Rat Breeding Question

[Kent K25]

I will be soon heading back of to school in Provo, Utah and when i was there last semester it was very hard to find feeder rats for my two BCI. So i thought a bit about breeding rats to feed them. Mind you there are only two of them. So i have a question for those of you with experience. How many babies does a female rat usually have when she gives birth? Because i could separate the male and female to make sure the breeding doesnt get out of control. But if the female is goin to have way too many babies at once for me to be able to feed to my two BCI in a reasonable amount of time then its pointless. Just curious as to whether i have too few snakes to even consider it with "controlled" breeding?
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	Boa Constrictor Imperator Boa Constrictor (Boa constrictor imperator). Most common is the Colombian Boa.

[John_White]

Have you considered buying a new or used mini-freezer and frozen rats? Once you add up the cost, time and effort in maintaining a small breeding group of rats a mini-freezer may be your best bet. Don't have to worry about producing too few or too many rats, no smell, no rodent cage cleaning, etc...

John
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[Stormyva]

Amen to that John!
Rodentpro and a freezer are two things I cant do with out [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]
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[Sunn]

So Pure,

I agree with everyone else so far....a freezer and rodentpro is the only way to go.
I didn't start that way and now after all this time am so tired of sending little rats to heaven, packing and freezing them. The work involved is a lot for someone with children
or school to deal with. To answer your rat questions though......

My females have between 8-20 babies each litter. Of course the amount of time it takes to
raise them before sending them to heaven has everything to do with the size of your snakes.If I remember correctly your first baby is probably on large fuzzies by now....so one female
would probably suffice you. Just prekill the babies at the right size, freeze and go about your business. It takes 16 days for gestation on rats and they rarely miss getting pregnant.
With one female I would just use an aquarium with water bottle. It needs to be changed
frequently or it will smell. They are generally very hardy with little care needed except
for cleaning and feeding. Problems arise if you don't send them to heaven on time and they outgrow your needs for your snakes at the time.....what do you do then? You best have a freezer
so that you can use them later or they just go to waste. Then there is disposal of the shavings
and purchasing of feed and storage of that also. A feedstore is the only answer there unless you want to pay ridiculous prices from pet stores.

Another alternate might be to purchase a couple months worth at a time when you find a breeder
and prekill and freeze them. Either way you will need a freezer. Baby rats grow fast and will not be useful to you if you try to keep them alive until you need them. One week makes a big difference when feeding young snakes. Yes....the window goes that fast.

Be smart and get that small freezer and just buy from a distributor and be done with it.
I just bought some jumbos that were on sale and I tell you....even with the cost of shipping I can't raise them to that size for what they sell them for. Just watch for sales if you want to make an additional cost savings. Juvenile rats frequently eat their containers they live in if they are wood or plastic also so once I've factored all that in its been considerable and I've saved nothing and spent a lot of time doing a job I don't care for. I'm down to 9 females now and a couple males trying to phase out my own breeders. I will probably keep them until they are old and pass on since I can let the mama do all the work and the babies grow so fast
and I'm already set up but I AM looking forward to them all being gone and no rats to take care of. It's so easy just going to the freezer and thawing and your done. Let the pros who have developed all the ways to do it economically do all the nasty work....believe me!

Good luck whatever way you go.....
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[TONYHAWKINS]

breeding rats is a hard job with cleaning and watering ever day. i recently stop. it was nice to have rats of all sizes but here come's the problem gasing them and freezing them take's up a lot of time. and they produce about 10 plus babies a shot and before you know it, you've just became a rat farmer. today i'm looking for a supplier they will be good for my needs.

tony hawkins
2nd alarm reptiles [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_cool.gif[/img] [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_cool.gif[/img]
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[Kent K25]

Yeah I've considered rodent pro quite a few times and browsed there website many times. Only thing i can imagine being a problem is if i buy 25 rat pups for my female bci, will she not be ready for something bigger before i run out of those 25? If i buy 25 of something bigger for my male BCI when he needs to move on my female should be ready for what leftovers there may be. So i just imagine a surplus of frozen rats i wont need. Input?
[addsig]

	Boa Constrictor Imperator Boa Constrictor (Boa constrictor imperator). Most common is the Colombian Boa.

[trinitywolf]

It's ok to have a surplus man. In the end all you will have to do is to double up on feeding the same size until you run out. I buy in six month increments as if my boas won't grow a bit. usually I am doubling up by the end of the 4-5 month period and I just skip to the next size on my order (4-5 months b/c I order 6 months and then double feed after about 3-4 depending on how fast they grow). I hope that makes some kind of sense...LOL
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[SteveP]

Hey Kent, Marguerite and I have been talking about combining a Rodentpro order one of these days soon. If you jump in on that, split some orders and the shipping, the cost per rodent gets pretty cheap. I've never done the rat breeding thing myself, but having had plenty of buddies who have you aren't going to be able to hide the smell of rat raising at school...and you're roomies will likely toss you, your snakes and the rats out of your living quarters!!! Get in touch with Margurite or myself.
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[Kent K25]

Dang it you two! I'm goin back to school this coming week! Should have mentioned this sooner!
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[SteveP]

Well there's gotta be at least ONE other person at Utah State that has a boa and can split an order? Check if there's a herp scoiety between there and Salt Lake (there's gotta be) and see if you can team up with another member or two for an order!
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