Rat/Mice Rack

[dookdook]

A friend of myne owns and breeds many snakes and reptiles. She breeds and feeds her own rats and mice. She recently built this really convenient shelving unit that allows you to keep many rats/mice together. I posted a link on how to make a rack since they are very handy. You can put the food pellets on the wire mesh on the top, and stick a watter bottle through the mesh. The drawers slide out for easy access to rats/mice and for cleaning purposes! She doesn't have the watering system shown on this site but I'm sure it could make good use for someone if need be.
www.arbreptiles.com/cages/rat_rack/ratrack.shtml

[Deleted]

I have several of these that i raise rats in:

the watering system is alot more convenient and has alot les maintinencs.

water bottles are my preferance
1) I can monitor how much each group is drinking.
2) It gives me something I can have my boys to do as a chore to fill them so they can learn the whole work for money ethic


If you use the home depot mortor tubs over the lows ones you have to cover the hole in the tub with some flashing as they will start to chew a hole in it.

[msav]

Look like the ones I built.

holisticferret60.proboards.com/thread/16690/built-rat-rack-asf-rats

your right about the hole in the home depot ones. I put one facing the rear of the unit and I had some escapees that chewed a hole in one night.

I covered it with wire mesh and it is all good now.

The others bins that i put with the hole in the front they cannot get to.

watering system with clear tube is better so you can see if there is air pockets and that water is flowing.

[bitbyter]

BTW, mortar tubs are no longer being produced by the company that makes them. All hardware stores that carry them are just slowly selling off old stock. The company sold the mold to another company and that one hasn't done anything with it so far.

Most people who make racks (to sell them) have moved over to kitty litterboxes.

I've just been using cheap resin shelving from Canadian Tire (but the other hardware stores sell it as well) instead of building a rack. You can fit 2 66L, 1 99L or 4 32L Sterilite tubs on each shelf.

I am slowly phasing out my mice and just keeping the ASF's. I'll be using the 66L as breeding tubs (1 male, 3 females and babies) and then moving weanlings to the 99L tubs as growouts.

[Deleted]

Thanks for that info. It sounds like i need to go buy up what my local home depot has.

[msav]

BTW

I checked stock at my local home depot/lowes. They have plenty of stock of the small bins, very limited on the large bins. Lowes near me has about 18 of the large ones in stock. I should probably pick up some spares.

[Deleted]

I would like to raise rats for annabelle--not that i have gotten her to eat anything other than a mouse foot hid in a quail egg, apiece of skin off of a rat that she tore while playing tug a war, and gnawing only on the head of a ratcicle.

I already have 12 fish a swimming , 4 quail a cooing, 2 dogs a howling, 2 ferrets dooking, and one husband griping.

If i have to feed and clean up behind another animal i would go crazy------except for another ferret

[msav]

How about 300 rats a gnawing.

Right now these rats are eating me out of house and home. I used to put 1 bowl of food out for five rats and it would be there for three days. Now with 50 rats to a bin I put 4 bowls of food out and it is gone in 4 hours.

Once they get to their adult weight they will go into the freeze.

Right now I am selectively thinning out the aggressive ones. With 50 rats to a bin. some rats go insane and start attacking. I try to identify the aggressors so I can put them in the freezer. Otherwise I will end up with quite a few killed by the aggressor.

[bitbyter]

Yeah, like I said above most of the people I know up here (Canada) who build racks have moved to kitty litter tubs. Not sure if they are the same size or if you'd have to remake your racks for them.