Rat ranching: breeding, feeding and butchering at 400 g

Rats turn cheap food into Raw Meat. Keep two females and a male as breeders, feed the cage through a Livestock Feed Dispenser, and butcher at 400 g: a 400 g rat gives a full Raw Meat (Standard) worth 159, against 110 for a 350 g young adult. Rats reach adulthood (350 g) on day 5 and elder weight (450 g) on day 11, so 400 g falls between the two. Starting a Rat Wrangler run unlocks We Have Rats!.

Getting rats

• Ranching upgrade from Wild’s Network, 750 credits: an Animal Cage with a feeder, six rats, Peat, a Meat Cleaver, a Blue Labeler and a Marking Pen. The Retired Rat Rancher then visits weekly.
• Rat Wrangler start: a worn cage and feeder, three pairs aged 5, 3 and 1 days, six small Nutrifruit, a cleaver, labeler, pen and a Livestock Immunity Serum, with 600 credits and 200 rent.
• A Mouse Trap baited with Processed Cheese catches a wild rat 50% of nights (1% unbaited).

Growth and breeding

Stage	From day	Weight
Infant	0	5 g
Juvenile	1	50 g
Adolescent	3	200 g
Adult	5	350 g
Elder	11	450 g

Adults mate if they are not starving, pregnant or neutered, up to three times each. Pregnancy lasts 3 days and a litter is about 3. Hungry, old or sick rats are less fertile, and a starving mother can miscarry. Young rats inherit growth, hunger, fertility, litter size, immunity, health and longevity, so breeding from your best rats improves the whole cage; the Gene Scanner shows those stats.

Butchering

Rat weight	Cuts	Value
350 g	Raw Meat (Small) + Morsel + Small Morsel	110
400 g	Raw Meat (Standard)	159
450 g	Raw Meat (Standard) + Small Morsel	174

Cuts come out largest first and leftover weight is lost. Waiting from 400 g to 450 g adds only a Small Morsel. After 100 butchered animals a Skinning Knife appears on your counter.

Automated setup

1. Fit a Livestock Feed Dispenser (holds 40,000 kcal) and stock it with the cheapest calories: Peat or home-grown Nutrifruit from a Hydroponic System.
2. Add an Auto Butcher set to weight 400 g and up, keeping 2 females and 1 male, sparing pregnant rats and culling sick rats and prion carriers.
3. Add a Cleaner Robot to remove feces before disease spreads.
4. Mark your best breeders with the Marking Pen so the Auto Butcher never takes them.
5. Expand the cage (10×3 at first, up to eight times) with Metal Ingots before it is half full.

Problems

Problem	Cause	Fix
Overcrowding	Cage more than about half full	Expand or butcher more often
Disease	Feces left in the cage; diseased rats give 25% less meat	Cleaner Robot or clear by hand
Prion Disease	Rats eating dead rats	Remove carcasses; cull carriers with the Auto Butcher
Escapes	Cage durability under 20	Repair with Scrap Metal

A Wire Cutter neuters a rat (a pregnant rat loses her litter). Immunity and Steroid Serums raise immunity or growth and make the rat hungrier.

Selling

Raw Meat and Morsels are Food: put them in the Display Case for food buyers. A poor Nutrifruit harvest market event raises food prices by 50%.