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I have a question regarding the behavior of my rats. I currently have them in a home made rack with home depot cement mixing tubs. Since I have no where else to have the rack because of the smell, I have to keep them outside under a patio roof. I soon found out that the outside elements shut down breeding immediately so I built a closed rack system and insulated it. The rack also has a insulated door. I thought everything was going great since they seem to be doing fine with breeding and eating but in my grow out bins the small to medium rats are chewing through the cement tubs. I am not sure anyone has constructed a rat breeding rack like this but I am not sure why they are chewing every tub I put in there. They have food and water. I am assuming that the closed rack system is developing too much humidity in there and they are trying to get out. I recently put a vent at the top but I was wondering if anyone else has a rack like this or has problems with rats chewing through cement mixing tubs. Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Steven Mendoza

We breed rats like that in the cement tubs at work. Occasionally, the adults will chew out a hole in the bottom. It only happens once every few months though. When they chew it, where is the hole? Is in on the bottom or on the sides? Is there a lot of clearance from the tub and the mesh top?

The cement tubs have a hole on one end and thats usually where they chew through. I thought they just chewed through that because it was already an opening they can exploit but now they are chewing where ever they can sink their teeth through. Now they are chewing the sides usually where the tubs have that ruler. As for the clearance with the mesh I wouldnt know how to explain it except that there is more than enough room to slide the tubs in and out. Its only the grow out feeder rats that are doing the chewing not the adults. I will try to post some photos. Thanks.

Steven

in my experience when breeding I've delt with 2 situations that led to rats chewing tubs. first was individual adult groups and no matter what type of tub they were put in they would chew through them, these got fed off ASAP. The second situation was over crowded grow out tubs. Using the largest cement tubs I have found the magic number of weaned rats to be 25-30 and they are ok at this number for a week then they need to be dropped down to 15-20 rats per tub then mediums down to 10 per tub. Any more than this you start to have sanitation issues unless you clean every 2-3 days which will lead to chewing problems.
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Josh & Krysty Hutto

Various Ball Pythons, boas, dogs, cats, fish, a couple sulcatas and a few other odds and ends.

a BAD dog is MADE not bred, support the American Pit Bull Terrier as the greatest breed of dogs on Earth!!!!!

I dont think its a over populated tub issue since I only have 7-12 mediums in the grow out tubs. I guess I can up the cleaning to once a week instead of every 10-12 days. I thought about separating them to try and find the culprits and feed them off right away. Whenever I open the rack its always the same rats in the front where they chew so hopefully I can eliminate some of the trouble makers. Thanks.

Steven

they asked you about space in rack...you said plenty of room....and plenty of room to pull tub is plenty of room to put their face into and chew...tighten it up

bored, cold,hot, underfed,overcrowded, alive .....all chew, all they can....you have to make it so they cannot...

look for better tubs???....

check the food and temps.....

outside rats the water will freeze or the humidity will get so bad the whole tub sweats......all is bad....

.....keep checking it all...good luck...
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........JY

I see now on the space. Now that I look at them there is a tad bit too much space for them to stick their noses through. Temps are good and I cant switch tubs now since I have built the rack according to the dimensions of the tubs. I will try to reduce the space between the tubs and mesh. Thanks.

Steven

you also need to get the good ones, those are the ^&%^ ones from home depot. i get the completely smooth ones from lowes and even if they chew, it takes them forever because the tubs are thicker and completely slick, so they have no real place to start from.
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I usually build my rat racks TIGHT! They can still slide since I put CD spacers in when building but if the rat can get his/her nose over that edge what so ever that tub's a gonner...Mine have the holes on one end from Home Depot but I still have them and the rats have yet to chew them. Make sure all sides are tight when putting your rack together, if not you'll have issues. Good luck...

That's crazy, I have the complete opposite experience. First off, it seems no two lowes tubs are the same. I've had them chewed up from every possible place. The bottom, side, front, corners, and RARELY from the top lip of the tub where you'd expect it to happen. I've gotten Lowes tubs so thin they can't even hold their shape, pop in across the narrow ends and get chewed up. The last batch of Lowes tubs we picked up to fill in a couple spots on a "lowes tub rack" about two weeks ago were too wide to fit the rack (with lowes tubs already in it) and the lips were all too tall. My home depot tub racks, I can have a pile of tubs ready to go, and any tub will go into any hole. Just weird we've had completely different experience. That last batch also had two different sized tubs in it completely...like they changed the mold, but the given dimensions were the same, along with the same paper taped to the bottom. The ones that were too wide seemed consistent with each other, so maybe you got the new style sooner than we did here, which do seem tougher than what I'm assuming are the older mold. Here's how I build my racks for home depot tubs.

I provide a wheel for all of my larger rodents. The mice get cardboard paper rolls to chew, but the ASFs get their own wheel. I have never had a tub chewing problem. I keep the mice and ASFs in basic, Sterilite sweater boxes with hardware cloth and wood lids I designed. The ASF tubs are the 28 qt, 7.5" deep or so to allow a wheel room to spin. I have 1.3 or 1.5 breeding groups in these and they seem quite happy.

Just FYI:
I use two 55 gal glass tanks for my grow out space and just switch the sexes between the mice and the ASFs to prevent unwanted litters.
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Lincoln, NE
0.1 Pastel, 1.0 Pastel het Pied, 0.1 Pied, 0.1 Cinn, 1.0 Black Pewter, 1.0 Woma (hidden gene?), 0.1 Yellowbelly
2.1 Normals, 1.0 Thayeri, 0.1 Thayeri X Alterna, 0.1 Whitesided P. catenifer sayi, 0.1 crazy cat, 1.0 husband

im just wondering if the temps are getting to cold and they are trying to get out so they can find warmer conditions.
just a thought.
adam jeffery
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" a.k.a. farfrumugen "
When I die, I want to go peacefully like my Grandfather did, in his sleep -- not screaming, like the passengers in his car.

I dont think its too cold. I have the rack closed and insulated. Maybe its too humid and hot but I recently added a vent so hopefully that will help. They have been breading, eating and drinking great but its the grow out bins that are giving me the trouble. Thanks.

Steven

didnt read the other replies, but if they are chewers, kill them. period. i dont tolerate chewing in my colony at all. if they chew, they die. and thats the end of it
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www.bamreptiles.webs.com
www.facebook.com/bamreptiles

lol! If only every thing in life were that simple huh?? lol...Are the lowes tubs the same dimensions? Thanks.

Steven

20x26x6 i think
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I agree...I've gotten rid of all the rats that chew and all the rats that bite from my colony. They're much nicer now.

Hello Steven,
I have the same rack system. I found that they chew through the bottom of the tubs that have that raised bump from the molding process. Home depot at least in my area) now carries a line that has a completely smooth bottom. I have not had chew through in about a year or two. However, I have also feed off any rats in a tub that has chewers in it. In addition to that I also throw in a block of wood (sizes doesn't matter, for them to file their teeth on.
Anthony Wrenn
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-AnthillPython.com-