Hi, Advise on breeding feeder Rats thanks.

[xXRecreationXx]

Hi, everyone. I have started getting into breeding rats. I have the set up food/ bedding and Rack.

What would you recommend to feed the Rats ? I'm currently using Bio Mare. Wanting to mix up there diet.
When the two Females have babies , Should i leave the male in there or will he eat the babies ?
Do they need a hide ?
On hot days , how long should I leave the fan running for ?

Sorry, If these questions sound stupid. New to this.


( Any other advise would be great. Thanks xXRecreationxX)

 

[GeckoJosh]

I always put a bit of cat/dog kibble through rodent cubes, they really benefit from the extra protein. There are lots of different foods you can try, I suggest doing a Google search to see what is most appropriate. If you really want to treat them then try a frozen vegie mix with eggs cooked in the microwave or live mealworms.
I always separate my females when they are looking pregnant, the males cannot be trusted, also other females can be trouble unless there is plenty of space.
A hide isnt needed for babies, they will just nest in the bedding, they do prefer to have private nest though, a tissue box will be greatly appreciated.

Rats do not tolerate temps over 32 well at all, personally if the temps go over 30 I do whatever I can to cool them down, they seem to do best in the low to mid 20s range.

 

[xXRecreationXx]

Thank you very much, Much appreciated.

 

[wokka]

I always put a bit of cat/dog kibble through rodent cubes, they really benefit from the extra protein. There are lots of different foods you can try, I suggest doing a Google search to see what is most appropriate. If you really want to treat them then try a frozen vegie mix with eggs cooked in the microwave or live mealworms.
I always separate my females when they are looking pregnant, the males cannot be trusted, also other females can be trouble unless there is plenty of space.
A hide isnt needed for babies, they will just nest in the bedding, they do prefer to have private nest though, a tissue box will be greatly appreciated.

Rats do not tolerate temps over 32 well at all, personally if the temps go over 30 I do whatever I can to cool them down, they seem to do best in the low to mid 20s range.

Rodents dont benefit from high protien. There is plenty of reserch around showing that around 14% is optimen. Consistent feed should give more consistent production.

 

[Starter]

Hello, not a stupid question at all! Rats are lovely animals and easy to breed; I have been breeding them for about 6 years as pets, but in future many of them will have to be fed to my new snakes. To answer your questions briefly:

Food: Everything a human can eat is fine for rats, too, except strongly spiced food, large pieces of chocolate and bubble gum.

Male and female: Most males are very good and friendly fathers, but you still should remove the male when the female is very pregnant, BEFORE the babies are born. Reason: Females can become pregnant again immediately after giving birth and the second litter would be born in as little as 3 weeks, before the first one has been weaned. The result would be far too much stress for the mother and dying babies. Also the rat youngsters must be separated in same-sex groups once they are 5-6 weeks old, as they can reachsexual maturity already then, but the girls are of course far too small to being able to give birth. It could kill them. I use to leave the girls a few weeks longer with mum, and the boys often with dad.

Rats love and need hiding places. A cardboard box with newspaper bedding will do.
Rats can bear cold weather, but will die from excessive heat. Rather than a fan I recommend frozen bottles (just fill any bottle with water and put it in the freezer) for cooling and always a shallow bowl with iced water for drinking. I take my rats indoors on very hot days.

A very comprehensive website with all about rats can be found here:
Pet Info Packets :: Rats
It even includes recommendations for humane euthanising of rats.

 

[Starter]

I just see the link did not come up. It is petinfopackets dot com forwardslash rats.

 

[GeckoJosh]

Rodents dont benefit from high protien. There is plenty of reserch around showing that around 14% is optimen. Consistent feed should give more consistent production.

I have found mixing in the kibble improves growth and eliminates maternal cannibalism.
know they dont benefit from really high protein, but I have found many of the available cubes are not sufficient (not all, some are really good and dont need any supplementing).

 

[GeckoJosh]

Food: Everything a human can eat is fine for rats, too, except strongly spiced food, large pieces of chocolate and bubble gum.

Not true, many foods we can eat are harmful to rats ratclub.org - rat care - diet

Rats love and need hiding places. A cardboard box with newspaper bedding will do.

Try tell that to the majority of medium-large scale breeders who have them in bare tubs with bedding only...


......

A very comprehensive website with all about rats can be found here:
Pet Info Packets :: Rats
It even includes recommendations for humane euthanising of rats.

......

 

[xXRecreationXx]

Was thinking of mixing Egg with Carrots ? Or separate ?

 

[GeckoJosh]

Was thinking of mixing Egg with Carrots ? Or separate ?

I get a bowl and throw in a few eggs and a handful of frozen vegies like peas and carrots etc, mix together then microwave until cooked. 20 mins in the fridge should cool it down enough.

I haven't given my rats egg mixes for ages though due to time constraints, when I did have the time to do it they absolutely loved it! I found that providing healthy foods that they really enjoy with a cube mix is the fastest way to grow them, this is simply because they get sick of the same food and will eat foods they enjoy even when not hungry.

 

[Ekans]

I feed my guys on cummins, its a good all rounder cube, but if you don't want to swap from biomare the breeders I know who feed their rats on biomare just throw in a good quality dog biscuit as they find their rats don't keep condition as well on biomare alone.

