Rodent bedding?

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nebben838

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Hey guys and girls,
I'm looking at setting up a small scale rat breeding colony to feed my own pythons. I'm just curious as to what people use as bedding/substrate, hopefully something cost effective. also I live in Melbourne and will they require heat in the cooler months.

Cheers Ben.
 
Hi been I've been breeding my own rodents now for a few years. I buy in bulk a 20kg bag of a rat/mouse cube which is high protein pellet specifically for rodents. For bedding I use wood shavings, again in a bulk bag. I live in canberra and give no heating to my rodents and I would think the temperatures of canberra and Melbourne are fairly similar. I'm happy to go into more details and explain what works for me.

Chris
 
I use a mix of wood shavings and straw while friends use pony chaff. I find the mix is better than straight wood shavings and the rats seem to like it more as they can make nests and tunnels. No heating.
 
Yeh on a weekly basis they get offered a varied nesting materials, this includes but not limited to, meadow hay, straw, newspaper, shredded paper. Over the last two years I've modified my techniques in the way I feed and look after pregnant females or females with litters.
 
I use the good old shredded paper. The only issue I have is the time it takes to shred the paper, but I must admit it is a good stress release.
 
Thanks for the replys guys. As for the wood shavings is there any particular wood shavings you buy as I read pine shavings are poison to rats. And is it the sort of thing you buy from a stock feed place?
 
I get mine from pet stock it comes in a compressed black and is called breeders choice it's around 15-20 a block and they last ages , I also get hay for the females to make a good nest no heat needed but if you keep them in the wrong spot during summer you'll have problems
 
nope, they won't require heat. a pile of rats is a very efficient heating machine! I use hemp for my rats, you can get it from Dandenong stockfeeds for about $25 a bale, I'm not too sure where else stocks it. I got mine cheaper because I bought two pallets direct from the manufacturer, to be honest I'm not too sure if anyone else stocks it in Vic.
I much prefer hemp, I was running about 150 rats over 2 tub racks right near the front door of my house, and you could only smell them once a week, the day before cleaning day. It also doesn't stick to everything the way shavings do, and doesn't make everything smell like a barnyard like chaff. It also has the added bonus of tending not to set off allergies in most people.
Shavings or chaff are certainly the cheaper options though. Pine shavings are fine as long as they are kiln dried and dust extracted. Breeder's choice is both.
I don't give mine any different nesting material, they get a deeper layer of hemp and they make a nest out of that. I used to give them shredded paper to nest in, but that would just get gross and smelly really quickly.
As for feeding them, definitely get a bag of rodent cubes and make them a hopper so the don't waste it. Don't both with barastoc, it's rubbish, Cummins "mcmanus rodent cubes" are good (I had a terrible experience with their lack of customer service, but the product is good), the mouse cubes are okay, but the mcmanus is a specific formula that is generally much better than the mouse cubes. I use Laucke mills, and I really like it. I do think the cummins is a slightly superior product, but I won't attempt to deal with them again because they have no idea how to treat customers.

Sorry for the rambling, hope some of it's helpful! :)
 
I didn't usually have any substrate as they pile up together to sleep/the mom keeps them together, but when I did need some in winter, I used shredded newspaper.
 
We've just moved our breeding set-up from the garage into a purpose-built shed. Have always used wood shavings from our local fodder store, and fed them the Laucke brand rat pellets as a food base, with bread, fruit/veg, occasional wet dog food, and even meat bones as diet options.Tried other brands of pellets, but they seem to eat the Laucke brand the best. Also use the smaller size dry dog food for juveniles; easier for them to get at to eat.
Have never used heating in winter, but Adelaide summers require occasional cooling.
 
Thanks for all the advice guys. Any estimations on how long a 20kg bag of rat cubes and a big bag of wood shavings or hemp might last for small colony starting with around 4 females and 2 males
 
The wood shavings last us about a month, and the Laucke rat cubes about 2-3 weeks, depending on what else we feed them. And we have a fair few more than 6 rats.
 
I also use laucke mills cubes. They usually last about 2-3 weeks.
 
I go through roughly 20kg of feed a week, I'm running about 75-ish rats and 4 small colonies (I think each is only about 30) of mice. They all have free access to feed, plus sometimes when I'm not paying attention, one of the dogs will sneak a mouthful because apparently it's the tastiest thing ever???
 
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