Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was wondering if anyone could tell me about how much it cost them to have a small breeding group of rats each month. How many offspring can one rat produce and how often? How long does it take for them to grow to the different size classifications? Any information will be greatly appreciated!

This question should probably be asked in feeder forum but I will give you some answers anyway. Rats are really cheap to keep. I pay about 11 bucks for 50lbs of O Roy dog food from Walmart. That will last at least a couple of months for a small breeding group. I use pine bedding which cost about 6 bucks for a big bail which lasts more than a month also. You can expect about ten babies per female per month. As far as growth rates someone else will have to answer that question because I don't grow anything larger than small. Hope it helps Clay

Here is just some hit and miss info. Many people have different conditions and food that can change the final results....but here are some facts from our system.

We typically have a rat weaned within 21 days....about 35-40 grams in size. This only cost you food to feed mom. A medium to large rat can consume 4-5 pellets per day maybe more.

Our average litter size is about 15. I would use 10-12 to be more conservative. You can always freeze the extra. One adult breeding female equals about 10-12 rats per month.....(general forcast)

1 male for 4-5 females as a breeding group. Some people keep the females in with the breeding group to raise her young. We seperate the females out into their own container before they drop.....she raises them until weaned in this seperate container. We then toss her back in with the breeding group when her young become weaned.

Again, speaking very generally.......in a years time your ball could take in 45-55 meals. If you feed frozen...logistically...rat breeding is much more simple. If you feed live then you have to have rats in a size window that is appropriate for the size snake your feeding. Your rat breeding doesn't always work in harmony with when you want to feed your snakes. So you end up with rats too big or to small when you want to feed. We over produce on rats just for this reason......we always have the live size we need when we need it. Everything else gets tossed in the freezer to be sold.

We have about 100 adults in our breeding group that costs about $200...$225 per month in food and bedding. We actually 100% cover the cost of our rat breeding with our frozen sales.......it's break even. My rats cost me nothing in the end. We are currently feeding around 70 balls of various ages.

Just a few scattered thoughts.....hope it's helpful.
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Jim Perron
Python Passion Reptiles
pythonpassion@hotmail.com
www.pythonpassionreptiles.com

Thanks alot to both of you for the information you provided. You answered all the questions I had!

alot of work to get food and shavings and carry them to home.....

alot of mess from them and cleaning....dust is terrible.....

they stink like all he!!.........

......

yes...it's worth it if you need alot.....and sell alot.....

you got a couple snakes........

buy them from another person with a stinky dirty house.......

LOL

really.............

(I make money enough....but I pay with work and smell and dust).....

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"people suck......snakes are a pain???).......better?......
...........................LEARN!!!...KNOW!!!.......