Show me Rat setups please

As it says with my tegus and monitors Im needing to start to breed my own rats. Struck out so far bought a male and 2 females woke up and male was being ate while there was a full dish of food. have had these guys for 4 weeks. If you would show me your setups looking for low cost to start with. and what is your groups how long you leave the male in. Tips and pics would be great thanks

How was the water level? I know for my setup the only time ive ever had canabalism was where i missed filling up water one day.

Attached are pics of regular rat racks, mouse tub, and soft fur rack.

For regular rat racks (black tubs/wooden frames), I use groups of two females per tub. They're raised together, and will help one another raise babies. Males are rotated through the tubs, left in each for about two weeks. (when girls are looking noticeably pregnant) Moms have babies, care for them, and when they're big enough to wean I pull them and put them in one of my growout bins. The pink tags in the picture are tags I have on all my tubs. I jot down info on each, like when tub was last cleaned, when male was put in, when babies were born, etc.

Mice I put in the big sterilite tubs I've modified for them. I use one male, and three females. They are all raised together and I leave the male in at all times. Same as above - moms have babies, care for them communally, and when they're large enough to wean I put them elsewhere to grow up to the size I need.

Soft furs I raise in ten gallon tanks. One male, two females. I use tanks for soft furs because they love to chew and there's no way in hades I'd trust these guys in anything plastic. Groups are raised together from weanlings, and are cared for as the rats and mice above.

Last pic is my growout troughs for my soft furs. They take so long to grow to a decent size, that I just put them in these and kind of forget about them for a couple months. They are rigged with automatic waterers, and modified hog feeders that will hold their lab block.

Everything eats Mazuri 6F. It's just what I can get easily, locally.

All my feeder breeders get things to mentally stimulate them. Wheels for soft furs and mice, wood blocks to chew, foraging treats, cardboard tubes, etc.

Good luck!

newbie question here but can rats be in 10 gallon tanks? im wanting to keep them in glass just do to the fact they will be in my basement.

and as for bedding always use nothing but pine shavings correct

Originally Posted by RonniesReps

newbie question here but can rats be in 10 gallon tanks? im wanting to keep them in glass just do to the fact they will be in my basement.

Yes. I even made a rack out of them once.

http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/foru...roach+rat+rack

I use the mortor tubs now, sooooooooooo much more easier in every sense. One problem with the tanks over the tubs, is the weanlings have trouble reaching the edstrom water nozzles and I had to use a water bottle.

I made the racks below for less that $200, I think, and I have two females in each (some people run five females, too much maintenance for me). 14 slots total, 24 females in 12 racks and two weanling tubs. The male is rotated every week to a new tub and no rat gets left alone. They are social creatures and it's just in good nature to let them have a partner.

Originally Posted by RonniesReps

and as for bedding always use nothing but pine shavings correct

That's really going to be your call. Pine is pretty cheap and most alternatives are going to cost more. There is some speculation as to whether pine is safe for rats and while I have read some articles, I haven't found anything to convince me it's really that harmful. I've been using it for probably two years and haven't had one respiratory issue and only a couple deaths resulting from complicated births. I get the huge bag from walmart for $6 and it doesn't have much dust.

Reptile Basic is going to have most of the watering accessories you need.

When creating a water resivoir, I suggest making it small and make sure to have a lid for it. Smaller means more fill ups and fresher water. A lid keeps dust and other particulates from settling in the water and gunking the lines.

alright thanks I believe thats the way ill go is a rack with 10 gallon tanks or 20 longs if i can pick them up cheap. Should prob just use on female per tank correct.

Originally Posted by RonniesReps

alright thanks I believe thats the way ill go is a rack with 10 gallon tanks or 20 longs if i can pick them up cheap. Should prob just use on female per tank correct.

When I had the six 10 gallon tank rack, I had one female in each tank and rotated the male every two weeks. I would recommend two for socialization reasons, however, they will be a little cramped and the litter/substrate would have to be changed frequently. I also bought six large suction cups and tied shoe laces on them. I stuck them to the tank to use as handles.

This is just my personal suggestion, but I would try to give the females at least 12 weeks in between birthing to give them a chance to fatten up. I think this is just proper quality of life but I have been to a few local facilities and most seem to run them 24/7 without problems. Not that it's right or wrong, but something to think about. All of my babies are huge, fat and healthy and I almost always get a 12-19 litter per rat. I think replenishing the fat reserves offers more nutrients the mother can create, but that just an assumption.


Oh BTW, I recall you mentioning you were looking for a cheap startup. The tank rack is going to cost more than the tub rack.

Price for wood would be close to the same for the two racks. Might save $10-15 with the tank setup.

Hoses and water nozzles will remain the same.

Chicken wire will run about $10 more for the tub rack.

Mortor tubs will run you $5 x 7 = $35. The cheapest place I found tanks new was at walmart @ $12 a pop. $12 x 8 (6 females, 2 grow outs) = $96. You could find them used on CL for about $10 a piece but the only problem with that are the tanks vary in height dependant on the manufacturer, which would result in different heights and the tanks not mating with the toppers. Making sure all the tanks are the same height will save a lot of fustration.

Here the set up i had for my asf's.Bumper it up to a 6 tub since then