Rats can and will eat almost anything, most online lists that detail what a rat can't eat are pretty inaccurate. The only things I would steer clear of is uncooked potato, other than that I haven't had a rat have a bad reaction to anything I have fed them. I usually throw in some fresh veggies like corn and carrots and some cooked chicken or even a whole hard boiled egg for stimulation lol.

I would give them a box to hide in, yeah most breeders keep their rats a bare tub but a happy rat is a rat less likely to be stressed and bite.

I would take the female out when she is close to popping, female rats come into heat again soon after giving birth so if you don't want back to back litters or you want to keep the condition up of your females I would take her out. Also rats for the most don't raise their young in family groups, females can end up fighting over babies and end up killing or hurting the babies. Their gestation period is 23 days roughly, I separate my girls at about 20 days if I know exactly when they conceived, 15 days if I'm not sure.

 

[xXRecreationXx]

Thanks for every ones help. I will be giving them 2 boiled eggs. I have gave them a hide to feel secure.

 

[andynic07]

Rodents dont benefit from high protien. There is plenty of reserch around showing that around 14% is optimen. Consistent feed should give more consistent production.

I have a small rat breeding setup to supplement my snakes feeding and I usually feed them on a good brand (science diet or supacoat) dry food that has about 18% protein and vegetables , sometimes fresh and sometimes frozen every second day. They seem to be doing fine but in your opinion is this ok?

 

[GeckoJosh]

As you have probably gathered everyone has a different opinion on what is right and wrong, bottom line is rodents are extremely hardy and it is pretty hard to mess things up.

Best of luck with your breeding!

 

[wokka]

I have a small rat breeding setup to supplement my snakes feeding and I usually feed them on a good brand (science diet or supacoat) dry food that has about 18% protein and vegetables , sometimes fresh and sometimes frozen every second day. They seem to be doing fine but in your opinion is this ok?

If you have a small breeding setup I would do whatever is convenient.To do what you are doing over 1000s of tubs could be time consuming and expensive. We chase economic efficency and since protein is expensive there is no point in feeding more than necessary. I only made my previous post because it is so often wrongly stated that rats benefit from high protein.There are not many stockfeeds which are much lower than 14% so feeding can be fairly simple. Energy is porbably more important than protein content.In a commercial setup labour cost is the main cost and so particularly important, but in a hobby setup feed is about the only cost and so keepers become fixated upon it. You'll notice a lot of hobby rat breeders come and go, in my opinion, because at current prices they dont get much of a return from labour unless they have an efficient setup.

 

[andynic07]

If you have a small breeding setup I would do whatever is convenient.To do what you are doing over 1000s of tubs could be time consuming and expensive. We chase economic efficency and since protein is expensive there is no point in feeding more than necessary. I only made my previous post because it is so often wrongly stated that rats benefit from high protein.There are not many stockfeeds which are much lower than 14% so feeding can be fairly simple. Energy is porbably more important than protein content.In a commercial setup labour cost is the main cost and so particularly important, but in a hobby setup feed is about the only cost and so keepers become fixated upon it. You'll notice a lot of hobby rat breeders come and go, in my opinion, because at current prices they dont get much of a return from labour unless they have an efficient setup.

Cheers, thanks for the feedback. I am only breeding rats as a hobby not to lower my costs as you can imagine good brand dog food isn't cheap. I do however get it a lot cheaper than it usually is because I found a supplier that gets damaged bags cheap. I will probably eventually come and go if I loose the free time that is required to care for my rats.

 

[andynic07]

If you have a small breeding setup I would do whatever is convenient.To do what you are doing over 1000s of tubs could be time consuming and expensive. We chase economic efficency and since protein is expensive there is no point in feeding more than necessary. I only made my previous post because it is so often wrongly stated that rats benefit from high protein.There are not many stockfeeds which are much lower than 14% so feeding can be fairly simple. Energy is porbably more important than protein content.In a commercial setup labour cost is the main cost and so particularly important, but in a hobby setup feed is about the only cost and so keepers become fixated upon it. You'll notice a lot of hobby rat breeders come and go, in my opinion, because at current prices they dont get much of a return from labour unless they have an efficient setup.

Cheers, thanks for the feedback. I am only breeding rats as a hobby not to lower my costs as you can imagine good brand dog food isn't cheap. I do however get it a lot cheaper than it usually is because I found a supplier that gets damaged bags cheap. I will probably eventually come and go if I loose the free time that is required to care for my rats.

 

[GeckoJosh]

Wokka

I was basing my comment on Vella rat cubes, it seems to be all I could find on the coast.
I found my rats would only eat if they were starving so adding some kibble through it really made a difference.
Since switching to a better quality cube I have found the kibble isn't really needed, but they enjoy it so I aim to make their mixes 15% kibble and the rest is made up of pasta, rat cubes, sunflower seeds and a cereal mix.

(The cube I am using now is Cummins)

 

[xXRecreationXx]

How long should i freeze the Rats for ?

 

[Tigerfloss]

We are having countless problems with the water bottles. We also only breed on a small scale, but can anyone recommend a better watering system? We use plastic tubs with flyscreen etc, but the water leaking all the time is just ridiculous. Thanks.