Breeding Rats...

[Solid Snake]

I only have 2 Boids now, a BP and a red tail boa.

I was thinking of breeding rats because they are so damn expensive at the pet store now, they jacked the price up to 6.99 per rat pup.

I need rat pups because my snakes are less than 6 months old. I feed'em every 4 days and i can't affor to buy 2 rats for 6.99 every 4 days.

Do you think i should breed rats? Btw i dont want to buy online, sometimes my snakes dont eat f/t, they need'em fresh.

[snakemann87]

Ok well I am currently doing the same thing(going to get a pair tonight). From what I heard its fairly simple. A good ratio of rats is 1.3 I think. Just let them live togther and they should breed? Remove the male when babies are born. I am not exactly sure if this is the right way but I'll find out. I mean i researched and this is the simplest way to put it. Try Yahoo and Google also.........type in Rat Breeding. Oh and a healthy diet is very important also. VARIETY VARIETY VARIETY

[Solid Snake]

they eat anything dont they? I'm feeding my pair fruits and veggies... sometimes i'll give a cookie.

[snakemann87]

Yes fruits, veggies, cheese, Pellets are ok i suppose. Not so sure about cookies! LOL

[Jayson]

Your best bet at this point is to get your snakes feeding f/t.
Because even if you do breed your own rats, they will only be the size you want for a couple of days then you will be waiting for the next litter.
There are many breeders out there that will supply rats at a much cheaper price then where you get yours.
ALso when you only have two snakes to feed IMO it is not worth the head ache, unless there is someone else close who will buy up the extras.
Check some of the recent forums in food for thought in reguards on how to keep and feed feeder rats, there is alot of usefull information in them
Jason

[Lisa]

Get them on f/t and you can buy a bunch at a time and they're way cheaper that way. Also you don't have to worry about having the wrong size, cleaning cages etc.

[Solid Snake]

i dont know where to get them...

[unknownclown]

Well if youre breeding them you and just wack them when they're the right size, feed what you can and freeze the rest.
Dont bother taking the male out he should be ok as long as he is the only male in the cage with the babies.

As far as the diets concerned too much fruits and veggies can be a bad thing in darn near anythings diet so I think Id widen the choices of food. Personally I fed mine the bag of mixed rodent goodies until I noticed that some of the wild bird food for larger birds like pigeons and such have pretty much the same things only no dies to make it purdy to look at. Also I feed alot of contraversial dog food. Also I heard somewhere that cheese isnt good for rodents and that it gives them greasy fur, wheather thats true or not I dont know Ive only gave that to them as treats.
Oh another thing about fresh veggies and fruits is that if they arent eaten right away they will get nasty in the cage. I dont know if its the norm but if I put in too much food and they dont eat it right away they wont eat it at all.

[reverendsterlin]

if you do decide to breed (I found it more expensive than frozen and WAY more trouble) I would stick with a high quality lab block diet occassionally supplemented with veggies and fruit but nothing else. What goes in the rat goes in the snake.

[BoAddict]

go to port credit pet center

[marisa]

If you pick and choose corectly, normally local cheap brands of dog food actually contain the EXACT same ingredients as Mazuri Rodent lab blocks. Like literally, down to every last thing. It's sad people would feed their dogs that, but it's what I will be feeding my rats when I get them in a couple months.

Marisa

[reverendsterlin]

you really think?
8604
Harlan Teklad Rodent Diet (W)

Product Description---Harlan Teklad Rodent Diet (W) is a complete and balanced fixed formula diet designed to provide optimum nutrition to research rodents. It contains all known nutrients essential for growth, maintenance, and reproduction.

