"Pro Colony" rodent breeding enclosure.

[Snake_Whisperer]

The Pro Colony Mark III is finally here! I have nutted out the remaining design issues, mostly concerned with rats chewing on the cabinet.

This bad boy features:

• 5 large bays. I found that getting the rats in and out is easier if you have a bit of space to work with.
• Heavy duty, flat bottomed (easier to clean) bins. Bins feature a replaceable chew strip. Allows your rats to get their chewing in without trashing your enclosure.
• External loading feed cages, will feed your colonies for up to a week between refills without them doing their business in their food. I found this system cut my food bill by 60% or more! Designed for rat pellets (Norco, Barastock, etc...)
• Gravity fed watering system. Solid brass watering valves specially designed for this purpose. Can be fit with a 10L or 20L water jug.
• Aluminium bin guides. This was the major upgrade from the Mark II. Stops your rats from chewing on the edges of the bins.
• 4 sided ventillation. Ensures excellent airflow through the colony bays.
• Slide out bins. Once rats are removed from bays, bins can be slid out for easy cleaning. Bin guides ensure bedding and droppings remain INSIDE the bin where they belong. Makes hygene maintenance a snap!

I've been using this basic design for over 6months now and it has been a lifesaver. The system is designed to reduce waste in all areas. My food bill has been cut by more than half. The time savings is massive, no more refilling water bottles and food dishes every few days. I run 15 colonies, 4 rats to a colony at the moment and I spend all of an hour a week cleaning, feeding, and watering. This is the unit for keeping and breeding your own rodents.

Now taking orders for the Pro Colony at [email protected] .
Price is $490 per cabinet with a 5% discount available on orders of 5 or more. If you work out the cost of Large or XL feeder rats these days, this unit will pay for itself in less than 2 months. The unit pictured below is for sale now in the For Sale section, a bargain at $450!

Cheers!

Aaron.

 

[Vixen]

Do you find there's enough ventilation and light? Also what are the dimensions of each little compartment, as well as the whole unit. Looks like an interesting concept, might trial one in the next few months.

 

[Snake_Whisperer]

Overall dimensions: 1850H x 640W x 440D. Each bay measures inside: 340H x 600W x 400D.

 

[Reptilia]

Is the mesh on the sides and front of the cages galvanised? or is it the green plastic type mesh?

The piece of wood on top of the kitab tub, wouldnt it be knawed on also?

Do you have a picture showing the back of the unit?

 

[leighroyaus]

where does the feed go?

 

[Snake_Whisperer]

Is the mesh on the sides and front of the cages galvanised? or is it the green plastic type mesh?

The piece of wood on top of the kitab tub, wouldnt it be knawed on also?

Do you have a picture showing the back of the unit?

Mesh is galvanized wire and coated with a green pvc coating.
Yes, the sacrificial timber on the tub is for gnawing. Rats develop issues with their teeth if they don't gnaw on things.

where does the feed go?

Through an opening on the back of the unit.

 

[blackthorn]

Looks pretty good overall... the only issue I can see is the food thing, if the unit is positioned against a wall(a reasonably logical place to put it), it isn't very convenient to have to move the whole unit to fill up the food, especially if you had several units next to each other. Would it not work better to have the food on the front? The water would still work running down the back since I'm assuming the water resevoir would be ontop of the unit. Is there a reason you have put the food at the back?

 

[red-devil]

Looks an interesting idea -

My only concern with a setup like that would be Drainage in regards to Flooding. If that top unit water valve fails, those little ratties and the whole unit is going to become a soggy soggy mess...

With the use of so much Timber , how do you minimise disease / pest ?

Looks the Fanciest Rat setup ive seen! Great Craftsmanship

 

[Snake_Whisperer]

Looks pretty good overall... the only issue I can see is the food thing, if the unit is positioned against a wall(a reasonably logical place to put it), it isn't very convenient to have to move the whole unit to fill up the food, especially if you had several units next to each other. Would it not work better to have the food on the front? The water would still work running down the back since I'm assuming the water resevoir would be ontop of the unit. Is there a reason you have put the food at the back?

Yes, my first choice had been to intall food bin on the door, at the front. I opted for a large window at the front for the sake of visibility. At the end of the day though, with the units being on wheels, It adds all of 5 seconds per unit to wheel it forward and fill the food bin once per week or so.

Flooding. That is something I hadn't considered. Hasn't happened as yet. I would imagine the bin at the location of failure would fill up with water and at that point the water would spill out the door. As I inspect my rats daily, they wouldn't have to hang out on high ground for too long.

As far as cleaning goes, It is a simple matter of doing a thorough sanitising once a month with a mild bleach/water solution. As The cabinet is HMR melamine, the surface is non porous and quite easy to keep clean.

