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Finished building my mouse rack.

K

Kingetula

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I finally got off my lazy butt and got a mouse rack built. I got tired of forking out $1.00 to $1.50 per mouse. I guess the initial cost is high but in time it should even out plus I can do more with my time instead of driving to the Pet Shop.

I know I can buy frozen mice and have but I have not been real happy with frozen mice or should I say some of my snakes have not been happy eating frozen.

Here are the photos...
 

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And here are a few more...
 

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Cheryl Marchek AKA JM said:
Very nice! But if I were you I'd go ahead and run another length of wood diagonal across the back. It will add a bit of support and keep the thing from tilting and twisting.
Very nice work!
Click to expand...

lol yeah that is in the works. One last trip to Home Depot...feww almost done.

thanks
 
almost....
 

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That looks good, bad rodents caused me to build my own rack. It has been a couple of years and I cannot believe how much money I have saved not buying rodents every week.

Are you going to stick with the bottles or move on to a water gravity system? For me it turned out to be less annoying to fill a 5 gallon bucket than a bunch of bottles.
 
Junkyard said:
That looks good, bad rodents caused me to build my own rack. It has been a couple of years and I cannot believe how much money I have saved not buying rodents every week.

Are you going to stick with the bottles or move on to a water gravity system? For me it turned out to be less annoying to fill a 5 gallon bucket than a bunch of bottles.
Click to expand...

Do you know where to get the supplies to build a gravity system? I would like to but I need to see blue prints so to speak. I can usually look at something and put it together but I've never seen this gravity system. Even if I had a list and knew where to buy everything I need I should be able to figure it out.

Thanks
 
A gravity fed water system is a little expensive initially, but believe me it's worth every penny and then some compared to filling individual water bottles every couple of days. If I had to give up my watering system and go to bottles, I'd probably just quit breeding rodents.

Installing the system is pretty simple once you see the parts. You can see pics of how I installed it on a couple of racks on these pages:
http://www.arbreptiles.com/cages/rat_rack/ratrack.shtml
http://www.arbreptiles.com/cages/rat_rack2/birthing_rack.shtml

Just scroll down a bit on both pages to the watering system section.

As for parts you'll need the following:
A bucket of some sort, preferably translucent so you can see the water level through the side.
A supply valve for the bucket.
One drinking valve per tub. The Vari-Flo valves are usually recommended for mice. I've used the standard non adjustable valves for both mice and rats though so either will work and there's no price difference.
One Tee fitting per tub except for the last one. You can use a 90 degree fitting there or just bend the tubing which is what I do.
Enough 3/16 tubing to go through the rack.
Some loop clamps are handy, but some people use electrical staples and just put them in carefully so as not to crimp the tubing. I prefer the loop clamps myself.


The cheapest place I've found for the parts the last time I bought any was at Klubertanz Equipment. http://www.klubertanz.com/
The part numbers for the components are:
Supply valve - A202
Brass Vari-flo valves - A301
3/16" Tee - A405
3/16" tubing - A401

Klubertanz does not carry the loop clamps, I get those from AG Select here http://tinyurl.com/43ub8h

These are the parts and brands I use, Edstrom.

One thing I notice, the way you have built the rack using water valves will either require that you slide the tubs out until they hit the valves then compress them a bit until they drop out, or shorten the slides they hang on.
Pushing in one side of the tub enough so that it drops out isn't a problem though, I have to do that with my racks.
 
Clay Davenport said:
A gravity fed water system is a little expensive initially, but believe me it's worth every penny and then some compared to filling individual water bottles every couple of days. If I had to give up my watering system and go to bottles, I'd probably just quit breeding rodents.

Installing the system is pretty simple once you see the parts. You can see pics of how I installed it on a couple of racks on these pages:
http://www.arbreptiles.com/cages/rat_rack/ratrack.shtml
http://www.arbreptiles.com/cages/rat_rack2/birthing_rack.shtml

Just scroll down a bit on both pages to the watering system section.

As for parts you'll need the following:
A bucket of some sort, preferably translucent so you can see the water level through the side.
A supply valve for the bucket.
One drinking valve per tub. The Vari-Flo valves are usually recommended for mice. I've used the standard non adjustable valves for both mice and rats though so either will work and there's no price difference.
One Tee fitting per tub except for the last one. You can use a 90 degree fitting there or just bend the tubing which is what I do.
Enough 3/16 tubing to go through the rack.
Some loop clamps are handy, but some people use electrical staples and just put them in carefully so as not to crimp the tubing. I prefer the loop clamps myself.


The cheapest place I've found for the parts the last time I bought any was at Klubertanz Equipment. http://www.klubertanz.com/
The part numbers for the components are:
Supply valve - A202
Brass Vari-flo valves - A301
3/16" Tee - A405
3/16" tubing - A401

Klubertanz does not carry the loop clamps, I get those from AG Select here http://tinyurl.com/43ub8h

These are the parts and brands I use, Edstrom.

One thing I notice, the way you have built the rack using water valves will either require that you slide the tubs out until they hit the valves then compress them a bit until they drop out, or shorten the slides they hang on.
Pushing in one side of the tub enough so that it drops out isn't a problem though, I have to do that with my racks.
Click to expand...

Clay, Thank you for the time and effort you just put into helping me out here. I will order this stuff today.

