Building & Plumbing a Rodent Rack

[Camel413]

First i just want to say that is a very awesome design. I also want to say the the automatic watering system is great. This may be a dumb question but what about the food. Do you use bowls of food in each tub, or add lab blocks to the top of each tub on the wire mesh?

[mshane]

If you are installing tanks and fitting pipes to them be sure to cover the ends of the pipes with tape to stop pieces of plastic and swarf from dropping down them, the bits and pieces will block taps later on and cause all kinds of problems.

[aboutsnakes]

You definitely have some major engineering skills

Nicely done !

[plumbyshoe]

Great ! thanks for posting it looks kinda complicated but awesome ..

[Aereadnos]

Thanks for your post! Its saved me bunch of money so far thought I'd show off my version modified to work with rats aswell. Great for a smaller breeder... Cost me just under $350 CAD

[IMG]20140806_141627 by Aereadnos[/IMG]

[MarkS]

Thanks for your post! Its saved me bunch of money so far thought I'd show off my version modified to work with rats aswell. Great for a smaller breeder... Cost me just under $350 CAD

That's great, I'm glad people are still finding this post useful.

[BBotteron]

Curiosity is getting at me.. I don't plan on breeding rats for a long time until I make sure I'm getting used to taking care of my bps and my husbandry is perfect. But...couldn't you attach a garden house or something similar to this setup instead of a low flow gravity feed system?


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[OriginReptiles]

Curiosity is getting at me... I don't plan on breeding rats for a long time until I make sure I'm getting used to taking care of my bps and my husbandry is perfect. But...couldn't you attach a garden house or something similar to this setup instead of a low flow gravity feed system?

Water nipples work under low pressure (5 psi or less). If you are attaching nipples to poly hose the water needs to be gravity fed. If you are wanting to connect it directly to a garden hose (house pressure), you will need a pressure regulator to regulate the pressure down. House pressure can be 30 to 70 pounds of pressure, so you would need to regulate it down to 5 or less. Otherwise, your rats will get a shower rather than a drink and it can cause damage to the nipple.

For my set up, I use a garden hose attached to a float valve inside a bucket. No refilling, but also gravity fed. I may consider simplifying to a pressure regulator in the future.

[MR Snakes]

If I ever needed 1000 mice a month I would not be married, just sayin'! Great thread though. Learning alot!