Rat Breeding

Before you start rat breeding, make sure you are doing it for the right reasons. Are you prepared to care for everything you produce? Do you have homes lined up for the pups, or a pet store that may buy them? Rats must be housed humanely in clean, non‑overcrowded enclosures. A common ratio is 4–5 females to 1 male.

As with any rodent colony, strict quarantine or isolation of all newly acquired animals for at least 4 weeks greatly helps prevent disease among pet mice and rats. This is especially important because some pet rodents can carry serious diseases without showing obvious signs of illness.

You also need to consider the ongoing cost of rat breeding. Healthy food and bedding are not cheap. Rats and mice should be provided a good‑quality lab block as a base diet; we use Lab Diet products. Pregnant and nursing females should also receive a high‑quality kitten kibble, such as Iams, in addition to lab blocks. It is not cheap to feed that many animals, and it is not cheap to provide safe bedding for them.

For the health of the animals, bedding should be changed at least once a week, depending on cage size and the number of rats housed in it. A mother rat with babies will likely need her cage cleaned even more often—every couple of days. Good bedding options include CareFRESH, Sani‑Chips, Gentle Touch, Cell‑Sorb, aspen, or rabbit pellets. When you add up food, bedding, and time, you can see that responsible rat breeding does cost money.