Rodent farming is an agricultural process in which rodents are bred and raised with the intent of selling them for their meat. They are often categorised in a sub-category of livestock known as micro-livestock, due to their small size. In Australia, rat farms provide food for zoos and pet stores.

Australian pet ownership soared through Covid lockdowns and it wasn't just dogs and cats. There was also a surge in demand for snakes and lizards. A rat farmer is someone who farms rats to feed pet reptiles. Rats are good business as they have large litters with fast gestation times.

 

ANZSCO ID: 121399

Alternative names: Rodent Farmer, Feeder Rats Producer,
   

Knowledge, skills and attributes

• Knowledge of breeds

• Animal care skills

• Patience

• Discipline

• Attention to detail

• Communication skills

• Marketing skills

(Source: Everything Reptile)

 

Duties and Tasks

• breeding and raising livestock for the production of animals for reptile industry

• monitoring and maintaining the health and condition of livestock

• providing fodder to maintain appropriate nutritional levels

• conduct general and minor farm maintenance jobs (e.g. cleaning containers, feeding rats,  cleaning water containers).

• organising and conducting farming operations such limiting number of male rats and only keeping those to fertilise females; keeing male rats apart; grading and separating out rat pups based on size;

• directing and overseeing general farming activities such as maintaining containers, sheds and cages, obtaining wood shavings for bedding, cleaning out containers daily,

• maintaining equipment and water supply systems

• organising the sale, purchase and transportation of frozen rats and produce ie. food for rats

• maintaining and evaluating records of farming activities, monitoring market activity and planning production accordingly

• managing business capital including budgeting, taxation, debt and loan management

• may select, train and supervise contractors especially in maintaining the rats in a frozen state

Working conditions

The containers need to be rat-proof so that they don't escape. The room containing the rats is smelly. You need to be able to "stomach" the fact that you need to kill the rats with food-grade carbon dioxide, then freeze and bag them for customers.

 

Education and training/entrance requirements

You usually need livestock farming experience to work as an Other Livestock Farmer. While formal qualifications aren't essential, a Vocational Education and Training (VET) course in marketing may be useful.

Additional information

Other than breeding up the rats, you to establish logistics routes and end locations to get the frozen product for sale.

 

Rat farming sets former dairy farmer up for retirement | Landline | ABC News
17 March 2023
https://youtu.be/w3hf2Ltoieo

 

 

 

 

 

