Reptile & Amphibian Forums

does anyone know of any good books or videos which describe how to get the most out of a breeding colony of mice and rats........after i get my 100 female babies and my 1.0 spider,1.0 clown,1.o mojave,and 0.3 albinos to add to my albino male and pastel male and 25 yearling female ball pythons i already have.....ill have to start fending for myself in feeding them........ill still buy frozen to have on hand but i do have to start a good sized group of breeders..........any help will be greatly appreciated......Jerry

Whoa! what are you running a zoo!

First, figure out how many of what sizes you'll need per month. That depends on your snakes, temps, etc.... so I'll let you figure it out.

I raised 1.3 rats in mortar tubs (19"X26"X8" I think). I count on 10 pups per mom on average. If you have freezer space available, I would recommend that you shoot for 20% over what you need and freeze the rest. That way you are covered if something goes out of whack for a while. If you get too far ahead (3 or 4 months or more), shut down your colony. Then you'll feed your colony without cleaning any tubs.

You will also need grow out tubs if you need larger sizes. Since I only have corn snakes, I didn't need to. When rats are big enough to wean, they're just right. Retired breeders went to a rescue group.

With 3 to 4 tubs, you can just stack them with wooden spacers. A rack would be better if you need more than 5 tubs. They save space and time. Satori has posted a pic of his very nice one.

If you need mice, you'll need help from others here.

Be sure to read thru lots of posts here. While I fed lab blocks, others feed dog chow ( no red dye ) or mixes of grains. Some use water bottles, some automatic water systems. I've used both, automatics systems will save ALOT of time if you have more than a couple of tubs. Folks bed their rodents on pine, carefresh, rabbit pellets (my choice), even newspaper (labor intensive but free).

The link will take you to some pics. I no longer use the sterlite tubs or tops due to chewing problems. Sorry I didn't take pics of the mortar tubs. I used 1"X2" frames covered with 1/2" hardware cloth (for mice 1/4". If you are going to stack them use the drop in feed hopper. In a rack system, the feed goes right on top of the hardware cloth. There are lots of rack pics posted here, look them over...

Good Luck,

DeMak
Pics