Feeding the Feeders | Rat Pack Rattery

Feeding the Feeders Q&A with Rat Pack Rattery

Here we are again with another installment of Feeding the Feeder. Just for clarification our Featured Feeder this round is rodents. With the use of rodents the Reptile Apartment Group advises the use of frozen then thawed rodents only. This of course requires euthanasia of the rodent. If this subject bothers you please consider not reading further.

We’ve known Corey and the Rat Pack Rattery since their inception and have always been impressed with their services. They’re a ‘local’ company in Canada which is expanding rapidly and may enter into the United States soon. Something else that stands out about Rat Pack Rattery is they’re not only breeding rodents for feeding reptiles. They’ve also begun a breeding program with

Acomys cahirinus

Egyptian Spiny Mice (Acomys cahirinus.) which according to a few people we’ve spoken with make incredible pets.

Gut Loading/Feeder Nutrition

What diet is healthy to keep the feeder on prior to feeding?

At the Rat Pack Rattery, we feed Forti-Diet Rodent Blocks and Mazuri Rodent Blocks when it’s available. These rodent blocks are the best for feeder rodents because it has everything in it they needs.

We supplement their diet with fruits and vegetables three times a week and give high quality dog food once a week as a treat.

We also feed them meat (chicken, fish, and beef) but only once a week. Too much protein isn’t healthy for them and they get protein in their rodent blocks. We give pregnant and nursing females a hardboiled egg once a week. This gives them the extra protein and calcium they need during gestation and feeding the young.We give the weanlings extra protein too. This gives them a boost when they’re weaning.

Watering the Feeders

We give all are rodents tap water that’s been sitting for a few hours. This evaporates some of the chlorine. They receive fresh water twice a day in 32oz water bottles.

What’s the best method to offer water to your specific feeder?

For small-scale breeding the water bottles are fine, but if breeding on a larger scale a watering system is a must. The watering systems consist of a 5 gallon bucket (or any large container) hooked up to watering lines and valves. This is connected to each cage allowing longer times between refills. It’s still a good idea to place smaller water bottles on each cage with fresh water at least once a day. Here at the Rat Pack Rattery we’re preparing to convert to a watering system due to the fact, we now have over two hundred rats at any time.

Prekilled Rodents

How are the feeders dispatched or euthanized?
At the Rat Pack Rattery we use CO2 to euthanize our feeders.

We use this method as it’s the only humane way of euthanizing feeders without the presence of a vet.

The CO2 reacts with the blood of the rodent and slows down the heart rate to the point where the feeders falls into a deep sleep and its heart stops. This process takes a matter of minutes.

You need to start the flow of CO2 slowly and increase the flow rate slowly. Applying too much CO2 too fast makes the animal stressed and can make them suffer. The only set back with CO2 is it doesn’t work on pinkies because they don’t need much oxygen to survive and using CO2 would take to long for them to be euthanized.

Feeder Preparation

If you are feeding live feeders to your reptiles (we do not recommend doing this because the rodent can attack your reptile once it feels there is a threat to them.) Sometimes it’s necessary to feed live to your pet. If this is the case, you must make sure to have a big enough cage to house your feeders. Keeping rodents in small spaces can cause dominance issues between them and health issues. You can feed them the rodent block if you don’t plan on having them for long. If you’re planning on breeding rodents for your pets it’s recommended to follow what we shared above. This will keep your rodents happier and they’ll be happier(happy rats = reproduction). More About Live Feeding: State of Prey

When it comes to frozen rats, we recommend to vacuum seal your rats individually so they stay fresh longer. At the Rat Pack Rattery we don’t vacuum seal our rodents because we sell them as fast as we prepare them. We only sell rats that haven’t been frozen longer than 6 weeks, this allows the client enough time to feed off the feeders before they become freezer burned.

Keeping Rodents at Home

What special technique or tip would you give our readers for helping our feeders last after purchase?

Make sure to keep the cages clean, depending on the amount of rodents you have per cage. If you only have one rodent then you can get away with only cleaning twice a week. If you’re keeping several rodents in a cage we recommend cleaning every 2 to 3 days. Always use high quality foods, and make sure any meats you do give them are cooked well. Also rodents are constant eaters and need food in their cages 24 hours a day, so we recommend making food hoppers and placing these in the cage. The food hoppers allow your rodents to eat their food but stops them from urinating on it or stashing the food (they love to stash their food where we can’t see it) this allows less waste of their food and saves you money.