Building & Plumbing a Rodent Rack

[MarkS]

The PVC tubing is working out great. It's the best thing I did on that Rack. If I were to do it over again, I'd want bigger tubs though, These tubs are a bit small for raising an entire litter to weanling size. Still, overall it's worked out pretty well.

[Alice]

Mark, thanks for posting the details with pics. It sure does help!


When we built a rat rack recently we used the usual flexible tubing . . . I will definately consider the PVC next time. Thanks again.

[Skittles46]

im about to use your plans to build this rack , but im curious to see if there is enough room for a 16 oz water bottle between totes and tiers?

[MarkS]

im about to use your plans to build this rack , but im curious to see if there is enough room for a 16 oz water bottle between totes and tiers?

16oz water bottles would probably fit between the levels, but the problem would be getting the nozzle though the 1/4" hardware cloth. You'd have to either ream out a spot or clip a few wires to get the sipper tube through for the mice to be able to drink. With a bottle that small, you'd also be changing it pretty often. I use 32oz bottles on my rat racks, but I've got to change them every couple of days. One of these days I plan on converting them to PVC and sipper valves but I haven't found the time yet.

[Skittles46]

thanks for the input. ill be using half instead of quarter mesh. these
will be maternity for rats instead of mice.

[scwv]

the bleach doesn't effect the snakes when the rats/mice are fed to them?

[Drew87]

wow great post, thankx for posting

[whytepizza]

Quick question, do you think having a filter running in the resivoir, and/or having one of those uv water treatment lights would reduce all, if any, build up in the piping?
Also, do you think this can be modifited to allow a drip system instead of the ones rats would chew on? Wondering if i could change it around a little and use it for tropical snakes to keep humidity up.

[MarkS]

Quick question, do you think having a filter running in the resivoir, and/or having one of those uv water treatment lights would reduce all, if any, build up in the piping?
Also, do you think this can be modifited to allow a drip system instead of the ones rats would chew on? Wondering if i could change it around a little and use it for tropical snakes to keep humidity up.

I've got a friend who has filtered water and a UV sterilizer on his water system, but he raises tens of thousands of rodents. I don't think it would be worth while for as small a scale as I have here.

I'm not sure if a drip system would work all that well, the water reservoir is up high and that creates more pressure. It might come out as a stream instead of a drip. I really don't know though since I've never tried it.

[whytepizza]

Awesome, sounds good, thank you!
I built one and have tried the fish idea. I used to work at a pet store and we were thinking up ways to ship fish long distances without having to worry about oxogen. We tried several things but silver in water can create some O2 as it oxidizes. We tried it, but silver is expencive and we quickly gave up on 'out shipment with silver' idea, but we kept it for some of our large tanks. Thanks to old computers we pulled out alot of silver and platinum (also works).
So, i put it in my resevoir. It works well! Sometimes, if it's hot or if i just refill the resevoir i hear a snap, crackle, and pop as the oxogen rises, but it eliminates ALOT of the fungal gunk. It's still not perfect for the tubes, but it does help. I also keep a carbon filter over the hole leading to the PVC inside the resevoir. This eliminates alot of the oxogen passing through but i use about a quarter of the bleach and have had no buildup! On one section of every horizontal piping i used a clear piece of tubing. It's hard plastic like pvc but it allows me to see if there is anything growing that i need to take care of.
Thanks so much! I could not have built this without your diagrams!
My next step is to try and bring the pipe down into the cage and into a built-in bowl for snakes. Kind of like those automatic dog waterers with a 2L bottle of soda. Just means i have to put a lid on my resevoir :-D We'll see!

I've got a friend who has filtered water and a UV sterilizer on his water system, but he raises tens of thousands of rodents. I don't think it would be worth while for as small a scale as I have here.

I'm not sure if a drip system would work all that well, the water reservoir is up high and that creates more pressure. It might come out as a stream instead of a drip. I really don't know though since I've never tried it.