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I finished the first tier of a rat maternity rack that I designed a couple weeks ago and I thought I should post it here in case someone else could use it to save themselves a bundle of money by breeding their own rats.

Anyhow, this is a maternity rack that I am in the process of constructing. When it is finished it will have 10 levels (tiers) identical to the one pictured. Each level holds 14 maternity tubs. Each tub comfortably houses 3 females with their 30 to 40 babies. So when all is said and done this rack will house up to 420 pregnant or nursing female rats with up to 5000 young. The rack takes up only 30 inches by 96 inches of floor space. It was/is amazingly cheap to build and quite easy too. The level in the picture only cost about 65 dollars to build and that figure includes the auto water nipples and the tubs and the whole enchilada. So it will only cost me about 650 dollars to build a rack that will churn out about 10 thousand rats per month. That's the same amount many people pay for just a couple hundred rats.
Here's a picture of the whole thing:
:

Here's a close up overhead shot of the tubs and water line system:
:

And another angle of the tubs:
:

The colored clips you see attached to the water lines are just a color code system that we have been using for a few months now. Green=empty and clean tub, Red=needs to be cleaned soon, Purple=was just cleaned, Blue=mothers yet to birth, etc.

I got the perfect tubs at my local 99 cent store (of course for a buck each). They are completely smooth on the inside and constructed of very thick and heavy plastic. I snatched up a little over 200 even though I didn't need that many right at this moment. (just in case they don't have them again) The auto water nipples I get from Morton Jones for 2.15 each. They are such a time saver. Worth ten times the price. Of course everyone knows where to get lumber and wire mesh. And that about covers it. If you have any questions please feel free to ask here or to email me about it. I am glad to help out my fellow herpers any time.
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The fastest way to achieve great wealth is by living more poorly for much longer.

>>I finished the first tier of a rat maternity rack that I designed a couple weeks ago and I thought I should post it here in case someone else could use it to save themselves a bundle of money by breeding their own rats.
>>
>> Anyhow, this is a maternity rack that I am in the process of constructing. When it is finished it will have 10 levels (tiers) identical to the one pictured. Each level holds 14 maternity tubs. Each tub comfortably houses 3 females with their 30 to 40 babies. So when all is said and done this rack will house up to 420 pregnant or nursing female rats with up to 5000 young. The rack takes up only 30 inches by 96 inches of floor space. It was/is amazingly cheap to build and quite easy too. The level in the picture only cost about 65 dollars to build and that figure includes the auto water nipples and the tubs and the whole enchilada. So it will only cost me about 650 dollars to build a rack that will churn out about 10 thousand rats per month. That's the same amount many people pay for just a couple hundred rats.
>> Here's a picture of the whole thing:
>>:
>>
>> Here's a close up overhead shot of the tubs and water line system:
>>:
>>
>> And another angle of the tubs:
>>:
>>
>> The colored clips you see attached to the water lines are just a color code system that we have been using for a few months now. Green=empty and clean tub, Red=needs to be cleaned soon, Purple=was just cleaned, Blue=mothers yet to birth, etc.
>>
>> I got the perfect tubs at my local 99 cent store (of course for a buck each). They are completely smooth on the inside and constructed of very thick and heavy plastic. I snatched up a little over 200 even though I didn't need that many right at this moment. (just in case they don't have them again) The auto water nipples I get from Morton Jones for 2.15 each. They are such a time saver. Worth ten times the price. Of course everyone knows where to get lumber and wire mesh. And that about covers it. If you have any questions please feel free to ask here or to email me about it. I am glad to help out my fellow herpers any time.
>>-----
>>The fastest way to achieve great wealth is by living more poorly for much longer.

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The fastest way to achieve great wealth is by living more poorly for much longer.

