Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Here are the rat pics..

i started with glass tanks, went to some rubbermaid kinda things, built a small rack and finally found the tubs i want to use for my rats.

They are cement mixing tubs from Home Depot/Lowes. I run them in groups of 1.3 full time, and it works pretty good. I havent installed the auto watering system (its on order).. but once i do, it'll be perfect! LOL

in order to keep the rats from sliding the tubs out (as they do from time to time)... i put in a system where a metal bar drops down in the way of the tub, when i want to open it i simply spin it out of the way!

Now for some of the rats i find breeding rats alot of fun!.. tryin new combos, seeing whats gonna come out..

here is one of my BIG males.. he tips the scales at almost 1000 grams! i love his color too!

some future breeders im raisin up!

this rat is one of my big male studs.. hes over 2 years old and still goin strong!.. i love his dumbo ears.. hes fathered probably 2000 babies?

some future food!

this rack running at full power will produce between 300-500 rats a month or so.. as long as ya feed em, water em, and clean em they do their thing!

feel free to ask any questions

dan

10 tubs or so it seems. That can produce 500/month? I have about 4 tubs fully active at this point and I'm barely producing 75/month. Perhaps its because you've got better blood, my rats are probably too far gone inbred.

ya figure 10 tubs of rats.. 1.3 or 1.4 per tub..

figure each female will give you 10 babies a month.. 40 girls.. 400 babies (where most of my females are giving me more in the range of 15-20 per litter)..

so if i figure on 15-20 per litter per female.. im lookin at 450-800 (i know i wont be getting no 800 babies every 4 weeks.. at least i hope not LOL)

so say 300-400 a month EASY (you'll have low months and high months using this setup too).. but more is expected..

for example you'll get 200 1 week.. and another 200 2 weeks later.. so you'll be off by 200.. but it all kinda balances out in the end.

overall.. i calculate numbers on 1 female = 10 babies every 4 weeks roughly.. sometimes i even calculate numbers for 1 female = 7 babies

hope that helped

dan

Neat deal Dan. What type of rotation do u use for breeding? A brief run-down if your process would be great. Do u rotate males for stimulation? I was given some FB's, and I'm trying to get a game plan going. I'm at 1:4. Thanks a ton. Tim

i run them in groups of 1.3 or 1.4 (havent decided which i like better yet)..

same male.. all the time.. until he runs outta "juice".. which is almost never LOL..

so once i setup a colony.. it stays that way until i pull the breeder females at the end of a year of breeding (depending on how well they are still breeding)

the males usually go onto some younger girls..

best of luck

dan

Thanks 4 that. Do they chew the wood at all?

The rack is built so that the tub never touches any of the side supports for the rack itself.

The only small section of wood they would ever be able to chew is the "feed" area, and in all the time ive used wood racks, ive never had any serious chewing incidents to report

best of luck

dan

np

You have some BEAUTIFUL rats there. Do you ever sell as pets/show rats/breeders? I know a BUNCH of people (including myself) who would kill for some of those colors and markings.

Danyelle

i do sell some "pet" rats from time to time.. ive even had some people come looking for "show" rats..

but all in all most of my rats are "feeders".. i just like producing cool patterns, coat types, colors, ear styles.. makes a"work" into something you look forward too.. opening a tub and wondering "whats next?"

ive bred "show" rats in the past.. black eyed whites, tail-less, hairless, and everything in between.. but it was alot of work.. alot of mess.. alot of work for very little reward.. considering they were just FOOD anyways. LOL

feel free to ask anything else..

dan

I was just wondering where you got the tubs I have been looking for those eveywhere

man i love that store.. i should buy stock!

goto the "building materials" section and ask for "Plasgad cement mixing tubs" they will take you right to them!

best of luck

dan

Nice racks! I wanna know where you got those cool calico rats? Could i talk you into shipping me a couple?

Take Care
James Baiz

what did you use for your sliders i see the hanging down but what is it and how did you make it or where did you buy it thanks for the help