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Lab Cages - Mice or Rats?

Dale

Dale

Interventions won't work
Just picked up 5 of the basic lab cages, plastic tubs 12x7x5, with the wires slanted tops for placing food and bottle.

I'm sure they're fine for mice, but I ask about rats because I have a faint memory of walking through the back rooms of our Bio. labs in college seeing walls of these loaded with mice and rat pairs. At the most, I'm sure 2 full grown adults would be the most these provide room for, if that, and then once the little ones come, more space is needed.

Anyone have experience with them?
 
Those are probably too small for rats. I keep colonies of mice in those size (well closer to 11" rather than 12"--otherwise the other dimensions are the same). You would be pressed to even have one rat in a cage that size--but then again the strain of rats I have are a bunch of XL fatties.

I keep rats in lab cages that measure 18" x 13" x 8".
 
danvega said:
Those are probably too small for rats. I keep colonies of mice in those size (well closer to 11" rather than 12"--otherwise the other dimensions are the same). You would be pressed to even have one rat in a cage that size--but then again the strain of rats I have are a bunch of XL fatties.

I keep rats in lab cages that measure 18" x 13" x 8".
Click to expand...

Yes, my memory could be a little off, the cages I remember could have been larger, or the rats could have been smaller. I'm sure they were being bred for genetic surveys and comparative physiology rather than Boa feeding.

Well, with all of these "mouse" breeding cages, I'm going to need something that will eat them, perfect excuse to increase the corn population. :dancer:
 
Dale said:
Yes, my memory could be a little off, the cages I remember could have been larger, or the rats could have been smaller. I'm sure they were being bred for genetic surveys and comparative physiology rather than Boa feeding.

Well, with all of these "mouse" breeding cages, I'm going to need something that will eat them, perfect excuse to increase the corn population. :dancer:
Click to expand...

I've found that size , "shoebox" size as it is called, works well with 1.2 mice. At just under 3 weeks I move pups to a separate grow out cage.


And no, there is no way you could raise rats in cages that size.
 
Well, this means my mouse supply will be in good order, and as stated, I have NO PROBLEM with finding more Corns to take care of my mouse population.

My problem is, I need a strong supply of rats. I can't keep paying insane shipping for jumbos and rabbits. My last shipping charge nearly equaled the price of the food itself putting the total close to pet shop prices.

I am going to have to get the hardware and wood/wire/tubs necessary and assemble my own rack. Not lazy, just not confident in my (fine tuned) carpentry skills.
 
Another question... water bottles.

I've seen most lab cage setups with straight spout water bottles, but don't see them at the local pet stores.

Will the curved spout common bottles work just as well??
 
We use lab cages for our mice and rats at the raptor rehab center I volunteer at. For money reasons, we use cheap water bottles that you can get at the pet store instead of the straight-tipped ones you usually use for lab caging. Those are all curved tip water bottles, and they work fine.
 
ratsncorns said:
We use lab cages for our mice and rats at the raptor rehab center I volunteer at. For money reasons, we use cheap water bottles that you can get at the pet store instead of the straight-tipped ones you usually use for lab caging. Those are all curved tip water bottles, and they work fine.
Click to expand...

Thank you.
 
Straight or curved spouts work the same and are almost just a personal preference. The curved spouts seem somewhat better at keeping the spout off the substrate. The only downside that I've found with differences in spouts is the number of ball bearings, no ball bearings, or spring loaded. I prefer spring loaded with two ball bearings--these seem to leak less, especially when a piece of substrate gets caught in it. I also like to use glass bottles, just for its ease to clean.

It you are interested, in the past, I have ordered from the Bean Farm.

http://www.beanfarm.com/store/agora.cgi?cart_id=6037747.29433&product=Rodent%20Supplies

There you can piece together bottles, stoppers, and spouts (plus buy a whole bunch of other stuff).
 
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