Ralph Davis Reptiles - The Martrix

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This is a pic of the fronts of the breeder racks.........this system has automatic water and a food hopper in the rear for each cage.......I place 1 male and 5 or 6 females in each cage when breeding........one time a week I will clean the cages .......while I clean.....I check for prego mom's......when I see one ......I remove her and place her in a single tub.......this is where she will give birth and raise her babies ALONE.......when the babies are ready to be on their own.........they go to the holding tubs........and mom goes back into a breeding group.
I rotate my males one time a week from left to right......meaning they stay with a group of girls for 7 days........than they are moved to the next box to be with..........."what they love" new girls!......all the girls have one male in with them at all times........just every 7 days they will have a different male.......this stimulates breeding......so one male can get to breed with hundreds of different girls by being worked through all the cages........if he makes it to the end of the system.........which could take 36 weeks or more.......he is usually ready to retire........but not all the time.......if a male is still showing interest in the girls and seems to be doing his job.........he starts all over again until he "craps out"....then he becomes BOA food! Check for FLOODS!!!
When I pull prego mom's from a 1.6 breeding group.......lets say in that tub there where 3 prego's........I will replace the 3 that were moved to the birthing racks with 3 fresh girls.To keep your production steady and not have any "gaps" you need to keep enough adults to have your breeding colonies working at full capacity at all times........this means you always need replacements.........you always should have future breeders being raised up........if not......you will hit a huge "gap"......no production!!!

This system works great for me.....but there are many other ways to do it......I also leave all the males right in the tub that they are in for good............I will move the females through the male's tubs, this works well when you have a few prego mom's that were pulled from a breeder tub...............all you do to get your 1.6 group back is bring three girls over from the cage on the right.............it is just a big circle...............as long as you keep introducing new males with females or new females with males...........you will stimulate them to breed like mad!!.............if it works well for you and you are happy with your rat production........than don't change a thing!

Finally ......I keep a close eye on my adult breeders for signs of illness, bad breeder males,bad mom's ( the ones who eat or do not care for their babies ) and most of all........old rats who are to pooped to pop........they just take up space and eat!!!......Sometimes I must admit that I do get kind of attached to certain rats......most get retired to my adult boas.......but some I can not bare to kill........so they just hang out in an extra tub somewhere in the rat room...LOL...