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Post by AnimalFarm2006 on May 3, 2010 22:49:11 GMT -5
Plans-
I am picking up two males and three females tomorow for free with a cage. They are about 6 weeks old, and are the jumbo kids. I plan on giving away my mouse colony to focus mainly on the rats as they produce better babys and more food.
I'll get picture tomorow as well!
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Post by AnimalFarm2006 on May 4, 2010 14:56:04 GMT -5
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Post by horse656 on May 4, 2010 15:33:15 GMT -5
i think that is a good sized tub. but thats just me. lol.
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Post by AnimalFarm2006 on May 4, 2010 16:38:08 GMT -5
hehe okay. I'm going to change the top style today as I hate the just holes for cages. I like the wire stappled to the top like my mouse cage.
Why do rats pile up like ferrets??? These guys are weird.
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Post by horse656 on May 5, 2010 15:19:47 GMT -5
weird do rats smell, because if not, i might start breeding them as well. i'll have to see what they have around here for rats. :S I'm not buying at this one place, so i think all i have around here is males :S boo
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Post by AnimalFarm2006 on May 5, 2010 18:27:14 GMT -5
They seem not to smell too bad in my experience so far. Plus- my guys are pretty freindly. Like a rodent version of a ferret.
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Post by AnimalFarm2006 on May 5, 2010 20:27:19 GMT -5
Question-
How much do you guys sell the stages of mice & rats for? I have a few people wanting mice, but wanted to figure out a decent price.
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Post by AnimalFarm2006 on May 6, 2010 13:35:06 GMT -5
Females- 4 Males- 1 Births- 0 Pregnant- not sure
I fed off a small female last night. Lelloo ate the brains, Jack munched on a leg, and pixie ate the back bone/tail. They basicaly skinned the rat.
I am feeding the rats a mixture of dog/cat room, guinea pig pellets, Grass's from outside, and the seed mix I have for the mice.
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Post by fuzzymom on May 8, 2010 11:55:55 GMT -5
I would not feed grass from outside unless you know it has not been treated with pesticides and such. Plus, rats don't really need grass. Get rid of the cat rood too. Cat food is too high in fat and protein for a rat. Well, it usually is. My best advice as far as food is to get them actual rat lab block food. Mazuri 6F is my preferred lab block. If you are unable to get rat food, you can feed them a low quality (more plant ingredients) dog food or vegetarian dog food.
In my experience, dog food of any kind tends to make my rats smell bad and greasy. You can feed them "human food" such as fresh fruits and vegetables, oats, dry and cooked pasta, puffed grains, corn flakes, bran flakes, dried fruits, peanuts (sparingly), cooked meats (sparingly), hard boiled or scrambled egg, greens (no mustard greens or spinach.) I have even talked to a few people who feed their rats a raw vegan diet and the rats do great on it.
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Post by rattum on May 9, 2010 20:41:50 GMT -5
Guinea pig pellets also should not be fed. Rats cannot digest fibers like alfalfa and timothy hay. Stick with dog kibble and a grain mix (low sugar cereals, pasta, oatmeal, etc.). Steer clear of lentils, peas, raw peanuts.
Source: I own rats as pets. They're quite intelligent, friendly, and easy to train. For those curious about odor, they smell less than ferrets and are quick to litter box train.
I'm all for breeding your own feeders, though I don't condone live. I just figured you may want to know. I wouldn't want to feed my pets sick food.
Monitor for signs of illness. Pet rats aren't supposed to be in tanks or bins because it causes respiratory infections due to bad ventilations. So it would be bad for your ferrets, as well. If you are feeding them off quickly, it shouldn't be too much of a problem. But your breeders will be susceptible.
If you plan on keeping all 4 females in the same bin, be aware that sometimes mums will feed the litters peacefully together, but sometimes they will fight over and kill the other's litters.
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Post by suzieszoo on May 10, 2010 0:10:19 GMT -5
Dog kibble has been known to cause cancer in rats. A high quality rat block has the proper protein ratio, and fresh foods are very important. A bit of very high quality cat kibble is better for nursing moms, but the high quality rat block should be the staple food. I have bred cancer free dumbo rats for years and hope to be helpful
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