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Rats cold weather tolerant?

K

KRISSYK

New member
I currently have numerous breeding colonies of rats, and will be forced to move them into a unheated garage or put them all down. They are very prolific having around 15 or more babies per month. I was wondering if they can handle the winter temps in the garage. I live in Arizona it dips down into the mid 30's at night, but doesn't get that cold in the garage. I'm thinking it gets into the mid 40's to 50's as over night lows in the garage, any suggestions? Heating it is not a option.
 
I have pet rats that dont like the cold. It might be kinder to put them down than to leave them in an unheated garage. If you lived closer I would adopt a few boys (as pets).

Yes, I am a wierdo! :)
 
My rats and mice seem to get more productive the colder it gets, I don't know if its all that cuddling for warmth or not. :grin01:

I live in SW Indiana, and my garage stays around 50 degrees all winter with the help of a small space heater on an extension cord. Its basically enough to take the chill off on that side of the garage, and no complaints from my rodents at all.

I would think so long as they have enough bedding material (hay, papertowel, newspaper, etc) to make a nest with, they should be ok. I think you should just try to protect them from drafts as much as possible and see how it goes. You don't know till you try!

I think it'd be a waste to put them all to sleep if you didn't have any use for them. There's no way you could move a few into warmer quarters, and then just repopulate when it got warmer out?
 
I can always use them as larges and jumbos. We breed boas and pythons. We produce around 500 rats a month, all of our snakes from colubrids, boids, rattlesnakes are all on rats mostly. I think I will just stick them in the garage and give it a shot. I will probably just double up on the bedding and put hot chocolate in the water bucket. :eek1:
 
I think it's definitely worth a shot. Do you happen to know what strain of rats they are? If they are lab strain, they seem more likely to develop "colds" when exposed to dramatically colder climates. I think this is because most of their immune system was bred out of them for the research projects. Some rat breeders start with lab strain animals, so it would depend on where you got them. From my experience, it does seem to help if they are gradually acclimated to the colder weather so that they can build up a tolerance. I'd suggest moving them as soon as possible before it starts getting really cold out. Good luck.
 
It's still in the mid 90's in the daytime and 60's at night. I do not know what strain, I got them from other rat breeders. they are all black and white or tan, no ugly white ones with red eyes-LOL. Arizona is strange. you need a heater in the morning and AC in the afternoon.
 
They will slow down or stop producing babies for the winter.

If they have lots of aspen and/or straw bedding and are not exposed to drafts they will most likely do fine.

Good luck with them.
 
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