Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am thinking about breeding my own rats. I see the average litter is about 14 or so. My question is how often does a Mom produce a litter. I have 14 BPs now and feeding is getting expensive, plus the quality of some of the frozens I am getting is not good. Also any recommendations on what to used as a breeder cage(something easy to clean). Lastly what is a good quality but cheap food for the rats. Thanx in advance.
CobraBoy

Rats have a litter once every 20-25 days with 23 being average. Pretty much once a month. Litter size can vary but the average is between 12-18. A good quality food for rats is Mazuri lab rat chow that is designed especially for breeding rats. Purina Mills also has rat diets (in fact I think they also make the Mazuri lab chow as well). These are fully balanced diets made especially for rats. Others just use dog food that contains no dyes or preservatives. What to look for is high protien (21% or more) and fat around 8%.

For the amount of snakes you have, you should have one to two 1:3 colonies of rats, this way you can freeze the excess for lean months or sell the extra to help cover the cost of food for the rats.

For containers, alot here use the large mixing pans found at Home Depot. I use the large rubbermaid roughneck tubs that are about 151L or so.

TY

Your welcome