planning ~!!

[t-dot]

i'm planning to breed rats what is a good ideal cage for it~? and size of it ?

[Justcage]

I am curently using 20 gallon aquariums wirh a 1.3 ratio. I am saving for freedom breeder racks, but WOW those are pricy. I have about 7 tanks going and only have one male. I rotate him in and out of the cages.. Saves you money and space in the long run..

[boa_Jay]

you can easly build a breeding rack like freedom breeder using 2x2 quality pine wood/harware cloth and plastic tubs

[t-dot]

does anyone have pics so i can get an idea of how home built racks look like and of cages

[mykee]

I'm using a bin from Ikea to house my 1.5 colonies. They measure 26x21x6 or so, if you'd like to take a look at the size of it with adult rats in it, go to my website under Info; Rat Racks.
www.strictlyballs.ca/ratrack.html

[Kyle Barker]

build boxes from plywood. its cheap and easy. then you have big rat tanks that will rpoduce hundreds of rats a year.

[ydnic]

Quick question

With breeder mice are they treated differently than pet mice in terms of care and housing. I read while searching after I got my rat for christams that you are not to house rats in aquariums (which I would think would include rubber maids because they don`t have enough circulation for the air - is that wrong?

It seems many of your are housing them this way with success..

[t-dot]

what is a good size for the cage??

[Justcage]

Making a cage for rodents out of wood is asking for disease inthe colony. The wood will absord the urine and it will start to grow bacteria the bacteria will start to break down the pulp fibers and then you have to do it all over again....

[Mark]

plastic tubs all the way. Why bother with the weight and problem with wood while plastic tubs work so mucg better and are cheap too.

[t-dot]

everyone i got my tub 111.44L from canadian tires for about 8 dollars and got two computer fans for circulation one to blow fresh air in and one too blow out air back out and got my ratties for about a 1 dollar each . And for that size how many raties can i keep in the tub ?

[Kyle Barker]

you paint the wood to seal it....hos eit out every clean. 4x2 ground space cages are teh cheapest and easiest rodent breeeders i have seen. problem is they take up space. slap a wood frame on top staple some mesh to it and voila.fast, effective, cheap, clean once sealed.

you can keep them the same as pet rodents, add more protien for them cause tehy gonna be pumping out babies like mad. depending on your setup it may be wise to seperate pregnant females so tehy dont get nibbled or suffocated (those piles can get BIG). couple males dozen or so females works good.


problem with rubbermaids is that they can chew through those in minutes. as long as tehre is no starter hole they probably wont. think about that when your putting in your water device. that exact thing happened to me....chewed through the small hole teh water roller ball thing stuck through. add stuff in their cage to shew on liek a hardwood branch or somthing.

[sidewinder]

Make it out of plywood then just buy those really thin (and cheap) sheets of formica they sell at places like Home Depot. they come in all colors and the pieces are something like 2 x 3 feet. Nice and easy to work with,seals out all moisture, and like I said.....Cheap!!

[Mark]

wood is pretty useless for breeding rodents in it. It can be chwed thrugh the same as plastics, heavy adn not dirt cheap. For what your doing I'd stick with rubbermaids. Also there is not need to provide a huge cage for the rats.

[Kyle Barker]

i agree but i find rubermaids get chewed real quick. any bump or line or whatever tehy seem to go for right away. never ate through wood with me or friends, but if they got it in them it wouldnt take long.

$40 gives me a cage for about 20 rats using wood. im gonna be building some outdoor ones hopefully this month.