my little rat colony

[LILCREEP]

this is my starting group of breeders i have 1.4 the male is the guy standing at the front of the picture
i plan on making this 1.5 soon and then setting up another 1.5 group just wanna see how much work these guys are
feel free to post your suggestions as how i can make this better or easier thx

[Linds]

My operation...

Rodent rack utilizing the X-Large kitty litter pans, drop down food hoppers w/bottles

Shavings purchased by the bale (I think it is almost 4 cubic feet compressed?) for $4.70 at the local co-op

Fed Wal-Mart brand Dog food, 18kg for $17

I maintain about 200 (mostly rats, i only have one 1.3 colony of mice) in total (breeders and feeders) and it *barely* is feeding my collection of about 20 snakes, some geckos, and a frog right now I'm at no shortage for the smaller prey items, but I'm just getting by with the larges and jumbos. I spend about 45 minutes or so cleaning and feeding them every third day, and it only takes minutes a day to top up their water and food hoppers. This is the way I have found best works for me.

[morph]

hey linds I'm not sure if you have this brand or not in Ont. but mainstay is great. It's corn based so the numbers match mazuri's breakdown fairly closely, and it's cheaper than wal-mart @ 11.70-12.60 for an 18kg bag.

[jwsporty]

I have two colonies 1.3 and 2.3 ( the second male will be a stud for the next colony, and is offspring to that group so there are no problems with fights) I keep them in a pair of Ferret cages and a couple of tanks for the juveniles. They get fresh fruits and veggies daily, occasional dog food and dog treats, and hoppers are always kept full with Nutriblock. Lots of fresh water. 5-10 minutes a day for food prep and 20 minutes a week cleaningcages. Spot cleanup are done daily. I find if I put the shavings on the bedding side and not the feeding and exercise side that the cleanup is a little less. Personally I notice that they don't defecate as much on the sleeping side. Of course they still haul their food all over the place. Part of the clean-up. I am rewarded with a fresh large litter about every two weeks. I still have to keep mice and right now I have 3 colonies of 1.5 and they produce but they also tend to eat their young, so they tend to be hit and miss. Right now there are litters in EVERY tank both mice and rats. Probably about 60-70 mice and about 35 rats

Linds: I thought feeding dog food only wasn't good for the rats. Don't know why just read that somewhere here. If this isn't the case then I will switch, definitely cheaper. What sort of litter sizes are you getting with the rats? I am averaging 16-20 per litter.

[Linds]

Dog food has a similar makeup to commercial rodent chows. In the past I used to be part of the "dog food is only for dogs" crowd, but in the past year changed. You just have to go with the lower grade stuff becasue it has a grain base versus a meat base, and you also have to make certain it has no dyes in it. The only difference in the dog food than some of the rat feeds is that they often have slightly higher fat and protein levels, which I like because it makes for meatier, quicker-growing rats, which is exactly what you want in a feeder. I do not feed my pet rat straight dog food, but I do supplement him with it. The extra fat and protein is also more supportive of nursing mothers. When I was feeding my females rodent breeder diet (Mazuri) I noticed they got quite thin from constantly nursing young and producing them without a break, I haven't experienced that since I have swtiched to dog food. Once a week I usually toss in some veggies, fruits, grains, etc as a treat for my breeders as well.

[jwsporty]

Linds,

Interesting..are you also using the dog food diet for the mice? And is there any specific brand you would recommend? What about cat food (dry)

[Linds]

I've never actually looked at cat food in terms of feeding rodents so I can't answer that question. I just use Ol' Roy (Walmart brand) dog food. It comes as cheap as $12 a bag, but I have to get the bits and bones one which costs $18 because the other peices are too small for the food hoppers and fall through. I do use straight dog food for my mice as well, only downfall is that the mice get kinda greasy looking from the higher fat/protein.

[jwsporty]

Thanks Linds,
When I run out of my bag of 33.00 a bag Nutriblock I will give that I try. I'm interested to see how it affects the litter sizes.

Cheers
Jim

[LILCREEP]

im gonna switch over to a mix of dogfood and small animal mix
thx for all the suggestions

[Pixie]

I switched feeding my rat colony from nutri-blocks to cheapo dog food about 2-3 weeks ago and so far so good here. I like supplementing this diet with extras though like carrots, nuts and granola.

The rats seems to like it too so everyone is happy!

Pixie