The following information is taken directly from ABC News 17 March 2023 and is a transcript of the above video. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-03-17/farming-rats-woodlane-pet-reptile-food-supply-chain/102063772 Cheryl Martin - Rat Farmer CAMEO It's not everyone's cup of tea, but farming rats has paid off for former dairy farmer and fruit grower Cheryl Martin. Readers are advised this article contains images some readers might find distressing.     "It's the most money I've made farming," she said. "I guess if I spend a dollar, I get four back, but I don't count my hours in that." The 57-year-old, from Woodlane, east of Adelaide, got into the rat business eight years ago after a stint working in a hardware store. "I was looking for something a bit more that I could do from home because I like to work for myself," she said. "I was looking for something a bit quirky." Raising rats for reptiles She said breeding rats to feed pet snakes and lizards took a bit of getting used to at the start. Cheryl Martin said she sold 10 different sizes of rats, from one-day-old "pinkies" to "extra large jumbos", which weighed more than 500 grams. With a gestation of 23 to 26 days, up to 18 pups in a litter and the ability to do it all again straight away, she said it was fast-paced farming. "Over the years, I've learnt that I can ramp it up and ramp it down pretty quickly, which is way better than beef and sheep, which take a long time," she said. Ms Martin said she enjoyed the flexible hours but was not so fond of constantly cleaning out rat poo.   Cheryl Martin (ABC: Brant Cumming)   Cheryl Martin says it took a bit for her to warm to rat farming. "I actually said to [my wife] Fiona, I think I've made a mistake because it was quite smelly, and it put me off my food, but once everything was clean, it was fine," Ms Martin said. She also had to overcome a common fear. "I thought they were going to bite me," she said. "Gradually, I learnt that they weren't going to jump out, and they were quite tame. "There were only a few rogue ones that actually bit me to start with, but they were moved on pretty quickly." Cheryl packing rats into a bag (ABC: Brant Cumming) Cheryl Martin bought the rat farm eight years ago and has since scaled up. She also said the processing, where rats were gassed with food-grade carbon dioxide, was particularly difficult.   The rats are gassed with food-grade carbon dioxide. (ABC: Brant Cumming)   "That's the hardest part of the job," Ms Martin said. "I don't think killing anything is humane or, you know, a good thing. So I try to do that as best I can." She said that included laying the rats out with their tails and feet tucked in before freezing and packing them. "Presentation in the shop seems to be a big part of people buying a rat," she said. "I don't want them to look stressed. I want to respect them."   Snakes need the correct-sized meals to keep them nourished (ABC: Brant Cumming)   Rats in demand Snake handler and educator, Julian Craig, has bought more than his fair share of rodents. He runs a business in Murray Bridge, where he houses about 80 of the world's most venomous snakes. He said he had a couple of rat suppliers, including Ms Martin, but sourcing the rodents could be difficult. Mr Craig owns about 80 of the most venomous snakes in the world (ABC: Brant Cumming)   "There are people living in country environments who really struggle to get a good supply, and they pay a real premium for it," Mr Craig said. Ms Martin said demand for rats peaked during COVID lockdowns when a growing number of people bought reptiles as pets. "I was quite stressed … stressed in a good way because I made a lot of money, I guess that year, but it was full on," she said. She said she enjoyed the antics and personalities of her miniature livestock, with one even graduating to pet status. "That was Dave," she said. "He was really cute when he was little, and I thought, OK I'm going to keep one for COVID." Ms Martin said she was used to lots of curious questions when people found out how she made her living. "A big one is, 'Have you ever eaten rats'… which I have now," she said. "It's got more flavour than chicken that we eat normally, but it's a lot of work for not much … a bit like eating quail." Despite passing the taste test, she said she wasn't tempted to start farming rodents for human consumption.   Rat pups (ABC: Brant Cumming)   She said she was branching out into mice to fill a gap that had opened up in the pet food market. But she said she was not sold yet. Ms Martin says the low profile agricultural business has set her up for retirement. "They're a bit jumpy, and they're smellier," she said. "The boys are quite smelly. "I don't really like it, but I'm going with it at the moment." Ms Martin said her decision to turn rats into a job had set her up for retirement … whenever that may be. "Shifting a rat is much better than shifting cows and sheep," she said. "It's something I can do well into my seventies if I needed to."     Additional Information Who breeds the rats that snakes eat? Murraybridge News 21 December 2021   "Cheryl Martin stumbled across her unusual niche about seven years ago. She had grown peaches and been in dairying when the opportunity came up to buy a perfectly ordinary-looking property on a dirt road near Mypolonga where, in an air-conditioned shed, a bloke was producing 16,000 rats every year. The place is now known as the Murraylands Rat Farm. Ms Martin has since increased production to about 25,000 a year. “I like doing something different, and I like to do it well,” she said with a shrug. “I was quite scared to begin with – I had gloves on all the time. “Now I’d be quite happy to handle most of the mothers and babies.” Baby rats spend 23 days in their mother’s womb; they then grow to a weight of 40 or 50 grams in three weeks, double that within the next 10 days, and reach adulthood and a weight of about 250 grams in nine weeks. Most of the rats are destined for a wholesaler in Adelaide, who distributes them to breeders and pet stores. Like the meat consumed by humans, the animals are humanely gassed and frozen before being shipped off."

 

 

 

 

Laboratory rats play an important role in biomedical research across a range of therapeutic areas. Closely related to the human genome, laboratory rats are widely used in preclinical toxicology, immunology, cardiovascular, and behavioral studies. The business of breeding live rodents for universities and research institutions is highly regulated. The care of laboratory animals is regulated by law (which determines the size of cages, the number of animals per cage, cage set-up, etc.).

Larger in size than mice, and with a short reproductive cycle and low breeding cost, laboratory rats are valuable to researchers in various therapeutic areas such as toxicology, immunology, teratology, experimental oncology, experimental gerontology, and cardiovascular research. Lab rats are particularly well suited to behavioral and psychological studies involving learning and cognition because of their ability to learn tasks quickly.

 

(Source: Clear H2O)

 

Genetically engineered rat models have been developed for understanding the pathophysiology of diseases. With the aid of these animal models, researchers are able to validate targets and identify pharmacological responses. Already, several rat genes tied to complex diseases have been identified.

The results of these studies have been translated to humans, leading to the discovery of novel human disease susceptibility genes, and helping to identify irregularities in humans and establishing treatment approaches.

