Rat Racks - finding it hard to put together the pieces

[Oni5000]

Hi,

I've done some searching and looked at the plans for rat racks, but I'm finding it hard to put together the pieces of how they fit together.

I've got 6 ball pythons and plan on getting either 1.2 or 1.3 rats to breed. I plan on building a rack for them with the following compartments:

1 x compartment for male
3 x compartments for females
2 x bigger compartments for male/female rats to grow up

The biggest rats I need now are medium. How long does it take for rats to get to that size?

Also, when looking at the various rat rack plans, I see that most have kitty litter pans or some kind of bin that's held in by the edges that stick out by a wooden frame, then hardware cloth is attached to the frame to make a screen lid. I don't understand how the feeding troughs work though. Can someone post a good clear pic of a feeding tough/water setup? What do you make the trough out of so it doesn't let the rat climb out / chew up / hurt the rat?

Also, what sizes of bins should I be looking at and how many of each size rat can fit without overcrowding?

Wow...that's a lot of questions...in the meantime i'll do more reading and try to piece it together better, but i'm looking forward to any help you guys can provide.

Thanks!

[Cookie]

Rats get to medium size within a 6 week period depending the breed after 3 weeks old they also begin to reproduce... and they breed fast I started out with 5 rats in a 3 month period and had 102 within 3 months Mother, Daughters, Grandaughters, & i am sure the great grandaughters are in the making as we speak. You can never breed to much as you may kill and freeze them and trade or sell them as you get overwhelmed with live medium rats. One more tip for your rats.... FOOD if you buy your food buy it from a feed store 1 50 lb bag of rabbit food pellets is like 10$ 2 50 lb bags of wild bird seed is about 40$ 1 50 lb bag of stripe sunflower seeds is about 20$ get yourself a couple of garbage cans (new) and mix this blend together and store it as it cost about 50 cents a pound roughly as some bags are 55 lbs not 50 vrs 1$ a lb in a petshop. You wont make millions breeding rats but atleast you know where they come from and if they are healthy.... if you have the space it's worth it on a personal level but as i said you will have some for sale eventualy or trade and the savings is incredible to say the least

[bighillreptiles]

hope this helps
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v287/paulvanhooser/ratrack1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v287/paulvanhooser/ratrackpic2.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v287/paulvanhooser/ratrackinuse.jpg
the cages are 24x16x12 and good for two females and a male they last about a year each

[Oni5000]

Hi,

That helps a lot. You wouldn't happen to have a closeup of the side of the trough showing how its put together would you? Also how do the rats get the food out? The first pic makes it look kind of high for them plus what stops it from spilling out all over the place?

[bighillreptiles]

1/2 inch tin driler and bolted to the inside of the lid holds the screen in place the food thay chew throurh the sire and dont poop and pee on there food and no waste after you put two inches of shavings in the bottom of the cage it leaves 4" clearance off of the flor and i use shorter models for the grow up pens hope this helps

[Oni5000]

Ah...so they eat the food by putting their mouths through the screen. Sounds good. What size of screen is that and what type of material is it? Sorry about all the questions, but I like your setup and will probably be going with that.

[TurboHatchB18]

bighillreptiles After seeing your setup my girlfriend and I wanted to make it. It took us a hour so. The way we did it is kinda different but looks the same. We used Zip ties heh. I was suprised how good it turned out. Thanks for the pics. It helped us alot. =)

I'll show you some pics.

http://www.we-todd-did-racing.com/wetoddimage.wtdr/wNjUyNDA0NnM0MTNkZmQzMXk1NDE%3D.jpg

http://www.we-todd-did-racing.com/wetoddimage.wtdr/wNjUyNDA1NnM0MTNkZmQzMXk1NDE%3D.jpg

http://www.we-todd-did-racing.com/wetoddimage.wtdr/wNjUyNDA2NnM0MTNkZmQzMXk1NDE%3D.jpg

http://www.we-todd-did-racing.com/wetoddimage.wtdr/wNjUyNDA3NnM0MTNkZmQzMXk1NDE%3D.jpg

[Slannesh]

Zip ties probably won't last long with Rats chewing on them :)

[TurboHatchB18]

Yeah but the zip ties are located in hard to get places. Im pretty sure the rats wil get to it. I might just change the zip ties with those metal twisties like the ones for Garbage bags.

[Slannesh]

One thing I learned a long time ago about rodents... if there is any possibility that they'll get into something, they will. They're like ninjas! :)

[bighillreptiles]

i give it a week tops and the zip tys are gon no kidding lol teet of steel lol looks good

[bighillreptiles]

just looked at the pictures again and i would take the were and bend it so the rats cant cut them selfs on it also it helps to keep the the trof in place ,Glad i could help Paul and gloria Big Hill reptiles

[Oni5000]

I think i'm gonna go with a setup similar to what you posted here and just keep the bins on shelves instead of building a rack. Thanks for the help!

[bighillreptiles]

not a prob if i can't help out some one that loves sankes as much as i do than time to shot off the pc and quit LOL hope they work out for you as good as they have for me Paul and Gloria

[Oni5000]

Probably gonna get started on the rat tubs this weekend. I'll post pics when i'm done!

[Cookie]

All rubbermaids eventualy are chewed through after all we are talking rats not mice... I have had rats go 3 yrs in a rubbermaid and i have had some last a month I only use the rubbermaids for mice and only mice.... Rats aquariums work best check the others forum in the classifieds as you can get 55 gallon glass for as cheap as 25$ even if there is a crack so what line that glass that is cracked with a piece of plexi or glue another glass to it. Call your local hagen dealer usualy they sell cracked aquariums and never repair them so they offer them a dime a dozen. as far as racks go ikea sells pine racks all hardware included for 14.99