the rat brood

[TeaNinja]

figured i'd take some pictures of the rat pack. the albino with the black male rat was a baby from the first litter, he's getting big. and the black one with the mom is the albinos sister from the same litter.

http://i1006.photobucket.com/albums/af184/teaninja/rats6-4002.jpg
http://i1006.photobucket.com/albums/af184/teaninja/rats6-4003.jpg
http://i1006.photobucket.com/albums/af184/teaninja/rats6-4006.jpg
http://i1006.photobucket.com/albums/af184/teaninja/rats6-4008.jpg
http://i1006.photobucket.com/albums/af184/teaninja/rats6-4010.jpg
http://i1006.photobucket.com/albums/af184/teaninja/rats6-4013.jpg

[TeaNinja]

http://i1006.photobucket.com/albums/af184/teaninja/rats6-4014.jpg
http://i1006.photobucket.com/albums/af184/teaninja/rats6-4015.jpg
http://i1006.photobucket.com/albums/af184/teaninja/rats6-4016.jpg
http://i1006.photobucket.com/albums/af184/teaninja/rats6-4017.jpg

[Max713]

My Scarlett is licking her lips ;)

[TeaNinja]

the rat cages are right in front of nigmas viv and the other day i saw him sitting with his head RIGHT at the vent just staring at the rats lol. i fed him a day or two later.

[marvelfreak]

To bad you didn't live closer to me. I could bring over a couple of my snakes for a play date with your rats. lol

[infernalis]

Ever thought about just one thread called Zak's rats? I have, rather often.......

[NennaMeerkat]

OMG Those babies...they have some wonderful markings. You might consider trying to sell some as pets to local stores or something if you find yourself overwhelmed. Those strong markings I am seeing on many of the brood is just fantastic. There are several that I am loving with the stripe down their back to their tail from their hoods. You got some real gems of parents with it seems excellent marking genes.

Your black boy looks to be a good weight as well as your albino. Chunky rats look like blobs down below on their lower half rather than being a normal shape from top to bottom. You got some nice big bucks though. Obviously whoever the father was of the brood certainly is fertile on his end of the deal ;)

I don't know how long you wait before you humanely end them, but just wait until those babies start playing with one another! Its a riot to watch a large brood like that having wrestling matches or playing tag. It was always my favorite part of breeding.

I know you are just using them for food but when they are a bit bigger I would love to see them individually or all lined up (as best as possible of course) to see the range of hoods and such. I am such a nutcase for looking at the markings.

[Max713]

Ever thought about just one thread called Zak's rats? I have, rather often.......

If he's anything like me, he likes the attention posting a new thread gets ;)
Seems you get many more responses when you create a new thread, vs. updating an old one.
Definitely not correct forum etiquette, but fun none the less.

[TeaNinja]

Ever thought about just one thread called Zak's rats? I have, rather often.......

unfortunately, even if i had that thought i don't have the admin capabilities to compile it all ;)

but if You'd like to, be my guest :D

i definetly don't mind my clutter being piled up.

[NennaMeerkat]

i definetly don't mind my clutter being piled up.

It certainly is NOT clutter :P

[TeaNinja]

there are a few with pretty cool markings. i've noticed a few of the hooded have little black spots on their bellies too. i usually wait until they are almost weanable to euthanize any. i have the huge nigma who eats large/jumbo rats then i have Oracle who i have to switch to rat pups from mice (so she is still eating small prey) and then i have Pugsley the BP who is actually steadily getting chunkier while i've had him. he's been working from small pups to decent weaned rats.

once they get big i like to try and make them f/t rather then keeping them both so they don't outgrow the snake trying to eat them and so they don't eat me out of house and home buying rat food for 20 rats lol.

[NennaMeerkat]

Sounds like you got plenty to take care of your population LOL As I have told you before the reason I got out of breeding mice was cause I enjoyed keeping certain markings (brown body with many black speckles). Ended up having WAY to many mice in the end. I grow attached even if they were for originally bred to sell to others for food or pets.

[TeaNinja]

yea it's hard for me not to get attached also, but i have to remind myself i'm breeding the rats for the soul purpose of snake food. the side perk is i like animals so i get to watch them grow up, the downfall is i have to then kill those animals =/
kind of sad lol.

[NennaMeerkat]

Yeah it was sad for me when I knew my mice were going to be fed to something. Not my own stuff since I didn't own reptiles at the time, but some of my buyers liked fresh killed. It is always harder when you find one or two that just seem so mellow and unafraid to be picked up, pet, ect.

[TeaNinja]

for some reason the black female that lives with the mama rat has always been SUPER SKIDDISH and totally not wanting to be picked up. she climbs up to the top right corner of the cage all the time just because she likes to hang out up there, and when i grab for her she Leaps into that corner and grabs the bars and tries to hold on for dear life lol.

[NennaMeerkat]

Ha ha ha sounds like my own dark rat when I first got her. Though now I think she runs in play more than anything. Loves to bound around all hopping when I cleaned out their cage. It was always so funny.

[infernalis]

If he's anything like me, he likes the attention posting a new thread gets ;)
Seems you get many more responses when you create a new thread, vs. updating an old one.
Definitely not correct forum etiquette, but fun none the less.

That's why I usually let everyone have their attention for a couple days before I move things.

I'm the same way...

[TeaNinja]

i'm not sure if the babies are actually trying to nurse from the other female rat or they are just trying to keep warm, or if the other rat is actually moving on top of them to keep them warm, but i keep seeing this occasionaly. it's kind of funny.

http://i1006.photobucket.com/albums/af184/teaninja/nigma001.jpg
http://i1006.photobucket.com/albums/af184/teaninja/nigma002.jpg
http://i1006.photobucket.com/albums/af184/teaninja/nigma003.jpg

[stephanbakir]

Moar snake food:)

[TeaNinja]

i think i'm gonna wait till the black one is old enough then add her to the breeding so i can have one raising babies and one getting pregnant so they offset. then i have tons of snake food ;)
and then i can probably sell some extras to the pet store in hopes that some will live good lives :)

[stephanbakir]

pets in my area dont give money, they give store credit, is that normal?

[TeaNinja]

i talked to the lady at the crappy pet store i go to in town when i first started breeding and she said they'd pay me wholesale. prolly like 2.50$ per medium rat and $5 for a big one or something, i forget.
but ideally i'd be selling then once they're weanable and still pretty small so they don't eat me out of house and home.

[infernalis]

around here rats wholesale at a buck each...

[NennaMeerkat]

Yeah at the very least you can sell the rats to a store for more food for the ones you keep. And as long as you are getting nice strong markings then you will easily have rats that will sell. Stores like to have unique/strong markings rather than just your solid white/brown/black rats.

[TeaNinja]

the brood is just opening their eyes the last day or two. they are prolly starting to nibble on solid food too.

[stephanbakir]

Woot, incoming food bill increase :)