Rat farming: care before scale

Start with a small colony

Player reports describe traps from traders or scavenging, with cheese improving catches. Put captured animals in a suitable cage and inspect their care panel. A male and female can begin breeding; do not add more animals until you can feed the ones already present.

Cage maintenance is documented

UPDATE 049 ties wear to the size of living animals inside. Dead animals and equipment do not cause wear. Scrap repairs restore 50% of maximum durability, and an ingot size upgrade adds 20 maximum and current durability. Check available space and repairs before sleeping.

Read the right stat direction

The same patch corrected Gene Scanner colors so low Hunger Rate is favorable. A green number does not always mean “higher.” Review hunger, health and growth together instead of choosing the biggest animal automatically.

Harvest and uncertainty

Community footage uses a blade to produce meat. There is no verified universal optimal harvest weight or gene-inheritance chart here. Use a small test and record food costs and sale value; avoid expanding based on a single screenshot’s unusually good animal.

Historical meat and carrying reference

The independent Wiki’s August player report describes a separate satchel for caught rats, knife processing into a 2×2 and a 1×1 meat piece, and reported values of 60 for Raw Meat (Small), 30 for Regular Morsels and 15 for Small Morsels. These are playtest observations, not promised 1.0 prices or guaranteed output for every animal. Inspect your carcass and buyer quote before budgeting around them. Rat droppings were also reported as a poor source of low-grade water; that is not a reason to replace an operating water supply.

Sources & version scope

Sources reviewed November 01, 2026. Official patches establish the changes they describe; earlier community reports are not independently tested in 1.0 here.

Your run checklist

Start with a small colonyCheck current build and item detailsKeep the next rent payment covered