a vid on breeding feeder rats..

[Meaningless End]

this is a video i did about breeding rats and a short tour around the reptile room..... check it out and let me know what you think.[YOUTUBE]<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/rcK7CqU2pr0&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/rcK7CqU2pr0&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>[/YOUTUBE]

 

[P. Novak]

AWesome vid man. Just what I needed.

1 question though, not sure if I missed it, but what substrate are you using?

Also, I seem to have difficulties determining genders on immature rats. Can this be done?

Thanks,
Paul

 

[P. Novak]

AWesome vid man. Just what I needed.

what substrate are you using for your rats?

Also, I seem to have difficulties determining genders on immature rats. Can this be done?

Last one, what would be the cheapest and best food for rats set up like that?

Thanks,
Paul

bump, can anyone answer these?

Thanks

 

[halfwaynowhere]

bump, can anyone answer these?

Thanks

nipples.

females have them, males do not. You can start seeing them as soon as they start getting a bit of fuzz. Simple. No more having to try to figure out the distance between certain parts, lol.

 

[Endagr8]

1 question though, not sure if I missed it, but what substrate are you using?
Paul

He said pine. Many recommend aspen shavings since pine can cause respiratory infections. I'm not sure if baked pine shavings are as bad though. Nice tutorial Meaningless end! Can't rats chew through the plastic though?

 

[P. Novak]

nipples.

females have them, males do not. You can start seeing them as soon as they start getting a bit of fuzz. Simple. No more having to try to figure out the distance between certain parts, lol.

Wow I feel dumb.


Thanks you guys so much.

Hey Meaningless, are those the boaphiles cage? What you think about the prices, are they worth it?

Thanks,
Paul

 

[P. Novak]

Alright so finding nipples(on rats) is alot harder then I thought. I keep thinking they don't, and then they do, and blah blah blah. Is there an easier way to sex them? Big females and males are easy to sex, but I'm talking about a couple weeks-months old rats to sex. I was reading somethings online, and that really didn't help, except that females have a hole(vagina) right under their urethra(which looks like a male rats penis), but even that was hard to do. I guess I'm just gonna have to do the best I can.

Also, I'm currently using forti-diet for my rats as food, but a large bag costs me $25. Is there anything cheaper I would be able to use for rat food?

Thanks,
Paul

 

[Endagr8]

Also, I'm currently using forti-diet for my rats as food, but a large bag costs me $25. Is there anything cheaper I would be able to use for rat food?

Thanks,
Paul

In my mice colony, I separate when the testicles on the males begin to become prominent. I have had no accidental clutches yet.

The op uses large bags of $10 dog food. Wal-mart sells 1 lb boxes for $1.

 

[P. Novak]

Would dog food work just as well?

 

[Endagr8]

I suppose dog food would be good enough...I mean its good enough for dogs, so it should be good enough for rats. If your planning on breeding them though, you probably need to supply more calcium for the females.

 

[P. Novak]

I've been breeding, and been using the fortidiet. I'm just trying to see if there would be any cheaper alternatives. What would be a good source of calcium?

 

[P. Novak]

I've been breeding, and been using the fortidiet. I'm just trying to see if there would be any cheaper alternatives. What would be a good source of calcium?

bump.................

 

[Meaningless End]

dude.... so sorry i took so long to respond.. got buissy and just sort of forgot i posted this here.. the rat gender isnt to hard. once there the size of a small rat just look for the balls.. if you rub the stomach across a table or something it should help the balls just sort of pop out for you to see. i love pine. aspen works the same.. not better, not worse.. only difference i see is that aspen is twice as expensive

 

[Meaningless End]

bump.................

cheapest dog food you can find will work as good as any.. ive scene rats raised on high priced feed and from what i can tell they all grow the same.... you end up with a big ass rat one way or the other. so why kill the pocket book? if you want to offer treats and stuff thats fine.. they love just about anything. especially peanut butter..

 

[Diggy415]

My two cents, great video, always wanted a rack, but i have 15 tanks of both rats and mice, i use pine with no problem, i also get the tetramiacine(sp) and water soluable vitamins both in powder form and the antibotic works well with RI in rats. I've never had a rat eat her young even when kept with males, but on the other hand, i rotate my females to make sure i have a constant supply of rats throughout the year at different stages. I go to a feed store and buy a 50# of COB(corn, oats barley)and that last for months, i buy one wet and one dry, i also go to the local canned food place and buy canned beans, peas, mix veges, etc for them. I cook rice for the weaning rats and feed dry food every other day and human food the other days, gives a nice variety for them, working well for them. If you get a high protein dog food the fur of mice turns oily. A variety is always good too. Love to see the different patterns im getting and getting alot of hairless as well. Always fun to talk about feeders.

 

[P. Novak]

One more quick question, what do you use to heat your cages? Just Curious.

 

[Craig]

Very nice video and nice reptile room. I wanted to make a couple of points about food and bedding for the rats.

First, Pine, Aspen etc. is awful bedding for rats. Pine and cedar the the worst. They are also a serious vector for external parasites for rats. I would recommend carefresh or at least some kind of paper based bedding. It is a lot healthier. If you do not want to use paper bedding aspen would be the best wood based bedding with the least issues.

Also, the rats need to be fed good food. The food your rats eat goes directly to the reptiles (it is the same principal as gut loading a cricket). If your interested I cam name decent foods.

Otherwise super cool video! I like the reptile setups also.