Never buying rats again!!

stephanbakir · 06-29-11, 05:21 PM

found someone selling 8 MASSIVE (not fat) female rats, and another guy selling 1 young male. Looks like soon I'll be having babies!! getting them delivered on Sunday XD
Got tons of snake owners in my area paying 2-3$ a rat, I'll be able to save them money and charge 1$ each regardless of size, and have enough rats for myself!!

stephanbakir · 06-29-11, 05:22 PM

Total cost of all of those rats is 20$ lol.

vendettaseve · 06-29-11, 05:25 PM

Your missing the food part of the equation here. You gotta feed the quality stuff, what goes into the rat goes into the snake.

Id sell for at least $2 each to help cover that cost.

stephanbakir · 06-29-11, 05:27 PM

Got a friend who works in a pet shop, so I'll get a discount, + if I get the job I'm trying for I'll get a discount myself.

marionsclan · 06-29-11, 06:31 PM

I was thinking of breeding rats myself because the closest breeder is 30 minutes away. I used to own pet rats so I've got the set up, but what time frames should I look at for mating, carrying, and birthing? Also, what the average litter of a rat?

stephanbakir · 06-29-11, 06:59 PM

Just found a guy selling a "rat cage" on kijiji for 20$ so I figured why not.. he lived down the street from me so I walked over to pick it up (he didn't have a description up or pictures...)
I get there and its a freaking BEHEMOTH!! 4 feet high 3 feet long 2 feet wide...

any tips on building shelves in wire enclosures, its really well made.

NennaMeerkat · 06-29-11, 07:00 PM

If the females are fat because of poor diet I would suggest getting them trimmed down if you want healthy litters from them.

stephanbakir · 06-29-11, 07:00 PM

I said massive (not fat)

NennaMeerkat · 06-29-11, 07:01 PM

Sorry I misread LOL Rather preoccupied while cruising through the forum...

stephanbakir · 06-29-11, 07:02 PM

I need to find a job so I can stop this post marathon I started in March lol.

TeaNinja · 06-29-11, 07:04 PM

my breeder girl is pretty trim. when she's nursing she gets kind of skinny because she's giving up all her milk but now that the pups are getting to be small size and bigger she's growing her nipple hair back and gettin fatter again.

her first litter was 12 and her 2nd was 16, she's a good breeder.

stephanbakir · 06-29-11, 07:05 PM

Mmmm the ever elusive nipple hairs, How do I build shelves they wont eat through?

NennaMeerkat · 06-29-11, 07:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stephanbakir

Mmmm the ever elusive nipple hairs, How do I build shelves they wont eat through?

If the wood is thick enough they won't eat through it. I made a little hutch type hide with a platform on top with wood that is about an inch thick. My girls have chewed on it a good bit but has yet to chew through it. And it has been at least a year since I built it for them.

stephanbakir · 06-29-11, 07:09 PM

Alright, is glue a bad thing for them or can I use particle board? Got lots of that laying around.

marionsclan · 06-29-11, 07:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stephanbakir

Mmmm the ever elusive nipple hairs, How do I build shelves they wont eat through?

You could buy wooden boards in the thickness of the space of the metal cage bars, then cut it to size, cut a groove in each end so that the board will rest on the bar and voila, shelves.