***RAT BREEDING INFO NEEDED***

Thank you all...such great information

I use shredded pine that is the consistency of fluffy saw dust. I bought a big bag at walmart for $6.59 and I like it because:

1-It's cheap
2-It's super compressed (More bang for your buck!)
3-It really keeps the smell down
4-Little to no dust
5-It's easy to scoop out and replace
6-Keeps odor down for a long time

Now when it comes to food, Rats need a lot of protein unlike other rodents which it can be bad for. I feed my rats standard dog food.

Why?...

It has a very high protein content. (Average 17%-19%) Now, I have only had my rats for about a month. But I bought them from my local reptile shop as small/skinny rat pups. And now, about a month later they are now at what would be considered Large size.
I just switched last week to the "Puppy" dog food which has an even higher protein content (29% minimum) And I have already started to see more rapid growth.

Overall I have seen awesome growth rates with dog food and I currently have 8 rats. Which honestly only cost me about $5 a month to upkeep. (Including bedding) And I buy the small 5lb bags of dog food for about 4 or 5 buck which lasts me almost a month so, if you buy the 50lb bag for about $15 it'll last you FOREVER! (Figuratively speaking) lol

I personally think its worth it even if you have a small collection. (Beats paying $5-$8 per rat!)

Good luck dude! And let me know how it goes!

Zack

I use Mazuri 6F that comes in a 50 lb bag, veggies and fruit, and Aspen bedding because thats what I use for my snakes (except for the rainbow boas). I have 10 snakes and have 12 breeder rats. Unlike mice, rats really do not smell as long as the bedding is changed about once a week or so. You can make it last a little longer by adding some paper/fiber pellet bedding to the wood bedding. My rats are healthy and produce 7 to 11 babies per litter almost every 3 weeks. Mommas stay chubby after giving birth and babies grow fast. The best part about breeding your own feeders is you know how well kept they are and know exactly what is going into them. Plus I give the rats attention, including the babies, so that they are great pets as well as a food source to my slithering babies. I guess it could be more difficult to get personal with the animals that provide or will be food for your other animals, but to me its about putting lots of love into it.

i was looking into breeding rats myself, just a small colony, is it true they can be kept in the tanks (10-20 gallon, etc) without being overweight, cramped, or even just mean little things?

Originally Posted by HeatherN

i was looking into breeding rats myself, just a small colony, is it true they can be kept in the tanks (10-20 gallon, etc) without being overweight, cramped, or even just mean little things?

Here is a rat rack I built using 10 gallon tanks. My rats aren't overweight or mean, but honestly, I don't think they are really cramped. They liked to try and escape when they were younger if given the chance, but now, they don't really seem to care being in there. If you keep their litter clean and keep them fed, they are pretty happy.

thanks so much! great looking rack by the way, rat breeding rack that is

Originally Posted by Focal X

I also use pine and love it.

We raise fancy rats as pets and some feeders. I have personally seen pine cause problems with some of them. They get congestion and breathing problems like they do with ceder. Ceder is by far worse but I have actually seen the problem with pine. It is not as far spread but is there.

I raised rats commercially and can tell you I've seen respiratory infections with Aspen shavings the same. Not sure how its not cost effective to raise your own feeders over buying from a petstore.

Cage $20
Lid $15
Rats (1.3 @ $5 ea) $20
Bottle (walmart) $2
Pine/Aspen (huge bundle) $15
Mazuri breeder $15-25

25-50 rats a month, food and pine for many more, paid for itself the first month.

Even if you have a small collection I think it would be cost effective because you can freeze off your overflow at the correct sizes you need. Thankfully most of mine take frozen/thawed. For those that don't I have to feed live or euthanize them using a chamber I made. The link is below.

Skipped ahead to post my own personal breeding advice from experience.

I bred FANCY rats. Tailless Pandas and Tailless Black Eyed Ivories (sold em up to $300 a pop)
They were cute lol

BEDDING: I used aspen as it does not affect the ratties which are prone to upper respirory infections. Hate to say but 8 out of 10 rats have it. You can quaratine the animals and carefully choose the breeders.

FOOD Its a personal preference. I really liked how my rats were healthy, long lived, good breeders, nearly odor free(thanks to their diet), clean coats that did not produce dander. It was nice. I had 40 and no one could even smell them! LOL
Here is a link to what I actually used many years ago (10 years ago)
The block diet made their poop STINK and they pooped ALOT ugh.
http://hubpages.com/hub/Homemade-Rat-Diets

BREEDING I waited until my females were close to a year old, (9 months at the youngest but they were big). Why? Bigger, healthier litters. Less strain on the girls. Just like any other animal out there. Let em be "kids" until theyre all grown up!
I had 4 males at the most and they lived together in a group. The girls lived together as well. When it was time to be bred, I put the girl(s) with the male of choice in a new cage for a day. Sometimes up to a week. Then I remove em. WHY?? The boys, just like any man out there. Constantly harass the girls into mating. The girls only need to be mated one time and mate her again once her litters weaned and shes recovered.
Again, bigger litters

You notice I keep saying bigger litters. Just how many did mine have. Well, they averaged anywhere from 18-24 pups per litter.


The time and effort put into them was well spent IMO
My rats were very friendly, they didnt attack when they became "culled" (fed off to a snake).
Do research on fancy rat keeping, just my personal preference.
Mine were pets and feeders and they made enough babies to the point where i sold the babies for a nice profit.

GOOD LUCK
PM if you got questions