Does anyone have pictures of rat grow out cages they have built? I want to build one. I would like to build it so the droppings fall through the bottom as I would like to keep it outside. If you think this is a bad idea, tell me. Either way I need to build something and need ideas.

I think rats walking on wire leads to foot issues. They need a solid surface to have healthy feets. If you have a solid bottom(or at least mostly solid) then you can put bedding in and change it often.
I'm not sure what the temps would be like where you are. Overheating or getting too cold will be bad as well, so you would want to check that.
Plenty of water, and fresh bedding and food. Otherwise, you don't want it so deep that it's difficult to reach a rat in the back. Not too high to make it hard to get bedding out when you clean. I've seen rats set up like rabbit breeders. They just used smaller mesh wire to make the hutches.
Hope this mild rambling helps.

Wire bottoms would be bad or potentially bad for the rats. They would have no support and fear they would get hurt really easily. I keep a colony of one male to several females in a breeding tub -- a horse trough. Then I attach a feeder bin, Jeff drilled a hole for the water bottle nipple to fit into so I can keep the bottle outside the container and then use aspen in the bottom for bedding. Yeah you still have to change the bedding but I have yet to have to really scrub it down.

Hope this helps. It's a great way to keep a larger group of rats.

I think rats walking on wire leads to foot issues.

This is what I was unsure about. I use cement mixing tubs for my breeders.

I'm not too concerned about the heat and water. That won't be a problem.

Thanks!

Wire bottoms would be bad or potentially bad for the rats. They would have no support and fear they would get hurt really easily. I keep a colony of one male to several females in a breeding tub -- a horse trough. Then I attach a feeder bin, Jeff drilled a hole for the water bottle nipple to fit into so I can keep the bottle outside the container and then use aspen in the bottom for bedding. Yeah you still have to change the bedding but I have yet to have to really scrub it down.

Hope this helps. It's a great way to keep a larger group of rats.

Do you have a picture, Tama?

Do you have a picture, Tama?

I can take one for you. Well Jeff can take one for you and post it...I'm still computer/photo posting illiterate. :lol:

Thank You!!!

Wire bottoms would be bad or potentially bad for the rats. They would have no support and fear they would get hurt really easily. I keep a colony of one male to several females in a breeding tub -- a horse trough. Then I attach a feeder bin, Jeff drilled a hole for the water bottle nipple to fit into so I can keep the bottle outside the container and then use aspen in the bottom for bedding. Yeah you still have to change the bedding but I have yet to have to really scrub it down.

Hope this helps. It's a great way to keep a larger group of rats.

Troughs are awesome. Indestructable, pretty cheap and just plain dandy. I use them for lizards but thats a great idea to use them for a rat colony. Why not? Then you dont have to build nuttin'! I like it! :yourock:

Pain the ass place to take pictures...I know people with closets bigger than my laundry room....anyway...lol

Basic dimensions are 48L x 24D x 24H

Converted a metal shelving unit to serve as the top of the cage, little door is a metal hinge aquarium top that has been modified to suit our needs, water bottle drilled out hole....one male lots of girls that come out as they get big into the cages above them....

Would work great I think for a grow out tank but sadly all of ours get used before they hit much more than the small size...:lol:

http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l37/ChandlerReptiles/Equipment/Ratbin.jpg

Sweet idea! How do you provide food?

Would be sweet as a grow out cage.

Here's another trick. If you put them on furniture dolleys it makes them easy to move around.

So if you wanted to get nutty you could have a few troughs on dolleys at ground level and then shelves of smaller cages above them. Then when you wanted to get at the troughs you could just pull them out. Kinda like the Freedom Breeder rat grow out cages except way cheaper.

Sweet idea! How do you provide food?

There is this metal gravity feeder that we found at tractor supply. It is supposed to be for rabbits but it works fine, just a few holes and metal pieces of a hanger bent to hold it against the side.

Similar to this
https://bunnyrabbit.com/equipmentpix/fineXwm.jpg

OK... I've seen them. Time to make a trip to tractor supply!!!

