Rat Study....

[AM Pythons]

i feed bio-mare & fresh vegies 4-5 times a week, i also give multi-grain bread once a week & a scoop of dry dog food once a fortnight.. most litters are 12-16 pinkies.. first litters for new mums are around the 9-10 pinkies.. all cages are cleaned on a thursday(bin night) & they have fans circulating fresh air in the day..

 

[Bushman]

Thanks.

Uncooked corn....Baden

 

[solar 17]

There has been a lot of data taken in this and the other studies but l was just pointing out two points l found that seemed to help considerably through easy to do operations or adjustments to your rodent breeding setup but as usual [these days] the critics come out in force or someone can do it bigger better and brighter.
At the end of the day these companies pay for everything and l and l guess the others enjoy doing it
so no harm to anyone l guess...solar 17 (Baden)

 

[-Katana-]

In regards to the corn Baden how many grms per day per breeding/pregnant female are you feeding?

 

[-Katana-]

Thanks for the PM, Baden!

By the way I don't think it's any coincidence that all my rat does have fallen pregnant since I started adding (frozen)corn to their diet and that's the only real change I've made to my husbandry.

Thanks Baden for the tip.
It working for me with my rat colony.
Cheers.

 

[wokka]

Optimen production is not necessarily producing the biggest litters. It depends upon the parameters by which you judge efficency.
If the animals are bred in a scientific facility, maximising nimbers may be inportant as at will maximise genetic progression and give the maximum numbers to experiment with.
If you are trying to produce weaners then a smaller more consitent litter size may be better as most mothers cant consistently rare 16 weaners.
Commercially, marginal cost vs marginal return is important.
Of overall concern in all systems is Welfare. Dont just flogg your breeding colony for shorterm production.

 

[Wild~Touch]

most mothers cant consistently rare 16 weaners.

I would take 8 pinkies for the freezer/feeding, then let her raise the other 8 till whatever size is needed

 

[GeckoJosh]

I've always being intrigued as to why rodent breeders have such difficulty with food. I've bred my fair share of rodents in the day, as well as assisting with probably one of the most professional "food" rodent production facilities and have never bothered with things like Bio-Mare or supplements etc. Simply feeding them a high-quality complete diet pellet is all that is necessary - something like Ausorganics or Cummins. The facility that I assisted with was averaging approximately 12 weaners per month, per female on this.

How can a female average 12 weaners per month when the pregnancy takes roughly 21 days and then roughly 21 days for them to be to be weaned?

 

[Jonno from ERD]

G'day Geckoman,

The female will be pregnant while she is lactating. We had to be very careful to make sure we removed weaners exactly 21 days post birth, as the females would consistently drop a litter on the 22st day and start the process again.

 

[wokka]

Jonno,
So you were achieving an average of 9 per litter weaned and 100% pregnany. Did you leave the males in all the time or only put him in whilst mating? How many litters did you get from each female before they were culled?

 

[solar 17]

How can a female average 12 weaners per month when the pregnancy takes roughly 21 days and then roughly 21 days for them to be to be weaned?

Females will enter a breeding cycle within one hour of giving birth then every 96-100 hours there after until they become pregnant again....solar 17 [Baden]

 

[-Katana-]

I've been feeding my rats popcorn popped in just a table spoon of vegetable oil.(along with dry dog food)

Here is the nutritional data for popcorn.

Nutrition Facts and Analysis for Snacks, popcorn, air-popped, white popcorn