Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Question for those who breed their own rats for their ball pythons.. I was thinking of starting to breed rats and the 2 questions I have are.. Do they need sunlight? (I was going to breed in my garage and I don’t have any windows or doors to let sunlight through) Do you have to keep them above a certain temp. to breed.. (my garage gets cold in the winter didn’t no if this would affect them).. Thanks for all the help

Rats do not need the sunlight and yes temps do matter. Personally I don't like the temps getting below 60 for our rats. When they get colder they don't produce as fast. I guess if you put more bedding in with them then they can go colder, but thats just more money to throw away. The colder temps causes breeding to slow and can cause deaths. We keep our range between 60-80.

To me...the sunlight definitely helps.
I worked third shift and my bed room was constantly dark from sleeping all day. My rats were in my room and they just weren't breeding. I moved them to a different room where they got a natural light cycle and POW...breeding like champs.
-shrug-
-----
"What is man without the beasts?
If all the beasts were gone,
men would die from great loneliness of spirit.
For what happens to the beasts,
soon happens to men.
All things are connected."

-Chief Seattle (Duwamish Tribe)

www.youtube.com/reptilenexus

they would apreciate some daylight.....you can leave a light on...not really necessary though actually....

temps....too cold...sperm will stop or slow down....too too cold...water lines / bottles will freeze....too cold...the cages will be wet with accumulated moisture from the rats breathe....wet cages...feel colder...need cleaned...smell worse...

...run a small ceramic heater....if garage is too big...hang tarps and make a makeshift little room ....

....
-----
........JY

I can't say that lights don't make much of a difference since I have a small window in my garage door (about as bright as 2 nightlights). Though I think I would help some. What matters more is temps and humidity. Need ambient temps of 68-78F and at least 40% humidity to get consistent breeding. As someone else mentioned, if colder they will need more bedding for building their nest to keep babies warm. They can die when mom leaves to get a break for a little while. Even in a community setting all moms might be on other side of cage for a short while.
-----
-AnthillPython.com-

I breed asf's for my collection and I just moved them from my garage to a small room in my garage that I am now heating, I live in Michigan so it gets a bit chilly up here this time of year. The garage has Windows in it and my new rat room does not, I find they aren't eating and drinking as much without light so I put a fluorescent light in there and now they are back to normal. We for heat...for sure needs to stay 60 at least, I just use a digital control oil radiator heater and it works great. Good luck!

I just went through the same thing. I was breeding in my house and got tired of the smell so I switched to my garage. I was lucky the room was insulated. I bought a smaller convection heater and was surprised at how warm it actually kept the garage. It stays at 70 consistantly even with night time temps already getting in the mid 40s. I would say even if not insulated you could possibly get desireable temps. I'm not sure how much it's going to cost to operate, but its supposed to be the most efficient Honeywell made.
-----
----------------------------------------------------------------
1.0 Spider Ball Python
1.0 Albino Ball Python
0.1 Pastel Ball Python
0.3 Het for Albino Ball Python
0.1 Pinstripe Ball Python
0.1 Bumble Bee Ball Python
1.0 Hypo Ball Python