Thanks, Jeff!

OK... I've seen them. Time to make a trip to tractor supply!!!

Thanks, Jeff!

No problem...

A buddy that breeds tons of rats. Created a cage similar to a Rabbit hutch. He uses a large wire and breeds thousands of rats a month. HE made them with a tray beneath. That way for cleaning he just removes the tray and washes it out them replaces the bedding.

I use a metal troughs also that is 4x2x2 and works like a charm......

Phil... What do you use for a lid?

Also, how many adults can it hold?

Larry in ours it varies but with our breeding group I keep the one select male and anywhere from 6-8 females. I don't like the overcrowding aspect. The rat breeder I know will load them up usually a male to 10-12 females.

Pain the ass place to take pictures...I know people with closets bigger than my laundry room....anyway...lol

Basic dimensions are 48L x 24D x 24H

Converted a metal shelving unit to serve as the top of the cage, little door is a metal hinge aquarium top that has been modified to suit our needs, water bottle drilled out hole....one male lots of girls that come out as they get big into the cages above them....

Would work great I think for a grow out tank but sadly all of ours get used before they hit much more than the small size...:lol:

http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l37/ChandlerReptiles/Equipment/Ratbin.jpg

Do you separate the females when they are preggers and move those to the cages on top. Just wondering

Yes the top cages are for prego or nursing moms, I then either mark the cage with a "P" for prego and once they have their babies I'll mark the date and then the number of babies underneath the date. This way when I am ready to wean rats I don't have to guess I know at 21-28 days I can pull them. Size of the litter has a lot to do with when I pull them out from their mom. Larger litters stay longer since I was told by the guy I know that the babies will grow faster if they stay longer with the mom.

I also keep med/lg rats one male with 3 females together in those cages for extra breeding opportunities. In addition for any of the weaned rats I keep for live feedings they go in those as well. I keep the numbers lower 10-14 since again the overcrowding I can't tolerate personally.

Once we get an outbuilding for the rats/mice I'd love to up the breeding and really try my hand at doing this more as an occupation. But we have to take it one step at a time.

I got all kinds of plans for the rat shed, now if anyone wants to help me do the roof first thing in the spring then I can get the rat house done quicker...:lol:

I got all kinds of plans for the rat shed, now if anyone wants to help me do the roof first thing in the spring then I can get the rat house done quicker...:lol:

I would help but Indiana is a little bit of a haul......:lol:

Phil... What do you use for a lid?

Also, how many adults can it hold?

I dont use a lid because the rats dont get big enough to jump out. It will hold a couple hundread at a time.......

here's acouple of grow outs i use for my rats work great and easy to set up
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g306/SIRJMAC/004-17.jpg

Those will do the job nicely......

Pain the ass place to take pictures...I know people with closets bigger than my laundry room....anyway...lol

Basic dimensions are 48L x 24D x 24H

Converted a metal shelving unit to serve as the top of the cage, little door is a metal hinge aquarium top that has been modified to suit our needs, water bottle drilled out hole....one male lots of girls that come out as they get big into the cages above them....

Would work great I think for a grow out tank but sadly all of ours get used before they hit much more than the small size...:lol:

http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l37/ChandlerReptiles/Equipment/Ratbin.jpg

Ok so this looks really good. Only question I have is how do you track how many litters they have so you know when they need to be replaced?

Ok so this looks really good. Only question I have is how do you track how many litters they have so you know when they need to be replaced?

Mom's production mainly, if she is throwing a small litter and a big old girl then she gets retired...no magic number for us.

Mom's production mainly, if she is throwing a small litter and a big old girl then she gets retired...no magic number for us.

Thanks. I think i am going to give this a try. :yourock:

I like that setup a lot there Jeff. One thing I'm wondering though, isn't it a wicked pain to change out the bedding in a trough like that? I just got set up with a 6 level rat rack (thank god saving my life already) and I'm thinking of just keeping 1.3 groups in 3 tubs using one tub for male growouts, one for females and one for overflow/cleaning. We'll see how it works lol.

