My Feeder Rat Colony

Just thought I'd share a few pics I took today--so happy the rat breeding is finally beginning to take off! I'd held back some breeders last winter right before production fell off for me, and so they are breeding now this year. They seem to be doing much better than the breeders I had, who I believe had gotten too old to produce much.

So anyway, without further ado, PICS! LOL

Top of my rat rack, water resevoir:


Rack (this isn't all of it though; it has six tubs):


Big Tub of Mazuri Rat Food:


BABIES!










Some future breeders:


Snake food:


I hold back the hooded rats (the ones that are white and have black/brown/beige faces and shoulders, and typically with some black/brown/beige spots or stripes down their backs) to use as breeders mainly because those seem to have the least medical issues (or so I've read). The white looking ones in the pic of future breeders are actually beige hooded ones. And apparently, rats have co-dominant genetics, too. LOL The solid black rats you see are the result of two hooded rats breeding. So it appears that the hooded trait is co-dominant in them. Though also from what I've read, the solid balck ones are prone to megacolon just as much as the solid white ones, though the hooded ones don't seem to be (megacolon is apparently linked to pigment migration, or something like that, but not in the hooded ones--it's a long story, but if you're interested, search megacolon in rats online).

Also, I was told once by a friend to separate the older babies from the younger ones, since if pups are left with pinks, the pups typically push the pinks down to the bottom of the baby pile, and the pinks then aren't able to get any milk from the mom(s). Some of the pics above were pre-separating, and the last few are post-separating. I pulled all of the pups out of the two tubs full of all sized babies and put them in with some moms who'd just had pinks (but I moved those pinks to another tub with pinks, if all that makes sense LOL). In any case, I have two tubs now that have pinks and fuzzies, and one tub with pups in it.

Looking good Pam! I wish I had the room and patience to breed my own snake food.

I wouldn't even have considered it if not for the rack. LOL When Sam decided he was going to sell out, he was selling the rack and the rats (plus 6 or 7 ASFs, but I sold those within 3 weeks--my snakes take regular Norways, so I didn't want to get them started on ASFs). The patience part was starting to get to me for a while there, since my older breeders weren't producing much, but I'm glad that's finally starting to pay off. The room thing wasn't too bad--we have a vacant, old trailer next door that we own (it's not really in the best shape for people living there, but for the rats it's OK), and I've finally gotten them moved into one of the small rooms in it, so that it will be easier/cheaper to heat and cool, which may have contributed to the low production as well. I had them in the living room until recently, and my heater was trying to heat it, the kitchen, and the hallways (it's all kinda open and hard to block off). It kept it warm enough in there so that they didn't freeze or anything, but didn't really up the temps enough I don't think to really get them breeding. I think it would get to about 50 degrees or so, but they really need about 60 in order to produce.

A tip about ASFs as well, in case anyone is looking into getting into breeding rats in the future:
If your snakes take norway rats (the "normal" looking ones pictured above), don't switch them to ASFs if you can help it, especially ball pythons that imprint easily and can get stuck on feeding on them. ASFs are a pain in the you-know-what, because they tend to waste a lot of food (my norways don't waste any with my setup, but ASFs pull everything down from the top and then poop and pee on it), their babies are tiny (and I mean really tiny--smaller than mouse pinks), and grow very slowly. I didn't have them long enough to really breed them, but I did see the tiny babies firsthand when Sam had them, plus I know from my short time owning them how much food they wasted. Sam also told me how slowly they grow. If you've got small snakes that would take the ASFs, you might do OK with the slow breeding and so forth, but don't give them more than enough food for them to feed on for the day, then add more tomorrow. They really aren't ideal for ball pythons, or anything larger (from a rat breeder's perspective, at least) due to their slow growth rate.

Where are you located Pam? I am moving to alcoa and am looking for some one I can buy feeders from around that area.

I am in the Montvale area of Maryville. About a 15-20 minute drive from Alcoa.

As of this moment, I don't have much to spare, but I'm hoping that will change in the coming months. Now that the breeding is finally taking off, I'm hoping I can stock my freezer up with feeders for myself, and once I get that done, I can sell the surplus. I'm sorta semi planning for 4 breeder groups (1 male to every 5 females), though right now I only have 3 breeding groups. The "future breeders" above though should be old enough in another 1-2 months. That will be one new set, plus replacements for a few of the older breeders.

I do actually have 6 or 7 really big feeder rats in the freezer though if anyone wants them. But they are XLs and XXLs (retired male breeders) that are too large for any of my snakes to eat. Don't know if anyone around here needs feeders that big though.

I woul only need like 1 med\weaned rat every two weeks, my brailian is still tiny but he downs rats and doesn't much care for mice any more lol. MJ isn't eating, and neither is lucy which bothers me......

Eh, don't sweat them not eating. That just means you've fed them well before. I have about half my snakes that are still off feed, some males and some females. My one gravid female is to be expected, but the others, I couldn't tell ya why they aren't feeding. LOL Just aren't hungry. haha

yeah i got some really good stock that breed faster and have bigger litters than i can go through, and the Siamese i have are smaller (down to half the size some), and are seeming really good for breeding large litters of small babies.
i finally bred out one true hairless rat male with red eyes, and one that just retained peach fuzz and has dumbo ears with black eyes. i have males and females im not set keen on keeping as i have other projects, but they are good stock breeders with litters at least once a month (my problem was a dom male rat who was a dud, that i culled), two only getting four occasionally, but them and the others get about 24 more and more, that i cant keep up with. this group is producing mostly Siamese, dumbo, rex,black, and aquati variations, with some blues. siamese often showing dom after eyes open to around wean. my red rat project is on hold till i find another female like spark who shows traits, as her offspring were all inferior even when fostered to others alone, and died after about two monthes at most (one or two, maybe almost up to three months). i have one dumbo Siamese, one gray that carries partial blue trait, and one black and white, that i just couldnt cull cause itd be a waste of an awesome breeder as he will breed six to eight females in one to two days, and has strong genes producing 98-99% huge healthy to wean pups, and carries the rex, gene (as i suspect the females carry the dumbo gene). anyone see any red coloration in rats to work with? ps. the siamese and rex seem to be prefered, by my balls (coat color and texture seems more appealing), and they eat one small rat or up every to every other night (except mick, who is only wanting just weaned to hoppers). sanguine will take three at a feeding if id let her, but she is a slug..

hey passion, would you be willing to sell me a few feeders as well? i could use 2 medium rats every 2 weeks, ide gladly by them from you, i just got 2 new ball pythons.

ReptarAwesome wrote:

hey passion, would you be willing to sell me a few feeders as well? i could use 2 medium rats every 2 weeks, ide gladly by them from you, i just got 2 new ball pythons.

Reptar, I am so sorry I missed this! I have been so busy lately that I've not even had a chance to log in much until recently. Right now I've got some extra mediums. Would you be needing frozen or live? I've got more of the frozen ones, but still have a few surplus live ones, too. Just let me know if you still need any.