# rats racks



## Snakewise84 (Jan 17, 2012)

hey every one. im thinking about building a rat rack and would like to see what other people have done, as i know rats like to chew through wood and was thinking of using tubs but dont know how to do the tops for ventilation. so if any one could help with ideas and pics to show would be a great help. 

thanks all


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## nagini-baby (Jan 17, 2012)

YouTube and Google are your friends lots of great examples


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## JAS101 (Jan 17, 2012)

nagini-baby said:


> YouTube and Google are your friends lots of great examples


yup and theres heap of info on this site about the subject


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## Greenmad (Jan 17, 2012)

Heres my set up.


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## Snakewise84 (Jan 17, 2012)

thats mad (Greenmad)


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## saximus (Jan 17, 2012)

Greenmad, what do you use for food in that set up? Do you just have bowls? Mine is similar but I have to put the food on top which restricts ventilation during the warmer months


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## nagini-baby (Jan 17, 2012)

how do you find the stability on that setup? does it have bracing at the back or sides? we are looking at expanding our racks and getting bigger tubs


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## jinjajoe (Jan 17, 2012)

I simply made a wooden rack to put URS large tubs on...... works well...... there are heaps of great home made rat systems...... but there are also heaps of disasters..... cheap is definetely not cheerful...... when keeping rats in relatively confined spaces requires thought..... they will chew & wreck water bottles very quickly if they can get to them & find any weak point in any tubs & or feed hopper designs......... either know what you are doing or go with some of the purpose built tubs or you may find that you have to start again after wasting money on a failed attempt.... like I did lol......


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## JAS101 (Jan 17, 2012)

jinjajoe said:


> I simply made a wooden rack to put URS large tubs on...... works well...... there are heaps of great home made rat systems...... but there are also heaps of disasters..... cheap is definetely not cheerful...... when keeping rats in relatively confined spaces requires thought..... they will chew & wreck water bottles very quickly if they can get to them & find any weak point in any tubs & or feed hopper designs......... either know what you are doing or go with some of the purpose built tubs or you may find that you have to start again after wasting money on a failed attempt.... like I did lol......


with your setup have u found any wild mice taking the food ?
i used wire mesh for my food hoppers , because the mesh is on the inside of the lid cutout there is nothing for them to chew . i have been running the same setup for close on 2 years without any issues .


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## solar 17 (Jan 17, 2012)

l took another another direction in keeping rats and mice, a lot more labour intensive but the results speak for them selves, 220 litre tubs from bunnings ($60.00) fence mesh for a mezzanine floor and (6) three litre beetroot/pineapple tins for nesting hides.
.......solar 17 (Baden)


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## nagini-baby (Jan 17, 2012)

baden that rat in the front of the pic is huge! does she have large litters?


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## solar 17 (Jan 17, 2012)

nagini-baby said:


> baden that rat in the front of the pic is huge! does she have large litters?


18 -/+.
.......Baden


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## jinjajoe (Jan 17, 2012)

JAS101 said:


> with your setup have u found any wild mice taking the food ?
> i used wire mesh for my food hoppers , because the mesh is on the inside of the lid cutout there is nothing for them to chew . i have been running the same setup for close on 2 years without any issues .



Poison !!!!!! & there is zero unwanteds......


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## Snakewise84 (Jan 17, 2012)

these are all great ideas keep them coming please


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## nagini-baby (Jan 17, 2012)

so baden how do i go about getting some good breeder rats that have large litters.. my record is 12 in a litter. id take 18 any day!!


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## Wild~Touch (Jan 17, 2012)

Bunnings is your friend  I was in there this morning

They have lots of different ready to assemble shelving, etc, that could be used for 4 - 6 tubs

Bunnings mesh wire is bl...dy expensive  must be gold plated


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## Snakewise84 (Jan 17, 2012)

thats a good question

when i was breeding rats when i was younger they use to have 22 in a litter and my genie pigs were having 3-8 in a litter


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## JAS101 (Jan 17, 2012)

solar 17 said:


> 18 -/+.
> .......Baden


how duz the mother go with so many babys ?



Wild~Touch said:


> Bunnings is your friend  I was in there this morning
> 
> They have lots of different ready to assemble shelving, etc, that could be used for 4 - 6 tubs
> 
> Bunnings mesh wire is bl...dy expensive  must be gold plated


yeah anything mesh related with bunnings is $$$$ .
u ise metal shlefs for my tubs [ i got the shelfs for free ]


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## Snakewise84 (Jan 17, 2012)

i like building most of my reptile stuff. back then i had white female rats the where huge one ended up bigger then the male i had. but i guess the genes have changes since then. would be 15 years now.


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## ShaunMorelia (Jan 17, 2012)

for mesh, head to any place that sells it by the metre. (home hardware etc)
I got enough 10mm x 10mm square mesh to do 15 tub rack for $10.


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## Snakewise84 (Jan 17, 2012)

yeah we got miter 10 here they do better good but will make it then size it al up then buy mesh


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## solar 17 (Jan 17, 2012)

l don't believe its how does the mother feed so many l believe its how "do you" feed the mother
with the large litters as l have (6) females per 220 litre tub and they seem to share their duties as well as pinch a few babies here's the weights.
.......solar 17 (Baden)


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## deebo (Jan 17, 2012)

how old are the rats in that pic Baden? They look like they have just a bit of fur starting on them....

18 is a big litter.....is that what you would consider normal for the line of rats you have?

Cheers,
Dave


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## Hsut77 (Jan 17, 2012)

Here is an OLD post of mine with how I built my racks.

http://www.aussiepythons.com/forum/general-reptile-discussion-42/rat-rack-built-duw-78590/


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## leighroyaus (Jan 17, 2012)

heres my setup, set of 10 concrete mixing tubs.
complete with auto water for each cage, so instead of individual filling of bottles, simply fill the top bucket with a hose.

had to import hte gravity water feeders from the states, but cost like $100 all up to do all 10 cages. worth it in my opinion in the time it saved me every day filling bottles.

10 bays is enough for me to breed during autumn/start of winter to fill the chest freezer and feed my 7 adult pythons + goanna over the feeding periods


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