FINALLY! my IDEAL ASF setup!

[SquamishSerpents]

it was just this august or so that i ventured into rodent breeding. i've been through sterilite bins with soldered holes for ventilation, and was warned about the probability that the crafty little buggers would most likely chew through, and escape. so, i bought some of the same bins, and this time didn't solder any holes in them, but rather installed 1/4 hardware cloth into the lids, like so:



however after the many, many nightmares of me crawling around the ground chasing and grabbing rogue ASF's by their tales, in a futile attempt to get them back to their cages, i decided that glass tanks would be best for my own sanity. so, this is my 3rd and final setup, and it's just the way i like it. i can load food into the hoppers and change the water bottles, and see when they're getting low without ever having to lift the lids. so pretty much the rat cages only get opened once a week.; FEEDING DAY!

it's definitely a pretty simple setup, the worst part is of course cutting the hardware cloth (and getting the people at home depot to make the correct cuts, grrr!) also, i used some type of metal wire that i threaded through the hoppers to hold them together/attach them to the lid. JUST LIKE SEWING! only, 200 times more difficult.

without further ado, here are some pictures of the new "rat corner."
excuse the hideous red plaid blankey, that's the covering for my cockatiels cage. he's sleepin' cause it's way past his bedtime!



the lid my boyfriend made, that combines food and water:



and a view from the side:



crappy view of the new tank:



a better view of the other new tank:



and the most wonderful concept EVAR: toploading hoppers for food and water! soooo wonderful! now to keep the dog from grazing in the rat hoppers hahaha




anyways, that's my setup, just thought i'd share! if anyone has any questions feel free to ask and i'd be glad to help

[SquamishSerpents]

checked this morning, and so far i don't think the dog has eaten any of the rat kibble yet! so that's a good sign, maybe he won't discover it. he's a pretty lazy dog

[pliskin]

I tried loading my food hoppers like that, and by the next day they had chewed it all to dust and wasted so much of it that I started to drop in just enough for them every day.

[SquamishSerpents]

really? mine don't seem to want to turn it to dust. if i load them almost all the way up it lasts about a week

[Herp4life11]

What site did you find how to build the wood and mesh scree top?

[SquamishSerpents]

i came up with that all with my own brain, lol.

funnily enough, this is an old post and it says this is going to be my FINAL setup! well, it's not, lol.

we currently still have the ASF's in those tanks, and they are doing wonderfully, however we are going to move them to racks & mortar mixing bins.

the tanks certainly are great, it's just that we want to have a few more colonies, as well as a bin to grow up the replacements (we replace the breeder adults every 6-8 months, or whenever they slow down production) and if we continued with the glass tanks we don't have any more room. so yeah. we're just moving to a more space-saving setup.

as for how we built the tops, it was super easy. just made a wood frame to fit over the tanks, nailed the frame together, and then stapled the mesh. we made the food & water holders by taking more mesh and fastening it together with thin wire, so that they cannot chew out.

[Herp4life11]

Were did you get the wire? Have any pics of the rack?

[SquamishSerpents]

Were did you get the wire? Have any pics of the rack?

bought the wire in a roll @ Home Depot, i assume you can find it at any building supply store. i don't have photos of the new rack yet, as we haven't built it, but will post some soon! it will be extremely similar to these:

Rat Rack