Robin has been talking with me about building her rat colony but having a lot of space constraints and since I faced that for a long time (having no basement or big spare room) I thought I'd share a bit about how I dealt with this issue. I choose to not use the more traditional rat racks as I like a bit more interaction with my permanent breeder rats.
This is the original rat rack I had. I actually had two maternity tanks side by side. The bottom cage was Casanova's and where he lived permanently and the four females I had back then cycled in and out with him. Above was 2 ten gallon glass maternity tanks and above that two feeder bins. It was just a little start but it really helped feed our snakes back then (of course we had a lot less snakes then come to think of it LOL). It wasn't a big start but it quickly cut back on our $100 a month feeding bill from the local pet store.
This free standing plastic rack is from WalMart and retails for around $18.00, snaps together without any tools needed and is super easy to keep clean. It's dimensions are 33.5 wide x 14 deep x 55 high (68 high with top tank). I've had this same rack in service for over 2 years now and it's never even developed a crack.
Here's the same rack today. It's currently housing 5 females and their 35 offspring of various ages (some litters are mostly fed off as I need a lot of fuzzies and pups right now). It can easily hold 7 ten gallon tanks though I never put 2 on top as it is a lighter duty rack so I don't trust it being too top heavy.
A very small footprint really for the numbers it can hold.
I combine this rack with 4 large tubs that I get from the local dollar store for about $7.00 per tub (plus of course the cost of hardware cloth to ventilate).
Hardware cloth (about $7.00 for a good sized roll)....
Here's our breeding tub currently housing 1 male and 2 females....
One of the feeder/grower tubs (side view)....
Same tub (top view)....
These bigger tubs are 19 wide x 32.5 long x 13.5 high. The tubs that actually fit the rack (pictured in the first rack) are 16 wide x 24 long x 12 high.
When I figured it out for Robin I came to this conclusion. If you had two of these racks side by side they barely take up the room an entertainment unit would.
You could easily house the following in this relatively small space...
Rack 1:
4 maternity tanks (2 side by side on the bottom two shelves)
1 tub for breeders on the next shelf
1 spare/overflow tub on the top shelf
Rack 2:
2 maternity tanks side by side on the bottom shelf
1 tub for female feeders above that
1 tub for male feeders above that
1 tub for resting females on the top shelf
This gives you quite a lot of bang for a pretty small space buck. You could have a nice working colony of 1 or 2 males and up to 6 or 8 females and you should have enough tanks/tubs to cycle it quite nicely if you plan the breedings out carefully.
Considering Robin doesn't need anything larger than a small/small rat and will likely feed off quite a few large pups/weanlings sizes, she shouldn't run into overcrowding issues but that's why I built the overflow/spare tub into the plan (I believe in having a backup tub at all times just in case).
Hope this was what you needed Robin and it's of interest to the smaller rat colony breeder that doesn't have the ability to spread out in a basement or garage but would still like to breed for the needs of their snakes.
Oh and just for fun! Here's a shot of old Casanova enjoying his retirement. He might be an old 2 year plus rat but he's still King of the Food Dish! LOL
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