Rat Cabinet, Thanks Nick!

After cutting down our rat breeding a bit we decided to try your cabinet set up, cant smell a damn thing outside the box

Wont the smell that builds up in there though be really bad for the rats?

No its directly ventilated outside at 70cfm, doesnt smell too bad in the box either.

Nice! It looks a lot like mine, even down to the OSB print on the right lol. I like adding the thermometer. What temps are you reading?

ITts varying right now with lower temps but seemed to be hanging around 70, a little under with temps. was just worried about the closing off of space and winter temps

Need to keep it above 70 or they wont ever breed.

Yeah theyve still been dropping regular littlers, just need to insulate under cabinet a bit before it it starts to get really cold. Room temps stay pretty warm though

Why won't they breed below 70? I have kept rats and mice in a unheated garage in Iowa year round and they never stopped breeding. I have been breeding rats and mice for over a decade and the only thing I ever found that keeps them from breeding is no light cycle. This of course is just my observation.

Extreme temps can affect reproduction, they will still breed under 70 but seem to do better around room temps.

Southern_Comfort_Reptiles wrote:

Need to keep it above 70 or they wont ever breed.

Not necessarily true. Mine breed pretty well in temps around the 60's. they do need to be vented well since rats produce an enormous amount of body heat. I have a rat shed and don't have the heat running yet. It's nice and warm in there (insulated though). When I air the shed out I have outside temps in there. When I go back in a few hours later I the temps went up to the mid 60's..

Yeah, Marco, I have noticed that besides no food and clean water, stale air has a huge effect on their breeding.

Who would have thought rats would be so damn picky :-p

Just to let everybody know, I got this trick from a long time rodent breeder in Iowa. The trick to winter breeding rats and mice, and it works good for the ASFs also. Feed sunflower seeds as soon as it starts getting cold, along with the normal food you feed them. It keeps them nice and fat all winter long. That is how I kept mine nice and fat in the cold winters of Iowa.