Mice have traditionally been considered choice research models because their embryonic stem cells are more robust than those of rats. But advances in genetic editing tools such as CRISPR-Cas9* and the use of engineered endonucleases make it possible to precisely target the rat genome. For example, by inactivating rat genes of interest with these tools, researchers are opening promising new pathways toward the study of infectious, cardiovascular, neurological, and other diseases.

 

One of the biggest suppliers of live laboratory rodents, Animal Resource Centre ARC at Murdoch University since 1988 shut down in 2022 but was taken over by Ozgene ARC to supply universities and research institutes with live laboratory rodents.

 

 

ANZSCO ID : 149913

Alternative names: Artificial Insemination Technician (AI Technician), Artificial Inseminator, Breeder, Animal Technician,
   
Specialisations: Mice, Rats or both

Knowledge, skills and attributes  

• Mice and rats are kept in animal houses until they are needed by research facilities

• Both breeder and animal technician need to know the cycle of life to limit animals not being used

• Mice are social creatures and are therefore kept in small groups. They live in Perspex boxes with bedding and toys (technically known as “environmental enrichment”) until they are required for research

• Cage systems are strictly sealed off from the outside world and are ventilated with sterile filtered air. Food, bedding and water – everything that the animals require – are sterilized before they are brought into the animal housing area. 

• All test animals live in standardized conditions where temperature, humidity, and hours of light and darkness are maintained at a constant level all year round. Mice and rats are kept in individually ventilated cage systems under so-called “barrier conditions” to ensure that they don’t come into contact with pathogens.

• the provision of standard mouse and rat strains and stock lines

 

 

Australian BioResources' Facility in Moss Vale, NSW
(Source: ABR)

 

Duties and Tasks

In addition to their daily tasks, the animal house teams take on a variety of service tasks to assist research activities. These include scheduling mating, supervising breeding including bookkeeping, marking animals, and taking the blood and tissue samples needed for the research.

Our tasks are – among others – the organisation of the breeding and holding of the laboratory animals, the protection of hygienic and health status of the animals, the import and export of laboratory animals, the education of animal care takers, and the counseling of scientists regarding their experimental animal projects.

• Weekly husbandry and monitoring

• Tissue collection for genotyping

• Identification using tail tattooing (@2 wks) or ear marking (@3 wks)

• Breeding of mouse strains under instructions from clients

• Special services such as time mating, weighing, specific monitoring for phenotype

• Support and advice for your breeding programmes

• Live mice and frozen material (embryos or sperm) can be imported or exported.

• Obtain the import/export permits,

• Organise health screens,

• Book the courier and organise customs, quarantine clearance and any special documentation that is required.

Why Scientists Choose RATS vs. MICE for Their Research
https://youtu.be/ui_bhSneJsE?si=nPo2Z_4CDST54AZt

 

 

Working conditions

All personnel must shower and put on sterile clothing before they are permitted to pass through the barriers into the facilities.


Education and training/entrance requirements

There is a full range of people within a live rodent facility including head scientists, vets and administrators along with animal technicians - all requiring different educational requirements.

 

Did You Know? Common Laboratory Animals - Details Mouse (Mus musculus) Body temperature : 37.4 ºc Age at sexual maturity : 35 day Mating age :45 – 60 days Estrous cycle : 4 – 5 days Gestation period : 19 – 21 days Litter size : 6- 11 Weaning age: 21 days Housing environment: *Temperature : 21 ºc; *Relative humidity : 50%; *Light – dark cycle : 12 – 12 h Daily food intake : 4 – 5 g Daily water intake : 7 ml Surface area : 20g = 4.6 cm2 Routes of drug administration : oral, Subcutaneous, Intramuscular, Intraperitoneally Volume of drug administration : 5 – 10 ml / kg body weight Rat (Rattus norvegicus)    Body temperature : 37.5 ºc Age at sexual maturity : 40 - 45 days Mating age :70 – 150 days Estrous cycle : 4 – 5 days Gestation period : 21 – 23 days Litter size : 8- 10 Weaning age :21 days Housing environment: Temperature : 22 ºc; Relative humidity : 55%; Light – dark cycle : 12 – 12 h Daily food intake : 10 – 20 g Daily water intake : 20 ml Surface area : 200g = 32.5 cm2 Routes of drug administration: oral; Subcutaneous; Intramuscular; Intraperitoneally Volume of drug administration : 1 – 2 ml / kg body weight (Source: College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Mosul, Mosul, Iraq )

 

Animal technicians help veterinary, medical, pharmaceutical, agricultural and general scientists and students to care for and check on animals used for research, breeding and scientific purposes.

