breeding rats

[Savanna]

My honest opinion on this is that if you have no real interesting rats other than food for snakes it's not really worth breeding them as it isn't economical vs frzen bulk buy.

I have about 20 rats now. I breed for pets breeders and food. I wouldn't be without a couple around now cos they are fantastic social animals. What I mean is I get a lot back from them other than just food. So it knd of balances out.

The advantages are that you can keep stock to the exac size you want for an entire collection of snakes babies through to adult. You know what has gone into them. They can also becme great pets. You will always fing a favourite in a group of rats u just can't help that.

But expensive they can be vs other food sources so I guess it's down to personal choice and your liking for rats as living breathing animals.

[covkev]

ok so with it being worth while......
if you do it right it works out alot cheaper than buying frozen.
i have my rodents in lab cages/tanks and racks that i made myself all stored in the garden shed.
bedding wise i use mainly shredded paper and wood shavings and food wise everything from rabbit mix to table scraps along with cereals and other dry foods.
atleast this way you know what your snakes food has been fed on.
the only down side of it all is its time consuming.

[phil7870]

Originally Posted by Savanna

My honest opinion on this is that if you have no real interesting rats other than food for snakes it's not really worth breeding them as it isn't economical vs frzen bulk buy.

I have about 20 rats now. I breed for pets breeders and food. I wouldn't be without a couple around now cos they are fantastic social animals. What I mean is I get a lot back from them other than just food. So it knd of balances out.

The advantages are that you can keep stock to the exac size you want for an entire collection of snakes babies through to adult. You know what has gone into them. They can also becme great pets. You will always fing a favourite in a group of rats u just can't help that.

But expensive they can be vs other food sources so I guess it's down to personal choice and your liking for rats as living breathing animals.

yeah your right i dont because if i got attached to them i couldnt kill them so im try not to get in anyway attached to them because no that i wouldnt be able to do it .i dont see anything wrong with that because even tho im not attched to them i still want to give them a good life and a humane ending .on about table scraps i noticed over the last week the amount that is left over in my house if the any thing that you cant feed them

[redreps]

Originally Posted by rachel132002

I keep my rats in racks like this
image

They eat Dr. Johns Silver Medal dog biscuits which is around £8.60 for a 25kg sack i think and they are on Hunters wood shavings which is about £8-9 a sack but lasts forever.

They are culled with one of these bad boys
image

I had the basic zapper but it didn't do good for big rats and then i broke it like a tit so i upgraded.

Runs on 4 x D batteries and you get roughly 40 zaps.

Rat goes in, gets a shock and is kaput but the device continues for a further 2mins to make doubley sure but i'm sure they're dead as soon as they touch the plate.

thats a similar set up to mine. what i would like to know is where you can get the drinking systems from. i have water bottles in each cage and filling them up takes up a fair bit of time. if i can get hold of the drinkers systems that would make them alot easier.

[rachel132002]

Rats are great fun, i love em especially the babies but it's always in the back of my mind they are food so i'm never attached.

Some people don't like how i keep my rats, in racking but they aren't pets that's the key thing to remember - they have a purpose, the people that moan invariably don't however care about how their chicken that made their KFC was housed though.

However all my rats are clean, have access to food and water 24/7 and if they get ill with something that's not just going to right itself then they're culled because they don't need to suffer for any reason.

It is a lot of work at times, water bottles are my biggest annoyance in life i HATE that job but it needs doing and gets done and it's worth it when you have a shed full of clean boxes and happy rats rolling around in the shavings.

I'm sure if they were suffering they wouldn't breed as well or look in as good as condition as they do but many will disagree.

[rachel132002]

Originally Posted by redreps

thats a similar set up to mine. what i would like to know is where you can get the drinking systems from. i have water bottles in each cage and filling them up takes up a fair bit of time. if i can get hold of the drinkers systems that would make them alot easier.

I'll find out for you, a few people i know have them.

What i will say though is it is expensive and run it off a tank not the main water supply, a friend of mine was on the mains and something went wrong somehow and yeaahhhh 1 rack with 50+ rats was a rack of water with a 50+ drowned dead rats wheras if you do your calculations you can have a tank so that even if you spring a leak the boxes will never fill with water, some will get in but the rats will be able to get above it to breathe.

[rachel132002]

Water Systems
John Hopewell (Marketing) Rotherham South Yorkshire, Chinchilla Cages - Degu Cage - Degus Exercise Wheels - Cages - Animal Cages - Rat Cage - Ezi-Filla - Ezi - Easy - Automatic Water Drinking Systems - Guinea Pig Runs - Rabbit Feed Hoppers - Birds -

[redreps]

that website is just what i'm after cheers rachel your a star!

[phil45]

this guy is cheaper Nipple Drinking System i set it up with a one gallon water bottle saves loads of time

[Danny Action1]

I use the John Hopewell drippers for my rats you have to be carefull that they dont get flooded my Rats wedge the dripper some how and flood there cage so now i dont fill the main drum up as much and have to check the water all the time
But still better than filling all the water bottles up (20 bottles takes ages)