breeding rats

xdiversichicx · 03-01-04, 01:55 AM

we've decided to start breeding feeder rats for our monitor because from the way it looks its gonna end up being a lot cheaper in the long run than having to buy them every week.
anyway i was just wanting some advice from people that do it it themselves, or have done it. right now i have one female and one male. a friend of ours used to breed them all the time.. we called him the rat man, but his favorite male, his pet, passed away so he was heartbroken and sold all the rest. he's gonna help us when he gets back in town, but until then any input you guys can give me would be great.

on a side note, when i went to buy the rats (i got one female and one male.. should i get more females?) .. its a family owned shop by the way ... they were really busy so the owner had her little girl in there to help feed the animals and help with what she could.. so this kid is like maybe 9 and she asked me if she could help me with anything, so i told her what i needed, and she said she could do that.. so we're standing by the rat cages while im picking out the ones i want, and the little girl asked me why i was gonna start breeding rats, and before i even thought about what i was saying, i told her i was gonna feed their babies to my big lizard, and she almost started crying, and ran and got her mom do get them instead.. i felt so bad

sapphire_moon · 03-01-04, 06:53 AM

Well sometimes people just react like that.

For one lizard you should be fine with that. Although I'm know nothing about lizards. So you have to figure out how many rats you need, and how often you need them.

rats can have anywhere from 8-25 babies, the "regular" amount is 10-14 babies. So if you need 30 or 40 rats a month you should probably get 1 or 2 more females.

I personally feed wal-marts ol' roy bites and bones (It fits through the feeder) with fresh veggies, baby food, a bit of ham (or some other meat), and fresh fruit about once every 1 or 2 weeks.

Leave the male in all the time so after she gives birth he can reimpregnate her.
I personally wouldn't keep them in commercial "rat" cages. It gives them to much exercise, and if bred back to back, alot of exercise can be bad, the mothers need all the fat on them they can get.

Linds · 03-01-04, 02:58 PM

Breeding rats is quite simple. Here's a few tips...

-I wouldn't run a colony with any less than two females
-dog food works as an excellent staple (the low quality stuff)
-pet store products should be avoided when possible, as they ar quite costly
-I get my shavings from the local co-op for $4 per 3.5 cubic foot (compressed) bag
-waterbottles are a must, dishes get full of shavings, feces, etc. very quickly
-pinkies can be handled from day one, it is a myth that the mother will eat them if they have your scent on them
-don't add new members to the colony if there are existing babies
-they don't do well with hot temperatures... mine are kept at about 65 degrees

The rest is all up to them

Cruciform · 03-01-04, 03:28 PM

With the low quality dog foods you can end up with a really unhealthy dog eventually. Since the rats aren't living that long it's not an issue for them, but what about nitrates and such travelling up the food chain?

C.m.pyrrhus · 03-01-04, 04:18 PM

I have started enjoying my rats. They do take a lot more work at keeping healthy, as in cleaning feeding and watering, but it has certainly kept my cost down for feeders.

As a side note, I am sure that your monitor will not need a large diet of rats personally. A small breeding colony will surely give you enough feeders, plenty more than you'll ever need for a diet for one monitor. You may want to use them for other herps or sell the extras off to pet stores or other herpers, or even in the freezer for your own inventory. I would recommend starting raising inverts over rats for diet, as that should be the main part of the diet and to me would cost more to purchase than feeder rats. good thing to look into.

mykee · 03-01-04, 07:00 PM

I'm not sure where you get your breeders Sapphire but 25 seems high. Expect 8-14 babies per litter: every 3-4 weeks per female if everything is working right.

sapphire_moon · 03-01-04, 07:21 PM

lol, I said they COULD go from 8-25, it's a possiblity, I also said that a "Normal" litter would be around 10-14 babies. I don't know what I would do if one of my females actually did this! But they all "babysit" so I don't think it would be a problem.

Oh the females might "steal" the babies, don't worry the mother that took it WILL take care of it.

Low quality dog food is actually just about perfect for even a pet rat, the protiene is way to high for pet rats though. Rats need a grain and animal protiene diet, and low quality dog food provides this. And alot of people use Nutro light dog food as a staple when making their own, and some just feed nutro light, supplemented daily with fresh veggies/fruits/etc...etc....but considering how much it is a bag, and that the mothers need more protiene than "regular" rats low quality dog food is best.

It is natural for first time pregnant mother to instantly raise to "alpha" rat. So a few squabbles might start. But they will soon work out who is boss. Also sometimes their playing around looks like fighting.
A rule with rats is "no blood, no harm". They can be fun, and they are interesting to watch.

Linds · 03-01-04, 08:22 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Cruciform
With the low quality dog foods you can end up with a really unhealthy dog eventually. Since the rats aren't living that long it's not an issue for them, but what about nitrates and such travelling up the food chain?

It is more than just the cheapie preservatives that contribute to an unhealthy dog... the low quality dog foods contain hardly any animal matter, mostly corn and other undesirable fillers, which although it may have the adequate protein and fats levels, is still not the correct formulation. Perfect for rats however that require more grain than meat in their diet. Even some of the "higher quality" dog foods like Science Diet and Iams contain undesirable preservatives. I don't think that the preservatives are stored in the rats body however, someone correct me if I'm wrong. There are traces of it no doubt, but I think it is likely to be insignificant.

mykee · 03-02-04, 01:51 AM

I'll also chime in here and mention some of the 'lab diets' like Mazuri are formulated for breeder rats (Mazuri 6F) and are available at most all feed supply stores for a price comparable to low-quality dog foods (less than $20 for a 50 lb. bag). I have tried both, and would NEVER go back to dog food. JMO.

Syco · 03-02-04, 09:32 AM

I'm with you on that one Mykee! I get much better results with Mazuri than with dog food and the price is about the same.
Seems to me that the Mazuri last longer also. I still give both my rats and mice a few pieces of dog food for treats, but I wouldn't try to raise them on just dog food. When I used the dog food I started getting high rates of cannabalism, and the mice just didn't look as healthy.

sapphire_moon · 03-02-04, 12:36 PM

Thats because mice don't really eat meat. So you were kind of forcing them to be meat eaters in the first place. Rats eat meat naturaly so dog food is better for them.

And we don't have mazuri rat food here, so dog food will just have to work.
And dog food is only $11 for a 50pound bag.

mykee · 03-02-04, 01:02 PM

Syco. I'm with you on the quality of the foods. I buy Mazuri and I buy a super-premium dog food for my Willow dog (see Avatar) and I've noticed that you get more food weight for size from Mazuri then you do with dog food. The two bags (dog + Mazuri) are the SAME size, but my dog food bag only holds 38 lbs. of dog food, while the same sized bag of Mazuri is a back-breaking 50 lbs. Definitely 'more' food.

foman · 03-02-04, 02:04 PM

I now feed my mice quaker granola/oats cereal. I use to use dogfood but I find the cereal to be much better, they just love it and so do I at five bucks a box that last quite a while.