Thanks again
 
However I did order the rest of the stuff and also found out they do have loop clamps but they have to order it and takes several weeks if it's worth waiting... Part number (loop clamps A890)
 
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One thing to keep in the back of your mind.... every so often... make sure to check your valves. I also use the gravity feed meathod... and I guess I got some air in the lines somehow... cause my whole rack went dry... and Im using a clear reservior... so I KNOW I had water. I lost alot of breeders because of this... Now Im stuck going to Petco and spending $3 per mice to try and rebuild my population.
 
Southern Wolf said:
One thing to keep in the back of your mind.... every so often... make sure to check your valves. I also use the gravity feed meathod... and I guess I got some air in the lines somehow... cause my whole rack went dry... and Im using a clear reservior... so I KNOW I had water. I lost alot of breeders because of this... Now Im stuck going to Petco and spending $3 per mice to try and rebuild my population.
Click to expand...

That sucks... twice! $3.00 a mouse? I thought a $1.50 was bad
 
Southern Wolf said:
One thing to keep in the back of your mind.... every so often... make sure to check your valves. I also use the gravity feed meathod... and I guess I got some air in the lines somehow... cause my whole rack went dry... and Im using a clear reservior... so I KNOW I had water. I lost alot of breeders because of this... Now Im stuck going to Petco and spending $3 per mice to try and rebuild my population.
Click to expand...

That's a very good point to mention. Generally speaking, the only time you will have an air lock is if you let the bucket empty. The mice will continue to drink and it will draw air into the system as they drain the lines. When this happens you have to bleed that air off after refilling the bucket and make sure every valve has water.
If you have a lot of tubs running off one supply line, it's also possible to draw some air if a bunch of the valves are being used simultaneously, but that's uncommon.

A good habit to develop is every time you clean the tubs, push the valve stem with your finger before putting a tub back and make sure there is water there. Also try to never let the buck get empty.

One other thing I forgot to mention. It's good to use a cap full of plain unscented bleach in the bucket when you fill it. Over time, if the water is untreated, some sort of slime will develop inside the lines and block off the valves, requiring you to take the valves off the line and let the water push that out. A little bleach prevents that.

The auto watering system is worth it's weight in gold so to speak, but it isn't a maintenance free fill it and forget it system. Once in a while you will have a flood, from a leaking valve or some other problem, so it's good practice to just look in on the rodents every day even if the buckets and feed bins are full. A dripping valve will make them wet overnight, but that's it. If it's missed for two or three days the tub will fill and drown the mice, not to mention causing you to have to purge the system of air when you refill it.
 
Clay Davenport said:
One thing I notice, the way you have built the rack using water valves will either require that you slide the tubs out until they hit the valves then compress them a bit until they drop out, or shorten the slides they hang on.
Pushing in one side of the tub enough so that it drops out isn't a problem though, I have to do that with my racks.
Click to expand...

I noticed with yours you have a shelf that supports the bottom of the tubs (good if and when the water leaks). I'm going to work on a way that I can have a shelf under but easy enough to squeeze the sides and pop those tubs right out. (I'm guessing a shelf 1/2 an inch under the tubs will allow the tubs to fall and be supported but still give me the room to squeeze the bucket out)

Just curious how many times you have had a water overflow?
 

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The only issue I have with those valves is the mice I bought are not use to that type of watering system. I've lost 4 or 5 now in what seems to be from dehydration. Some of the mice (cages) seem to have figured it out while other cages I still have to tap the valve to help them realize this is how you get water. (Of course they drink what little I caused to come out and then seem lost to why no more is coming out) I don't know what is worse, filling up water bottles or teaching mice how to use the valve.
 
Kingetula said:
Just curious how many times you have had a water overflow?
Click to expand...

I honestly couldn't say. It's something that happens though periodically. I probably have a leaky valve once every month or two, but only a small percentage of the time does it actually kill anything. The key is to check on the rodents daily. Even if the food hoppers and water buckets are full, just take 5 minutes to look at the bins and make sure none are leaking.
Nine times out of ten a dripping valve can be fixed by taking it apart and cleaning it. I suppose this sounds like a lot of trouble, but it really isn't compared to filling water bottles every 2-3 days.

Kingetula said:
The only issue I have with those valves is the mice I bought are not use to that type of watering system. I've lost 4 or 5 now in what seems to be from dehydration. Some of the mice (cages) seem to have figured it out while other cages I still have to tap the valve to help them realize this is how you get water. (Of course they drink what little I caused to come out and then seem lost to why no more is coming out) I don't know what is worse, filling up water bottles or teaching mice how to use the valve.
Click to expand...

I haven't had this problem since I used the auto watering system from the start when I got my rodent colonies going again about 6 years ago, and my rodents came from breeders who also used those systems.
What I would suggest is to move some of the mice from the tubs that have it figured out to the tubs that don't. They will help show the others what the deal is and after the first generation, they should all be fine.
 
Kingetula said:
I switched a few around so (Crosses fingers)

Thanks for your advice Clay
Click to expand...

This morning I checked on the mice. They look much better now. So far I only found 1 that seems to look weak so I swapped her into another cage. The bucket lost 1/4 of a gallon of water so far since the major swap happened yesterday (and I didn’t find any dead yet) so that is a good sign. I'm going to take a closer look at all the cages in a bit.

EDITED: I did find 1 that died so I made a few more swaps.
 
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