Alternative names: Laboratory Animal Carer, Laboratory Animal Technician, Animal Facilities Manager, Lab Technician, Animal Technologist, Animal Care Technician,

Specialisations: Senior Animal Technologist, Rodent Colony Manager,
    

Knowledge, skills and attributes

• Working knowledge with rodents (such as mice and/or rats), breeding systems and animal husbandry
• Experience in performing animal technical services with rodents (such as injections and collections, euthanasia, identification)
• Knowledge of relevant legislation
• Enjoy practical and manual activities
• Interested in laboratory animals especially rats and mice and their welfare
• Able to handle animals with confidence and patience
• Sound administrative skills, including sound computer literacy, animal laboratory record keeping experience and attention to detail
•  Proven ability to prioritise tasks and plan workload to meet deadlines
•  Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, including the ability to problem solve with strong attention to detail
•  Ability to work as an effective member of a team as well as independently under routine supervision
• Able to make accurate observations
• Free from allergies aggravated by fur, smell of mice and rats
• Able to undertake manual and sometimes heavy work (moving cages).

 

(Source: University of Adelaide)

 

Duties and Tasks

The Animal Technician performs a range of duties to maintain and breed laboratory animals in accordance with Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for the ethical care of animals. The role also involves compiling accurate, timely records for researchers and providing optimum animal welfare conditions at all times

Animal technicians may perform the following tasks:

• perform daily checks and record the health status and behaviour of animals in their care
• prepare food and water and provide care for laboratory animals
• look after holding or breeding areas and equipment
• carry out experiments using these animals, recording the results under supervision and according to relevant codes of practice, and the organisation's animal experimentation ethics committee rules
• take samples of animal body fluids, faeces or tissue for analysis or veterinary inspection
• inspect and test animals for worm infestation and disease
• observe animals' reactions to tests
• make routine calculations and prepare graphs
• clean and disinfect cages and facilities, and sterilise equipment
• establish and maintain breeding programs
• help with injections, surgery, dressings and care of animals after operations
• assist with the production of animal experimentation protocols
• humanely put animals down and/or handle animals that have died
• participate in embryo transfer procedures
• carry out post-mortem examinations on dead animals.

Working Conditions

Animal technicians are usually required to work in shifts and on weekends. Some work outdoors in all kinds of weather conditions. Much of their time is spent doing routine tasks such as cleaning exhibits and feeding animals. Rostered work, overtime and out of hours work may be required (including evenings, weekends and public and University holidays). During peak periods of work the taking of leave may be restricted. Technicians are to have baseline medical health. 

Reporting Line: The position reports to the Senior Animal Technologist
   
Supervisory responsibilities: Animal Attendants and casual/work placement students

 

Tools and Technologies

Experience with specialised machinery (such as irradiator, laminar flow, box and bottle washers, Biosafety class 2 hoods, autoclave, change stations)

Education and training/entrance requirements

Animal Technicians need to have training in a related field, which will require you to have completed year 10 at a minimum or find an alternative entry pathway into a course.

You can complete the Diploma of Animal Technology to prepare for senior or managerial roles within animal technology environments such as Biomedical Research Centres or Universities.

 

 

 

Critical Thinking Spot

 

Middle  Secondary

Read the following article from

The Conversation 3 September 2022

 

 

 

What is the origin story of rodents colonising Australia?

Do we distinguish between these native rodents and 'introduced' rodents? Why? Why not?
What is your response to the word 'rat'?

 

 

 

Related Jobs or Working with these Jobs

 

Biosecurity Officer	Domestic Animal Scientist	Farmer	Herpetologist
Livestock Farmer	Sales Person Pet Shop Assistant	Truck Driver Refrigerated Goods Driver	University Lecturer
Veterinarian

 

 

Materials sourced from

Everything Reptile
Aussie Pythons & Snakes [Frozen Rats & Mice in Pet Shops; ]
ABC News [Cheryl Martin; ] 
Reptile Forums UK [Logistics of Breeding Feeder Rats; ]
Seek [Animal Technician;]
Nature [Role of Colony Manager; ]
Clear H2O [Breeding Laboratory Mice; ]
 Other Animal Attendant and Trainer;
Charles River [Laboratory Rats; ]
Australian BioResources [Client Strains; ]
Wikipedia [Rodent Farming; ]

 

Going, Going, Gone - Jobs of Yesteryear

Rat Catcher