Post by tubalytz77 on Sept 22, 2009 0:45:14 GMT 11
I would like to share my DIY rat tubs/ container rats..the advantage of this i can stack then as high as i can..and cleaning this is a breeze.
i started with 6 male rats, 4 female rats. they gave birth (the 4 females) to 8 females and 17 males which i separated from there mother when they were around 4 weeks old, and returned the mother to the breeder cage, and now they're at it again giving birth to another batch of litters.
another thing i do to insure high survival rate is, when i see pregnant females i always separate them to individual tubs for them to give birth.
anyway got some ideas from the net and thought would work on my production on rats and maybe your as well.
I am now following the 1.5 ratio method, basically is 1 male for every 5 females..
a few background:
*I use Vitakraft for the bedding, it's wood pine shaving doesn't stink up easily and very absorbent. The downside is it's a bit expensive but I'm fully confident in the long run the rats will pay for the Vitakraft as i plan to sell some of the rats ;D..
*the food i use are DOG FOOD the cheap one (the ones you usually wont feed your dog because of the quality) usually the cheapest is the best for rats since rat's don't eat meat the the cheapest would be made out of corn,grain etc. it's good if you read also what your feeding your rats.
*water is mixed with vanilla extract so that the urine of the rats will dramatically won't smell as bad as using regular water (disclaimer: based on my experience only)
STEP 1:
Buy a plastic tub/ container
STEP 2:
cut one side of the container
STEP 3:
cover the cut out portion with chicken wire screen. i bore some holes at the sides and use zip tie
STEP 4:
i also bore holes for the drinking bottle to fit and securely and snugly fit.
make shift Feeder (i think they're called feed hoppers?) :
front view (it has a opening portion at the bottom so that it would easy for them to pick there food) so no waste of food
back view (tied it to the screen so that it would be easy to check if they still have foods)
any comments and suggestion are welcome to improve the set up..
best regards,
Matt
i started with 6 male rats, 4 female rats. they gave birth (the 4 females) to 8 females and 17 males which i separated from there mother when they were around 4 weeks old, and returned the mother to the breeder cage, and now they're at it again giving birth to another batch of litters.
another thing i do to insure high survival rate is, when i see pregnant females i always separate them to individual tubs for them to give birth.
anyway got some ideas from the net and thought would work on my production on rats and maybe your as well.
I am now following the 1.5 ratio method, basically is 1 male for every 5 females..
a few background:
*I use Vitakraft for the bedding, it's wood pine shaving doesn't stink up easily and very absorbent. The downside is it's a bit expensive but I'm fully confident in the long run the rats will pay for the Vitakraft as i plan to sell some of the rats ;D..
*the food i use are DOG FOOD the cheap one (the ones you usually wont feed your dog because of the quality) usually the cheapest is the best for rats since rat's don't eat meat the the cheapest would be made out of corn,grain etc. it's good if you read also what your feeding your rats.
*water is mixed with vanilla extract so that the urine of the rats will dramatically won't smell as bad as using regular water (disclaimer: based on my experience only)
STEP 1:
Buy a plastic tub/ container
STEP 2:
cut one side of the container
STEP 3:
cover the cut out portion with chicken wire screen. i bore some holes at the sides and use zip tie
STEP 4:
i also bore holes for the drinking bottle to fit and securely and snugly fit.
make shift Feeder (i think they're called feed hoppers?) :
front view (it has a opening portion at the bottom so that it would easy for them to pick there food) so no waste of food
back view (tied it to the screen so that it would be easy to check if they still have foods)
any comments and suggestion are welcome to improve the set up..
best regards,
Matt
