Probably Stolen rats: feeding, cages and a practical profit check

Build a baseline before selective breeding

Use a manageable group and note its starting size, food consumed and sale proceeds. A productive-looking cage is not enough to establish profit if you have not counted purchased feed and replacement equipment.

Official 1.0.0.5 makes the Inventor stock a Gene Scanner after Rat Ranching is unlocked. Check that prerequisite and your version if the scanner is missing.

If the feeder is full but rats are hungry

A September Steam thread distinguishes raw food in the machine from converted calories, and placement outside a cage from placement inside it. Use those reports as a troubleshooting sequence, then confirm the result in your current build.

1. Put suitable food into the feeder's Container area and use Start.
2. Inspect Stored Calories after processing; the Empty control is not a feeding command.
3. Check that the dispenser and rats share the same cage or container.
4. Compare food reserves and the rats' displayed hunger before ending the day, then check again afterward.

Include cage maintenance in your routine

Official UPDATE 049 changed cage wear to account for living animals' size, and Scrap Metal repair to restore half the cage's maximum durability. A larger breeding group therefore deserves another durability check, not just another bag of feed.

Record repairs alongside feed expenses. If you are comparing an old guide, check whether it still describes a fixed repair amount.

Do not assume rat meat is free feed

Players in the same pre-release thread reported disease after feeding rats meat from their own rats. That is a versioned community warning, not a verified statement about every meat item in the release build.

For a first cost trial, use clearly identified food and avoid changing several feed types together. If sickness appears, record the actual food, machine contents and affected animals before repeating the experiment.

Evaluate sales, not a promised maximum weight

No universal best harvest age or maximum weight is established here. Compare batches using sales received minus feed, repairs, purchased inputs and treatment costs. Keep equipment purchases separate if you want to compare daily operating profit.

The production-profit calculator accepts your own observations. Leave an unknown price unknown rather than replacing it with a guide's unverified number.

Questions & answers