• Hello!

    Either you have not registered on this site yet, or you are registered but have not logged in. In either case, you will not be able to use the full functionality of this site until you have registered, and then logged in after your registration has been approved.

    Registration is FREE, so please register so you can participate instead of remaining a lurker....

    Please be certain that the location field is correctly filled out when you register. All registrations that appear to be bogus will be rejected. Which means that if your location field does NOT match the actual location of your registration IP address, then your registration will be rejected.

    Sorry about the strictness of this requirement, but it is necessary to block spammers and scammers at the door as much as possible.

what does everyone keep their rats in?

Still not 100%, needs wheels and the auto-watering system, but functioning well as is. And as you can see, paying dividends already.

rack.jpg

pups.jpg
 
Dale that looks like a great system, just one question where or how do you feed. Cute little ratties also.
 
susang said:
Dale that looks like a great system, just one question where or how do you feed. Cute little ratties also.
Click to expand...

I'm still ordering my feeders (frozen). I just recently started producing on my own. Trying to fill the colony currently. Have one adult male that is servicing 2 adult females, with 2 sub adult females in waiting... along with the 14 pups. I try to add 1 Jumbo female per week. Pricey little buggers.

... or were you asking how do I feed the rats?? If so, the wire lids serve as food hoppers. I just place the food on top of the wire as needed, and the rats get at it easily... like the lab cages for mice.
 
rats

Here are the cages that I made its not on a rack system ,but I dont have that many
 

Attachments

  • rats nest.JPG
    rats nest.JPG
    215.5 KB · Views: 115
Thanks guys :) This is giving me a good idea of what I want to do for the cages. Is that just chicken wire covering them?
 
midnightgallop said:
Thanks guys :) This is giving me a good idea of what I want to do for the cages. Is that just chicken wire covering them?
Click to expand...

You can grab it at any Home Depot/Lowes, but its known as "hardware cloth". but there's nothing "cloth" about it, cutting it is the worst part of the project ;)
 
Thanks Dale and Stephen, Stephen have you had any problems with one mother trying to take all the babies? Dale you just put the food on the wire? Maybe I'm over feeding, how much do you put on the lid that it lasts a week?
 
stephen said:
I trained them to share and take turns!:grin01:
Click to expand...

:laugh01:I need your training plan. Seriously I had to put a Mom rat down last week because she took all the babies and vigorously fought to keep them. She was the one hooded rat in with the hairless, she actually did some damage to the male.
 
As requested, here is the link I used for the instructions on constructing my rack. It looks basic, but there is some finesse involved, if you choose to go this route, pay careful attention to his pointers. For example many 2x2" lengths of wood are required for this, 2x2s are cheapest warped pieces of crap in every lumber store. The original author advises buying 2x4s and sawing them in half. I didn't have a table saw to do this, so I HAD to buy 2x2's. I grabbed them quickly without eyeing them up for quality (being as straight as possible). BELIVE me, take a few extra minutes and carefully choose your pieces, 50% of them are DAMN crooked.... and it matters.

Also, don't slack on the time it takes to drill your pilot holes, or you will have splits all over the place. And don't be shy on the drill bit to do it with, I went too small/conservative, and still ended up with a few cracks.

Hope this doesn't break any link laws posting this...

http://www.arbreptiles.com/cages/rat_rack/ratrack.shtml

On the food rations, 1/4 of the lid size ='s 1 week of feed for 1.3 adult rats. They will eat as needed and will not gorge.
 
Dale said:
As requested, here is the link I used for the instructions on constructing my rack. It looks basic, but there is some finesse involved, if you choose to go this route, pay careful attention to his pointers. For example many 2x2" lengths of wood are required for this, 2x2s are cheapest warped pieces of crap in every lumber store. The original author advises buying 2x4s and sawing them in half. I didn't have a table saw to do this, so I HAD to buy 2x2's. I grabbed them quickly without eyeing them up for quality (being as straight as possible). BELIVE me, take a few extra minutes and carefully choose your pieces, 50% of them are DAMN crooked.... and it matters.

Also, don't slack on the time it takes to drill your pilot holes, or you will have splits all over the place. And don't be shy on the drill bit to do it with, I went too small/conservative, and still ended up with a few cracks.

Hope this doesn't break any link laws posting this...

http://www.arbreptiles.com/cages/rat_rack/ratrack.shtml

On the food rations, 1/4 of the lid size ='s 1 week of feed for 1.3 adult rats. They will eat as needed and will not gorge.
Click to expand...

Can the just weened rats reach the food? If there isnt' the hopper that is lower than the top screen?
 
hartsock said:
Can the just weened rats reach the food? If there isnt' the hopper that is lower than the top screen?
Click to expand...

From what I understand, Mamma, like Dominos, delivers. Once they're able to take real food, she (from what I read) will break down pieces for them. I'll be watching this closely with this litter, and tossing soft food items inside if I'm even the least bit doubtful. But that's what I've read.

Also, between the aspen piles and the depth of the tubs, the little ones I have pictured actually can reach the top if they're on an aspen pile. But they are still nursing.
 
I gotta build me one, the glass tanks get so heavy and I know I am going to drop one when I am cleaning it, cut the artery in my leg, bleed out and die and my kids will come home to find my gnawed body laying in a pool of blood with rats all around me.
 
hartsock said:
I gotta build me one, the glass tanks get so heavy and I know I am going to drop one when I am cleaning it, cut the artery in my leg, bleed out and die and my kids will come home to find my gnawed body laying in a pool of blood with rats all around me.
Click to expand...

....wow....that's a pretty detailed mental image right there.
 
Glass tanks are bad for rats as well, the high walls hold in the ammonia which causes respiratory problems.

...but I think that has already been covered in another thread. =)
 
Flagg said:
Glass tanks are bad for rats as well, the high walls hold in the ammonia which causes respiratory problems.

...but I think that has already been covered in another thread. =)
Click to expand...

Yes it has, lol, but it's all I got right at the moment. I keep them cleaned often and they seem to be doing okay. Actually with the 29 snakes, the demand still outweighs the production, so they arent' given too much time to get crowded. The ASF are the most crowded and even then they are too bad, but they seem to take so long getting weened that I am afraid to seperate them too early. The one group that I seperated the first time lived, but for about 3 weeks it seemed their growth rate was at a standstill. The others that I have left in, are almost at their size now and they both are growing at the same rate, so I think eventhough they were eating on their own a few more weeks in with mom might have done them good.
 
For whatever reason, I've noticed the ASF don't really smell and they don't seem to have nearly the ammonia buildup that occurs with rats or mice. I actually keep one of my ASF colonies in a 15 gal tank and they are doing fine.

Where it seems to be a more serious issue is with normal domestic rats. They have much more sensitive respiratory systems and more issues such as mycoplasma, etc.

As long as you keep them cleaned often I'm sure it's not too bad. I don't really breed my rats, they ended up as pets so they have nice big multi level wire cages.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top