# Breeding rats?



## hornet (Jan 6, 2011)

Since 2 of my snakes are way too big to be feeding on mice im considering breeding my own but i just want to know are they as easy as mice? Any problems that are not encountered when breeding mice? What colony size would be the most productive?

John


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## relyt (Jan 6, 2011)

rats are much better to breed then mice! if you only have two snakes you would probably only need the one pair and just leave the male in with her and she will have babies every three weeks, just make sure to remove the weaners before she drops the new litter.


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## animush (Jan 6, 2011)

Rats don't smell as much, and are generally much cleaner. I have kept both as pets but never bred them, almost identical to care for, but rats get much bigger, and are much better climbers.


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## congo_python (Jan 6, 2011)

get urself 3 females and one male and another cage to put the grow outs in and u'll be set.


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## Radar (Jan 6, 2011)

Rats bite ALOT harder than mice, I've got more scars from rats than anything else. Other than that they are dead easy.


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## hornet (Jan 6, 2011)

cheers guys, what size tub would i need for a male and 3 fems?


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## JAS101 (Jan 7, 2011)

i run a 2/1 ratio using 52lt tubs , my method seems to work ok . then i have a old cast iron bath tub as a growout tub , and cull them at the required sizes .


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## garthy (Jan 7, 2011)

I dont churn out babies every 3 weeks, and it takes longer to fully wean the pups anyway, so I keep 4 females and 1 male, whom I replace every 12 months, also I replace the females as they get old and too cranky, as rednut said, they bite very hard.
I keep mine in constructed wire cages, i made them in a tier system with slide out trays underneath that makes cleaning very simple, a bit like a click-clack rack but made of 10mm welded mesh. The wire also ensures good air flow keeping them cool on hot days. Rats easily succumb to heat. By having a number of females I have the option of removing a few pups from each litter at various stages to ensure continous supply of approriately sized food for my snakes. I have 8 snakes ranging from 1ft to 10ft, I still need to supplement their food with chickens and chicken necks.


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## hornet (Jan 7, 2011)

Cheers guys, i will probably use homemade tubs made from 52l tubs as jas said and do either 2 or 3 fems per male. Now with moce there are normal mice and there are supermice, do rats have anything like that or are rats rats? And what litter size can be expected?


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## Pythons Rule (Jan 7, 2011)

you'll find each female depending if there first time mums or not depends on litter sizes, they can have anywhere from 4 - 15 babys per birth, the rats will mainly last for 2 -5 years of age rarely exseeding more then 2 years. I'm looking into getting back into breeding them again when I manage to find a breeder willing to sell off 3 adult females. I put 1 male over 8-10 females in a rat breeding racks placing 2 females per tub, I will be setting up this system with a watering system that runs from 1 large water container that sits ontop of the racks. you can buy rodent valves from this website - AgSelect: Browsing Edstrom Vari-Flo Valve, 3/16"barb, Brass which seem pretty cheap and really not much if you are only going to have 1 -2 tubs.

I leave males with females for about a day or 2 then 3 weeks later you will have babies. I mix a diet of grain and seeds, dog biscuits, fruit and veggies. I find that rats will grow bigger and faster with dog biscuits in the diet then none, babies are bigger and plumper, they grow faster and normally around 3-4weeks there plenty big enough to seperate from mum and start feeding watery friuts and solids to. they're actually alot bigger to normal to. if you clean regulary then there is no smell as rats are groomers and hate having dirty enclosures. 

I'm going off of this site for my rat rack system - Ralph Davis Reptiles - The Martrix - Ralph's Words


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## cris (Jan 7, 2011)

If you get a fairly small avairy or large cage you can keep a pair or far more, they will take little work to maintain and with a suitable size enclosure will use only one area as a toilet making cleaning easy. Also much better than tubs if you are interested in their welfare and allowing exercise, likely to make the rats healthier and better quality food. I would never keep a rat in a 50 litre tub, apart from being to small to humanely keep a rat IMO it will just become a stinking mess in a few days. 

Rats dont stink if kept clean, while mice stink regardless.


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