>>>>I finished the first tier of a rat maternity rack that I designed a couple weeks ago and I thought I should post it here in case someone else could use it to save themselves a bundle of money by breeding their own rats.
>>>>
>>>> Anyhow, this is a maternity rack that I am in the process of constructing. When it is finished it will have 10 levels (tiers) identical to the one pictured. Each level holds 14 maternity tubs. Each tub comfortably houses 3 females with their 30 to 40 babies. So when all is said and done this rack will house up to 420 pregnant or nursing female rats with up to 5000 young. The rack takes up only 30 inches by 96 inches of floor space. It was/is amazingly cheap to build and quite easy too. The level in the picture only cost about 65 dollars to build and that figure includes the auto water nipples and the tubs and the whole enchilada. So it will only cost me about 650 dollars to build a rack that will churn out about 10 thousand rats per month. That's the same amount many people pay for just a couple hundred rats.
>>>> Here's a picture of the whole thing:
>>>>:
>>>>
>>>> Here's a close up overhead shot of the tubs and water line system:
>>>>:
>>>>
>>>> And another angle of the tubs:
>>>>:
>>>>
>>>> The colored clips you see attached to the water lines are just a color code system that we have been using for a few months now. Green=empty and clean tub, Red=needs to be cleaned soon, Purple=was just cleaned, Blue=mothers yet to birth, etc.
>>>>
>>>> I got the perfect tubs at my local 99 cent store (of course for a buck each). They are completely smooth on the inside and constructed of very thick and heavy plastic. I snatched up a little over 200 even though I didn't need that many right at this moment. (just in case they don't have them again) The auto water nipples I get from Morton Jones for 2.15 each. They are such a time saver. Worth ten times the price. Of course everyone knows where to get lumber and wire mesh. And that about covers it. If you have any questions please feel free to ask here or to email me about it. I am glad to help out my fellow herpers any time.
>>>>-----
>>>>The fastest way to achieve great wealth is by living more poorly for much longer.
>>
>>-----
>>The fastest way to achieve great wealth is by living more poorly for much longer.

-----
The fastest way to achieve great wealth is by living more poorly for much longer.

>>>>>>I finished the first tier of a rat maternity rack that I designed a couple weeks ago and I thought I should post it here in case someone else could use it to save themselves a bundle of money by breeding their own rats.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Anyhow, this is a maternity rack that I am in the process of constructing. When it is finished it will have 10 levels (tiers) identical to the one pictured. Each level holds 14 maternity tubs. Each tub comfortably houses 3 females with their 30 to 40 babies. So when all is said and done this rack will house up to 420 pregnant or nursing female rats with up to 5000 young. The rack takes up only 30 inches by 96 inches of floor space. It was/is amazingly cheap to build and quite easy too. The level in the picture only cost about 65 dollars to build and that figure includes the auto water nipples and the tubs and the whole enchilada. So it will only cost me about 650 dollars to build a rack that will churn out about 10 thousand rats per month. That's the same amount many people pay for just a couple hundred rats.
>>>>>> Here's a picture of the whole thing:
>>>>>>:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Here's a close up overhead shot of the tubs and water line system:
>>>>>>:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> And another angle of the tubs:
>>>>>>:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> The colored clips you see attached to the water lines are just a color code system that we have been using for a few months now. Green=empty and clean tub, Red=needs to be cleaned soon, Purple=was just cleaned, Blue=mothers yet to birth, etc.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I got the perfect tubs at my local 99 cent store (of course for a buck each). They are completely smooth on the inside and constructed of very thick and heavy plastic. I snatched up a little over 200 even though I didn't need that many right at this moment. (just in case they don't have them again) The auto water nipples I get from Morton Jones for 2.15 each. They are such a time saver. Worth ten times the price. Of course everyone knows where to get lumber and wire mesh. And that about covers it. If you have any questions please feel free to ask here or to email me about it. I am glad to help out my fellow herpers any time.

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The fastest way to achieve great wealth is by living more poorly for much longer.

.

I run big breeder tubs, each containing 75-100 females to 6 males. I pull pregnant females and put them 3 to a tub. In the 80's I ran trios of rats like that, with a male to two females in every cage or tub, but it isn't necessary. This way produces just as many pregnancies and I don't have to maintain and feed so many extra males. This way is 30 males to 500 females whereas the old way would require 250 males (1 male to every 2 females) and extra males eat a lot. So why have them if you don't have to? Anyways, my breeder tubs are actually big plastic tubs that are 6 feet by 4 feet and 18 inches tall. They were originally built to serve as garden ponds, I think. But one doesn't have to use these. One can use anything of size that would adequately hold the rats and would be easy to clean. I am going to build some of these out of melamine when I need more and see how this works. For now, here's a picture of a breeding tank. The rats tend to huddle in the corners, so they are hard to see. I usually have a couple of soda crates in there for them to climb on and to get to the food on top and to sleep in securely, but I take them out for a couple hours every day for better breeding. When the rats are forced to run around the males show more interest in breeding.

