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keeping rodents outside

S

suthernsnail

New member
they stink! i don't have a garage or even the room for them in the house as is my snakes are in my dining room and living room no dining table for me . is there anyone else that breeds there rodents outside for feeders. i have them under oak trees for shade but some of my rats have died iisuspect from allergies . i've got about 12 cages set up . gail
 
How's your freezer space?? With that many snakes, buying f/t on-line would be a good option without the hassle of raising your own.
 
What is the temperature outside? Are you sure they died from allergies? It could have been heat, parasites, or some virus they caught from wild animals hanging around their cages(food sourse). Personally, I don't think keeping them outside is a very good idea at all.
 
Interesting.

I dont think I would raise my own without some sort of building to house the cages in. Preferably with at least some climate control.

I raise my own mice, just set up the second cage for the "pets" my wife and kids wanted out of my first or second litter. I find that by cleaning the cages twice weekly the smell is nearly nonexistant, however they are mice not rats.

I read somewhere, on a forum, that if you put a small amount of vanilla extract in the water it causes the mice / rats to smell less. I can not vouch for the safety however, since my first attempt died. (I think it was bad mice, the mommy to be chewed herself apart giving birth, ate the babies, and died from her wound. The daddy, well I havent a clue why he died.. Just to be safe I dont do the Vanilla stuff any more.)
 
suthernsnail said:
they stink! i don't have a garage or even the room for them in the house as is my snakes are in my dining room and living room no dining table for me . is there anyone else that breeds there rodents outside for feeders. i have them under oak trees for shade but some of my rats have died iisuspect from allergies . i've got about 12 cages set up . gail
Click to expand...
1. It could be heat
2. what are in the cages?
3. if their mice they usually stink if theres more then 1 mature male in each cage.
4. How often do you clean them
and 5. What type of bedding do you have them on?

I have 3 colonies of mice and 3 tanks of rats. None of them stink. I change their cages every week.
 
I clean my mice twice a week, they are in my bedroom and they don't smell at all.........unless the stink is masked by my washing pile :sidestep:
 
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I 1.3 rats on each side in this for about a year, this pic was taken before the lattice was put on the sides, I grew vines on the lattice while there were rats in it and left the front open, and it stopped the rain and brezzes, the only problem I had was the babys fell through the wire, other then that, they produced like crazy
 
Like everyone else I suspect the heat was to blame. While rats usually enjoy it a little warmer than mice at about 85f youll start to lose rats, mice at around 80f.

There is no way I would keep my stock outside without an enclosure. Other than the obvious fact that you cant control temps, you also have to worry about wild animals passing on disease and parasites, neighbor animals shredding your caging and killing your stock, neighbor kids letting them out of cages (or being bit while inspecting them).

Vanilla does work on rats and mice. While I didnt lose any this way I noticed that they consumed about twice the water (more water intake = more urine output). Vinegar didnt seem to do anything. Rats smell slightly but nowhere near as much as mice. Cleaning caging every 7 days is a must. The amount of bedding used determines the stink ... more bedding equals more stuff to soak up the urine, less smell.

Galvanized steel will also pick up the smell of urine. While this is commonly used pvc coated wire is much better, and easier to wash.

Water ... water is a must. Mice and rats can go without food for a few days ... but without water they will start killing off other cagemates in an effort to conserve resources. In conditions where the temperature is above 80f water is crucial.

The one other major condition is humidity. Guessing your from the south you probably have med-high humidity. 75f with high humidity is alot worse than 80f with low humidity. Again this is another reason you want to try and keep them climate controlled. If i remember correctly rodents dont have sweat glands. When they get too warm they will turn over onto their backs with legs splayed open (like they are dead). This is the step that precedes heatstroke. If you see your animals in this position it is a definitive sign that you need to act quickly or lose most of your animals. Spraying them with cold water is usually the best cure (from a spray bottle).

Bryan
 
thank you for the info on the rats and mice and yes i have seen my rats lay on their backs when it was hot . thank you again gail
 
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