Ingredients---Soybean meal, corn flakes, wheat middlings, ground corn, fish meal, dried molasses, dried whey, soybean oil, dried brewers yeast, dicalcium phosphate, calcium carbonate, liver meal, iodized salt, choline chloride, vitamin A acetate, vitamin D3 supplement, vitamin E supplement, niacin, calcium pantothenate, riboflavin, thiamine mononitrate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of vitamin K activity), folic acid, biotin, vitamin B12 supplement, magnesium oxide, manganous oxide, ferrous sulfate, copper sulfate, zinc oxide, calcium iodate, cobalt carbonate, chromium potassium sulfate.


Guaranteed Analysis
Crude Protein (Min) 24.00%
Crude Fat (Min) 4.0%
Crude Fiber (Max) 4.5%
Average Nutrient Composition
Protein % 24.48
Fat % 4.40
Fiber % 3.69
Ash % 7.84
Nitrogen-Free Extract % 46.64
Gross Energy Kcal/g 3.93
Digestible Energy Kcal/g 3.30
Metabolizable Energy Kcal/g 3.10
Linoleic Acid % 1.87
Amino Acids
Arginine % 1.53
Methionine % 0.42
Cystine % 0.37
Histidine % 0.58
Isoleucine % 1.24
Leucine % 2.04
Lysine % 1.46
Phenylalanine + Tyrosine % 1.84
Threonine % 0.94
Tryptophane % 0.29
Valine % 1.26

Minerals
Calcium % 1.36
Phosphorus % 1.01
Sodium % 0.29
Chlorine % 0.49
Potassium % 1.04
Magnesium % 0.28
Iron mg/Kg 352.14
Manganese mg/Kg 105.39
Zinc mg/Kg 82.87
Copper mg/Kg 24.42
Iodine mg/Kg 2.46
Cobalt mg/Kg 0.71
Selenium mg/Kg 0.33
Vitamins
Vitamin A IU/g 12.90
Vitamin D3 IU/g 2.40
Vitamin E IU/Kg 90.18
Choline mg/g 2.53
Niacin
(Nicotinic Acid) mg/Kg 63.42
Pantothenic Acid mg/Kg 21.03
Pyridoxine
(Vitamin B6) mg/Kg 12.95
Riboflavin
(Vitamin B2) mg/Kg 7.85
Thiamine
(Vitamin B1) mg/Kg 27.95
Menadione
(Vitamin K3) mg/Kg 4.11
Folic Acid mg/Kg 2.72
Biotin mg/Kg 0.39
Vitamin B12
(Cyanocobalamin) mcg/Kg 51.20
Vitamin C mg/Kg 0.00

Reported nutrient values may vary due to the inherent variability in laboratory analysis.

[marisa]

Yup. Almost exact aside from corn flakes and fish meal. It IS exact as Mazuris, that is another diet you posted. Exact as Mazuris though which is considered a #1 rodent food. I have posted it all before. Mind you this is MY local cheapie dog food.

Marisa

[marisa]

Here is Mazuri rodent food for feeders specifically breed for reptiles:

Crude protein not less than 16.0%
Crude fat not less than 6.0%
Crude fiber not more than 5.0%

Ingredients
Ground corn, dehulled soybean meal, cane molasses, animal fat preserved with BHA, wheat middlings, ground oats, dehydrated alfalfa meal, ground wheat, ground soybean hulls, dicalcium phosphate, fish meal, dried beet pulp, brewers dried yeast, wheat germ, dried whey, salt, corn gluten meal, calcium carbonate, DL-methionine, menadione dimethylpyrimidinol bisulfite (source of vitamin K), pyridoxine hydrochloride, choline chloride, soybean oil, L-lysine, dried yucca shidigera extract, cholecalciferol (source of vitamin D3), dl-alpha tocopheryl acetate (source of vitamin E), thiamin mononitrate, folic acid, biotin, calcium pantothenate, cyanocobalamin

Your diet is actually NOT as alike as I thought to my dog food now that I have my package in hand, but it is exactly the same, down to the precents as Mazuri.

Marisa

[reverendsterlin]

I see the difference, one is for maintainance of feeder animals, the other for optimum growth and breeding.