Breeding Rack for Rodents??

[capsicum]

Does anyone know how to make one that will stand up to rodent teeth? I am tired of tanks and cages all over my animal rooms, lol. Thanks in advance.

TK

[Linds]

I built my rack out of spruce 2x2's and 2x3's, cedar 1x1's for the sliding tracks, 1/2 and 1/4 inch hardware cloth, and used stylette (if memory serves?) giant kitty litter pans purchased from zellers. The rack cost under $40 to build and the pans were about $7 I think, excluding the two large sized mouse bins at the bottom which were $4.

<img src="http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/504/22themeatfarm.jpg">

[capsicum]

Thanks Linds! Did you just use hardware cloth for the tops? I like the kitty pan ones, what did you use for tops? Thanks again :D

TK

Argh, please forgive me for half reading that ;)

[justinO]

Here is ours, cost about $100 to make! We had a very small space to work with and only 1 or 2 rats can fit in each tub, we just cycle a male around!

http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/503/1849rack-med.jpg

[capsicum]

Thanks Justin, looks great!

TK

[Linds]

Hehehe yeah the mice have the 1/4" hardware cloth and the rats have 1/2" hardware cloth. The drop-down hoppers are removable and allow even the smallest rodents to reach the food, so they don't have to rely on any leftover crumbs the adults drop. I run my rat colonies 1.3 - 1.4 in them, and they can hold around 25 weanlings or 15 adults. The setup on the right are just a bunch of the early rat breeding bins resurrected to hold all the overflow :rolleyes: LOL... kind of funny the overflow is just about as big as the rack :p Missing from the picture is also a 3'x1.5' storage bin currently housing a 1.6 colony.

[Lisa]

I find the kind of bins you start with make a big difference. I cheaped out and my bins sag giving the rats opertunity to chew, i've found better bins for a dollar more and they don't sag...

i've also been toying with the idea of using tin, if i can find a source.

[justinO]

Actually, my bins are from dollarama! I haven't had any chewing at all! I'm very happy with that find...
:)

[capsicum]

Thanks all :D I am going to start collecting those bins for our feeders, even hubby is impressed with the layouts. Thanks again!

TK