Cheers!

 

[wokka]

What is the advantage over the "normal" wire top on a plastic tub placed on a 5 shelf unit?

 

[Snake_Whisperer]

What is the advantage over the "normal" wire top on a plastic tub placed on a 5 shelf unit?

A good question. That was my original setup. The advantages are:

• Cuts maintenance time by half (opening a door as opposed to pulling bin off shelf, unclipping water bottle, removing food dish, etc. The figure is based on the fact that it used to take me an hour to clean and organise 6 colonies in my previous configuration. Takes me the same time to do the same job with 15 colonies using my new system.
• Cuts my food bill in more than half. I had to change food at least every 2 days with the old system as the little buggers always used their food dish as a toilet. No longer an issue with the ProColony.

So the short answer is good old time and money!

Here is a pic of the Mark I. Very soon it will be relegated to the scrap heap as it had far too many structural elements to chew on. It was painted plywood as well so very difficult to keep clean, this has been solved by using melamine.

 

[beeman]

A good question. That was my original setup. The advantages are:

• Cuts maintenance time by half (opening a door as opposed to pulling bin off shelf, unclipping water bottle, removing food dish, etc. The figure is based on the fact that it used to take me an hour to clean and organise 6 colonies in my previous configuration. Takes me the same time to do the same job with 15 colonies using my new system.
• Cuts my food bill in more than half. I had to change food at least every 2 days with the old system as the little buggers always used their food dish as a toilet. No longer an issue with the ProColony.

So the short answer is good old time and money!

I dont think you are on the same page as Wokka, I think you will find the plastic tubs he was refering to are the proper rodent breeding tubs and as such are a very effecient system.
We use these tubs and you would be hard pressed to beat them for ease of cleaning
etc.
Great idea though and would suit someone who only wants to breed a few for thier own use

 

[matthew288]

They look great, what ratio do you put in them im guessing 5 to 1?

 

[beardy_boy_6]

id buy one if you were in S.A mate i think they look great. might hav to try build myself one. were abouts did you buy the tubs and water drippers?? cheers

 

[Wild~Touch]

I think the idea is good especially if living in a rented house, it looks neat and clean and the landlord shouldn't object to the appearance.

My concern is airflow, rats need heaps - Queensland summers are bl...dy hot and rats themselves create huge amounts body heat

Can it be made with the wire sides ? ... instead of melamine and windows, at least with bigger side windows

Cheers
Sandee

 

[Vixen]

I was about to ask the same question, how do you find they go in summer with the heat?

Also I was thinking about the flooding last night aswell, and if its only a 10L water tank it shouldnt actually flood a whole tub and overflow. Worst case scenario if your away for a few days, the babies in the tub that leaked will be gone, and the rest of the tubs wont have water supply.

 

[Snake_Whisperer]

As far as pro rodent breeding tubs/racks go, I looked into it, I really didn't like the size. Just looked a bit cramped to me. Call me a softy, but that matters to me.

Brings me to the next point, I run a 3 to 1 ratio. I'm sure 5 to 1 would be fine as I use my bottom levels for growing and there is often 8 or 10 rats in a single bay and never seems to be a problem.

Sandee, I'll chat with ya when I see ya on Sunday!

Vix, my sentiments exactly. A flood would not even constitute a disaster. Adults could and would use the bin guides to stay high and dry, worse case scenario, you may lose any pups that can't move around properly. They live in sewers so I'm sure thay would be fine. Ventillation hasn't been a problem, lost a few to the heat this summer in Jan/Feb, no more than I lost last year though. I keep a fan going for air circulation when it is really hot.

To the comment on tidiness for rentals, it saved my ****! I got inspection day wrong and I got home mid inspection. Agent actually thought it pretty clever. Mind you, he was terrified of snakes so the rats were a secondary concern!

I am always open to new ideas so all input is welcome. I have used this system without any major issues. Any that arose have been solved with design modification. That said, I will be looking at enlarging the vents per Sandee's suggestion so I will imagine there will be a Mark IV some time in the future.

 

[felixoscar]

Would just like to thank Aaron the producer of Pro Colony Rat Breeders. I picked up my Pro Colony Rat Breeder on the weekend and what can I say. I was blown away by the friendly & efficient service Aaron has provided through the whole transaction of the Pro Colony Rat Breeder. I really thought this kind of service was no longer around; the cage is of exceptional workmanship and as I told Arron on the day it is actually to good to be a rat breeder complex. It is a real shame rats are a bit on the smelly side and I would love to put the whole setup in my house so it doesn't get dirty LOL. Many thanks again Aaron for your wonderful service and fantastic product.

 

[holden08]

hey where do you get thoes vents from thanks

 

[jan]

nice...great looking unit!!