One thing I'm wondering though, isn't it a wicked pain to change out the bedding in a trough like that?

Well, the jury is still out. If one keeps up the stock tank program for life, he/she will either have the arms of a twenty year old at the age of ninety and thus be the envy at the rest home, or, in need of complete limb replacement well before then.

I'd suggest using a partition to shoo the rats to one end whilst replacing half the bedding, but I don't want to interfere with what appears to be a great 90year experiment.

Air quality (in crowded conditions) is an issue because of the depth, so I'd put some ventilation holes at grade level if numbers of animals are being held in the stock tanks, and pay strict attention to keeping ambient temperatures optimal.

We don't over crowd the breeders plus the room has great air flow so that helps....warm and hot rats stink and don't breed, and use a flat scoop to clean it out...

As long as you don't let it go for weeks on end clean up isn't that bad, that I believe is where people run into issues...we have all gotten those urine soaked feeders from somewhere in the past.

As far as a complete clean out the bin might weigh all of 30-40 pounds, so I guess if that's an issue than I would avoid it.

I am getting pretty close to building my own soon. Will post pictures up soon.

Larry, I've been looking into this as well and as most mentioned a wire mesh floor would cause problems with their feet and you'll always have problems. I've seen some pretty large cement mixing tubs at Home Depot or Lowes, probably the size of these Freedom Breeder holding tubs. http://www.freedombreeder.com/cage.php?cageID=21

But, they would need to be used in a rack system which may not lend itself to the outdoor elements very well. If you have them indoors or at least with a roof over them to protect the wood rack somewhat from water damage, they should work fine. I would estimate they can hold 75-100 weaned/small rats, 50-75 medium/large rats, 25-50 large/jumbo rats, and so on as a holding/grow out rack without being too crowded.

Lots of good ideas, but how do you plan on compinsationg for the weather? Don't the extremes keep them from breeding at certain times?

Lots of good ideas, but how do you plan on compinsationg for the weather? Don't the extremes keep them from breeding at certain times?

They would only be outside during the cooler months. Enough time to grow out some jumbos to go in the freezer. However, it's all about air flow. They still breed and do very well here when it's real hot, as long as they have air flow.

I think the other Larry was supposed to post pictures of his grow out tubs. :rockon:

Thanks Larry. So if you had them in a garage, with a fan going, would they be productive?

I keep my rat racks in the garage. I have a three car garage. The one car section has a wall I built and is my ball python and leopard gecko room. My rats stay on the big side when it is cool. When it gets real hot, they get moved to the reptile room where it gets 85 deg max during the day. I have fans blowing on them. I also have an air conditioner and exhaust fan in that room.

The good news about keeping rats outdoors is when they drill those thin mortar tubs or cat pans and escape, at least they will be gone as opposed to still indoors, getting thirsty and gnawing holes in the flexible water system lines at night as they wander the room.

My friendly sarcasm aside, if we reduce animal husbandry, it clearly reveals itself to be a table top of fascinating jigsaw puzzle pieces, each piece representing a trade-off whether known or unknown. Rats are at the pinnacle of trade-offs and the solution is merely discovering what trade-offs each of us wants or can live with.

I guess I'm not really sure what your point is or if your comment was directed at me, Desert.

I will say I have had great success with how my rat racks are setup. My rats are very healthy and produce well.

Dont know if anyone cares, but at home depot this past summer, they had a huge long cement tub thing, I swear it was 7 feet long. I thought that would make a killer holding tub LOL.

I guess I'm not really sure what your point is or if your comment was directed at me, Desert.

I will say I have had great success with how my rat racks are setup. My rats are very healthy and produce well.

Oh no, not directed at anyone, just my musings.

If I were summarise my rat musings, it would be to say that my point is, everything is attached to everything else and there are no consequentless avenues awaiting discovery regards raising rats. Only give and take trade offs.

I'm not opposed to discussing any particular system's trade offs, so long as folks don't take things personally.