a hot day comes along and wipes out half the colony and I end up starting all over again. There is also a rat size issue I have since I have lots of snakes. I always have tons of rat pups but never anything bigger because I don't have space to grow them up which ends up with me buying the larger sizes from stores anyway.

With that said, I think it's awesome to breed your own rats if you have a small snake collection OR if you have tons of space to grow the rats OR minions to do your bidding and have them clean the rat cages OR your snakes are willing to eat frozen in case you don't have enough rats.

As for the smell, I heard that you can put some vanilla extract in the water and it'll help tremendously. PLEASE RESEARCH THIS BEFORE TRYING. I have not done this myself since I breed them outside the house but a friend has tried it and said it worked for him.

Okay, Zefdin, im going to try that rabbit pellet thing! Thank you for the advice! And yes, cleaning them frequently makes a huge difference to me. Being that these rats are in my room, I have to try to convice my mom they wont stink to bad. This might be a litle challenging! And insangelic, thank you for the post. I also prefer live, as do most of my reptiles. But a few of them will take frozen without resitation. I will be the one cleaning out their cages, . I will put some reasearch into that Vanilla Extract thing, it sounds a little weird, but who knows!
Thank you both for the posts!
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Got Balls?
Josh Molone

the vanilla does help i think, but not tremendously. in fact i barely noticed it helping at all. right now i have around 250 rats. the best/easiest/most practical way to keep down odor is to do frequent bedding changes and keep them coo. cooler rats drink less water and therefor pee less, and the pee is what stinks.
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www.bamreptiles.webs.com
www.facebook.com/bamreptiles

I recently looked for a care sheet on breeding mice because my brother told me he would breed them @ his house. This care sheet says to put a little vinegar in the water and that may help cut down on the amonia smell.

http://www.reptileallsorts.com/mouse-cs.htm

How cool do you think I should keep them? They are in a room thats about 76-78 degrees.
Ill try the vinegar too!
Thank you both!
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Got Balls?
Josh Molone

I am no expert but I would think 76 - 78 would be fine. I used to buy rats from a lady that raised them in a cellar that wasn't attached to her house. It got really hot in there in the summer and she used big fans to help cool them. I think this type of situation is what the care sheet was referring to about keeping them cool. My daughters have a hamster and it is about 76 on average in the room and he doesn't drink excessively.

I breed my own rats in a rack I built(it was easy) and use large concrete mixing tubs to keep them in. I buy this stuff called Equine Pine at the feed store and put a layer of it on the bottom of the tub with pine shavings over top. That lasts for about a week and a half or so before it starts stinking. Here's the website where I got the plans for the rack:

http://www.rodentracks.com/Large-Tub-Rat-Rack.html

have you considered ASFs i hear they don't smell like rats and mice do. They are to mean for my blood though. maybe someone can chime in on this one.
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This is courage.. to bear unflinching what heaven sends. -unknown

1.0 Basset Hound (Capone)
1.1 cats (San Quinton and Gracie)

if you keep them in tubs with few holes it keeeps the smell to almost zero