Rats vs mice...

[Tim_Cranwill]

I've pretty much decided to try to switch my collection over to rats for health and size reasons. I'm just trying to get a better understanding of what keeping rats entails. So here are a few questions...

1. What ratio of sexes would work best in each colony?
2. What size enclosure would be needed to house the preferred size colony?
3. What are the husbandry differences between mice and rats?
4. Anything else you think might come in handy:)

If anyone has time to answer some or all of these questions, I'd really appreciate it.:)

Thanks.

[KaHane]

we keep our rats in ratios of 1.4. We keep them in a rack system, and use the XLarge cattlitter boxes. I personally like rats better, they smell less, tame, and bigger:) but they do produce less babies, but not by much.

[rattekonigin]

1. The number of females you want in your colony depend on how many babies you need, if you keep the male in all the time you can expect a new litter from each female every 3 weeks, and litters average around 10 babies...but it's not advisable to put more than one male per colony, as they will fight. Most people keep 1.5

2. I personally believe that rats should be given a lot more space than most people prescribe...feeders or not...I'd suggest something along the size of a 2x1x1 cage...but then, others wouldn't agree...so you might want to take their suggestions

3. I've only had a single male mouse, but from that experience I can safely say that mice reek (male mice, at least), so you'll probably want to deoderize the room in some way, or keep them somewhere that the smell won't bother you...also, mice will, naturally, need a lot less space than rats...apart from that, there aren't a lot of husbandry differences between them...

4. when buying your animals, whether mice or rats, make sure that they aren't sneezing and that they don't have any red discharge around their eyes or nose. This is an indication of respiratory infection...also, check their fur for mites, 'cause you don't want those either...and it's best to avoid bitey animals, for obvious reasons, lol. Also, you want to avoid cedar (which you probably already know) and if you chose to get a cage (as opposed to building a rack or something) avoid wire floors as they can damage the rats' feet...oh, and if you're building an enclosure, do not use galvanized mesh or wire because the rats will chew on it and get zinc poisoning...

That's about all I can think of now, hope it's of some help :D

[Tim_Cranwill]

Thanks guys!

Rattekonigin, when you say 2x1x1 cage, you mean for each rat, right? If so, what do you figure would be needed for a group of 1.5?

Thanks for the help:)

[rattekonigin]

No, when I say 2x1x1 I mean for the whole group of 1.5...but that'd be the bare minimum...1.5x2.5x1, or even 2x3x1 is better (the rats don't really need all the vertical space, I had a pair in a 3' high cage with "floors" for a while, but cleaning was a b!tch) If there are space constraints, 2x1x1 will suffice...I currently have 5 rats in a cage that's around 1.5x2.5 floor space...and I'll be adding another to that group soon, 6 will be the limit. The extra half foot on the dimensions really makes a difference, the cage looks to be about twice the size of the 2x1 I keep the male in.

[rattekonigin]

Correction, I just double checked and I have 5 rats in a cage with 3x1.5 ft of floor space.

[Tim_Cranwill]

Thanks for all the info!

Have you ever kept rats in rubbermaid bins? I'm curious as to how much ventilation they would require.

[ross2k]

http://gallery.****************/data/8378ratfarm1.jpg

Rats in rubbermaids...Ventilation is somewhat important from what I've noticed. The wire mesh (hardware cloth) on top provides adequete air flow though.

Email me if you have any ?'s