Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have been planning on using cement mixing tubs for my rodents, but found some unbelievably cheap kitty litter boxes so I got a few. I figure if they get chewed through, at least they didn't cost a lot.

Anyway, I was just wondering how many rats I could fit in a rack that is 22.25" x 16.75"
I figured 1.2 or 1.3
Is this okay?

Also how about for mice? The rack is 18.5" x 15.25"
I figured 1.4 or 1.5
Is this okay?

Obviously I'd prefer to house as many rats/mice in each of the bins as I can, but if crowding would be a problem please let me know.

Thanks.

the tubs i use for my rat rack are 29" long X 19" wide X 6" deep and ive been running 1.3 with ZERO problems... try 1.3 and see how it works out... if its too crowded.. goto 1.2 and see how that works

the tubs i use for my mice are.. 12" long X 9" wide X 3" tall and ive run groups of both 1.4 and 1.5 in them with little or no problems. It can get crowded with 5 nursing moms and litters, but they seem to space it out so they dont all drop at the same time

i would try 1.5 and see how it works.. if it looks really open.. go ahead and try 1.6

best of luck

dan

>>the tubs i use for my rat rack are 29" long X 19" wide X 6" deep and ive been running 1.3 with ZERO problems... try 1.3 and see how it works out... if its too crowded.. goto 1.2 and see how that works
>>
>>the tubs i use for my mice are.. 12" long X 9" wide X 3" tall and ive run groups of both 1.4 and 1.5 in them with little or no problems. It can get crowded with 5 nursing moms and litters, but they seem to space it out so they dont all drop at the same time
>>
>>i would try 1.5 and see how it works.. if it looks really open.. go ahead and try 1.6
>>
>>best of luck
>>
>>dan

Hi Dan,

I'm having a rack built that is going to utilize the small plasgad cement tubs for the rats (same as the ones you use)... I noticed that you said you run 1.3 with ZERO problems, but I was planning on doing at least 1.4 and maybe 1.5 in them.

Is that going to get too overcrowed? It just seems to me that the cement tubs are quite large, and to my newbie eye it seems they could hold at least 1.4...

Am I way off?

Thanks for the help.
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-Ross Payan - www.LeosAnonymous.com

Leos Anonymous

Ball Pythons, Red Striped Leos, W.Hognose and Screaming AFT's

ive run 1.3 with no problems..

say you have 3 females with 15 babies per female...imagine 47 animals in that tub!...

now imagine if you ran 1.5.... 5 females... 15 babies... it would get INSANE in there..

i would recomend NO MORE than 1.3.. especially if you are running them as fulltime colonies.. ive tried more and it failed miserably!

best of luck

dan

These colonies will only be producing pinky and fuzzy rats... I buy my adult feeders for the big snakes, I'm only breeding rats and mice to produce pinks and fuzzies to feed all the young snakes.

Does that make any difference?

Thanks for the help...
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-Ross Payan - www.LeosAnonymous.com

Leos Anonymous

Ball Pythons, Red Striped Leos, W.Hognose and Screaming AFT's

give it a try and see how it works out.. if production is low..l reduce the number of females in the colony.

best of luck

dan

Another thing to consider when planning one's setup is cleaning. If you cost for labor, it is probably the biggest cost. Lower density means cleaning less often.

DeMak

>>Another thing to consider when planning one's setup is cleaning. If you cost for labor, it is probably the biggest cost. Lower density means cleaning less often.
>>
>>DeMak
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-Ross Payan - www.LeosAnonymous.com

Leos Anonymous

Ball Pythons, Red Striped Leos, W.Hognose and Screaming AFT's