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The fastest way to achieve great wealth is by living more poorly for much longer.

So, while the females are away from the males for the month while they're nursing, they can't get pregnant. Doesn't this cut them down from a litter a month to a litter every two months? If so, you're cutting your production down in half, right? To get the production you're getting from 500 female rats, couldn't you cut it down to 250 females, and keep them at a 1:6 ratio? That would be 42 males 250 females = 292 adult rats. This is about 55% of the total amount of adult rats you're using, plus you wouldn't have to worry about pulling the pregnant females out all the time.

Also, do you raise up rats large rats to feed? I've heard that this takes forever and isn't very cost-effective.

Jake

Sorry Jake,
I didn't see your post when I made mine below. I entirely agree with you.

Bob Garby

First off,. that shortens the female's life span to breed so much sooner and more closely. Secondly, MUCH more can and does go wrong in trio systems with stress to the females and pinkies being killed and eaten. And while one can say that it's nice to have large retired males to feed to their snakes, it's easier to simply raise up large groups of males like I do. It doesn't take long and it is VERY cost effective. It only takes about 6 weeks for a male to become large. Every week I set aside the 200 rats I will need for each weekly feeding and they go into a "wave tub". There are a number of weekly wave tubs leading to the large that I use each week. It's a system that works perfectly. It only costs about 15 to 20 cents of kibble to get a rat to large size. Another drawback of having many males is that they smell worse than females and the place would be full of male musk. Another drawback there can be no pinky adoptions when you have a bad mom that isn't caring for her kids. The males will eat the pinkies of another male. In my system I can shift and share any number of pinkies with any mom I choose to suit my needs, be it numbers or health needs. Also, it only takes a few short weeks to wean the offspring and the females are back in the breeding tanks. And lastly, one has to keep the trios together to get the best breeding. If you change up males and shift the families around it can stress them. But whatever works for the next guy, you know? I ran the whole trio system through the whole 1980's and found many things wrong with it and have evolved my systems to what they are now. But if it works fine for another,.. hey, to each their own, you know? But I know what works best for me. And this is it.

>>So, while the females are away from the males for the month while they're nursing, they can't get pregnant. Doesn't this cut them down from a litter a month to a litter every two months? If so, you're cutting your production down in half, right? To get the production you're getting from 500 female rats, couldn't you cut it down to 250 females, and keep them at a 1:6 ratio? That would be 42 males 250 females = 292 adult rats. This is about 55% of the total amount of adult rats you're using, plus you wouldn't have to worry about pulling the pregnant females out all the time.
>>
>>Also, do you raise up rats large rats to feed? I've heard that this takes forever and isn't very cost-effective.
>>
>>Jake
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The fastest way to achieve great wealth is by living more poorly for much longer.

Actually there is a benefit to keeping males with the small female groups. The males will breed with females while they are caring for the babies, so you get your next litters sooner, usually just as the first litter is being weaned. Also, I could always use more large retired breeder males as I have a lot of snakes that take that particular size.

Bob Garby

Wow, nwo that is one thing I have never had a problem with ! LOL! Those things are crazy! There is constant action in my breeder cage!

Then you'd make even be making money while saving money

I've been lucky enough that the guy who I buy rats and mice from also wants some of the species of snakes I work with.
We make trades and I get the feeders I need, he gets the snakes he wants.

I'm just glad there are motivated people like you who are willing to raise rodents so lazy people like me can just buy them from you. I'm serious too. I hate raising rats. I hate killing rats. I'm happy to pay someone else to raise them so I can reach into the freezer and pull out some snake food.

Doug T

np

Do you have plans and a shopping list for this rack?
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http://www.moreliapythons.com

I built one similar to that using these instructions (link below). It works well and was easy to build.
http://www.kingsnake.com/obsoleta/ratrack.htm

Thanks...great site!
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http://www.moreliapythons.com

>>Do you have plans and a shopping list for this rack?
>>-----
>>http://www.moreliapythons.com
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The fastest way to achieve great wealth is by living more poorly for much longer.

Could you please check your e-mail and reply to my question about the anerythristic brazilian rainbowboas? I wonder how they are going to look as they grow up.
Thanks in advance.
Cheers,
Bas
bas@pythons.nl

Cheers,
Bas