The rats making Aisha Ecum a rich farmer

Ecum found a goldmine in rearing laboratory rats. She diversified to the rats after she failed to break even in the poultry and piggery enterprises. PHOTOs by kelvin atuhaire

What you need to know:

The importance of laboratory rats during practical lessons in schools is undeniable, providing proper care to produce standardised and high quality rats is a contributing factor to the quality of science results produced every year. Phionah Nassanga spoke to Aisha Ecum who decided to venture in laboratory rats (white rats) rearing.

Aisha Ecum, a teacher of English and Literature at Mt Olives Kakiri, turned to rearing rats for a side income. Growing up, her parents wanted her to become a doctor, putting much emphasis on the science subjects. Biology and agricultural were her most preferred subjects.
“At Senior Four, my love was for biology and agriculture. I tried working hard in the other science subjects, but did not make it to the science class at A-Level,” she reveals.
Pursuing a Bachelors of Arts in Education, Ecum’s passion for biology and agriculture never seemed to diminish as she kept hoping that one day, she would put the knowledge to use. Ecum started her teaching journey in 2012, putting some savings a side, her dream was to venture into agriculture, a field she had long desired.
“Under normal circumstances, I started getting bored and wanted something outside my teaching career. Something that would give me a broad mentality beyond the teaching curriculum.”
In 2014, Ecum first ventured in watermelons. “I first grew an acre of watermelon, but later realised they required a lot of attention yet I don’t have much time. After the first harvest, I gave up.” Trying her luck elsewhere, she opted for broilers, investing in more than 400 birds. She says at the start the business was a success, untill the time she had to go a way to mark mock papers. Leaving someone else to look after the birds, she can hardly tell what went wrong. “I lost more than 250 birds. This was frustrating,” she recalls.
Ecum later deviated to rearing pigs. “Selling off the 150 birds that were remaining, I bought four pigs and my projection was to have them give birth in six months and sell them off.”

Turning point
Ecum’s turning point came in 2016 when she decided to try her luck rearing laboratory rats.
“By 2016, I almost gave up on agriculture, but when I spoke to one of my friends who was working at the Veterinary school at Makerere University, she revealed to me how she had started rearing laboratory rats, an idea I thought was worth venturing in, because the speculation of students failing biology due to luck of the right specimens to dissect had been the talk from the time I was still in school,” she says.
Grabbing the opportunity, Ecum started with three rats, one male and two female, which she bought from a veterinary school each at Shs30,000.

Gestation
Rats give birth every after six weeks. When well fed, at birth one rat gives birth to 15 to 16 pups.
Four females are placed with one male in one cage. She says two males in a cage bring about fighting among themselves, which is a bad vice.
“Rats have a short gestation period and because of that, cages are most likely to get crowded in a short time.”
However, Ecum says this needs to be managed by moving the pregnant rats to different cages because when left among other rats, the pups might end up being eaten.
After three weeks, the mother rat (dam) is separated from the pups and put in another cage.
Feeding
According to Ecum, this type of rats eat and drink all the time. She says because of their feeding habits, they require consistent supervision. “White rats have a special kind of food called pellets. This type of food is the one recommended, but it is expensive especially if one has a big number of rats. A 70-kilogramme bag of rat pellets cost Shs73,000, and these last for one to two weeks, depending on the number of rats one is rearing,” she says.
However, Ecum supplements the pellets with other foods such as mukene mash mixed with maize flour. She says to boost the immunity of the rats, vitamins such as Vitaflash Amino wsp is added to their drinking water.

Market
“In this kind of business, finding clients is the biggest challenge, but with the proper marketing skills you can secure good sales.” Ecum remarks, noting that being a teacher has positioned her to the right market with the right buyers.
“Being a teacher has helped me market the rats. I make sure to attend workshops and try coordinating with other teachers especially those of biology. I ask them to inform me in time about the type of mocks the students are set to sit for and to let me know once the practical confidential information is out.”
Ecum says this helps her to know the type of spicemen they need.
Students normally dissect four specimens, rats, toads or frogs, cockroaches and at times fish. Other than targeting the final exams, she says, under normal circumstances, schools conduct practical studies.
Ecum also looks at research centres. “A few weeks ago, someone wanted 400 rats, however, we fell out when it came to price. He was offering less.”

Standard size
Ecum says when rearing rats for practical lessons, one needs to keep in mind the recommended standard size by the Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB). “The recommended size is nine to 11 inches long with a tail that is seven to nine inches long. At this stage the internal organs are well developed. The price depends on the size, nine to 11 inches costs Shs30, 000, for the rest you can sell between Shs20,000 and Shs10,000.”

Diseases
Ecum says rats are affected by a number of diseases and the infections you may notice are wheezing, coughing, and open-mouthed breathing.
She notes that mycoplasma, a respiratory disease is one of those farmers need to take note of.
When one realises that the rats are not feeding as expected, it is a clear sign that they are suffering from anorexia.
She says the other disease to worry about is lethargy (body weakness). These are the most common yet hard to identify especially if you rarely supervise them.
“When pregnant, one is advised to immunise the expecting rats and its pups soon after birth. Each injection costs Shs1,000. However, when trained, you can decided to buy the vaccine and do it yourself. This is cheap and will help you prevent some of these diseases.”

Housing
Ecum says before buying the rats, she had to make research on how rats are reared and the type of housing they require.
“Simple cages can be made out of wood and wire mesh. However, the type of wood used is important because soft wood is easily eaten by the rats.”
Ecum says the size of the cage should at least be 24 by 12 inches with small wire nets for light. A cage contains about four rats, one male and three females.

The importance of laboratory rats during practical lessons in schools is undeniable, providing proper care to produce standardised and high quality rats is a contributing factor to the quality of science results produced every year. Phionah Nassanga spoke to Aisha Ecum who decided to venture in laboratory rats (white rats) rearing.

Aisha Ecum, a teacher of English and Literature at Mt Olives Kakiri, turned to rearing rats for a side income. Growing up, her parents wanted her to become a doctor, putting much emphasis on the science subjects. Biology and agricultural were her most preferred subjects.
“At Senior Four, my love was for biology and agriculture. I tried working hard in the other science subjects, but did not make it to the science class at A-Level,” she reveals.
Pursuing a Bachelors of Arts in Education, Ecum’s passion for biology and agriculture never seemed to diminish as she kept hoping that one day, she would put the knowledge to use. Ecum started her teaching journey in 2012, putting some savings a side, her dream was to venture into agriculture, a field she had long desired.
“Under normal circumstances, I started getting bored and wanted something outside my teaching career. Something that would give me a broad mentality beyond the teaching curriculum.”
In 2014, Ecum first ventured in watermelons. “I first grew an acre of watermelon, but later realised they required a lot of attention yet I don’t have much time. After the first harvest, I gave up.” Trying her luck elsewhere, she opted for broilers, investing in more than 400 birds. She says at the start the business was a success, untill the time she had to go a way to mark mock papers. Leaving someone else to look after the birds, she can hardly tell what went wrong. “I lost more than 250 birds. This was frustrating,” she recalls.
Ecum later deviated to rearing pigs. “Selling off the 150 birds that were remaining, I bought four pigs and my projection was to have them give birth in six months and sell them off.”

Turning point
Ecum’s turning point came in 2016 when she decided to try her luck rearing laboratory rats.
“By 2016, I almost gave up on agriculture, but when I spoke to one of my friends who was working at the Veterinary school at Makerere University, she revealed to me how she had started rearing laboratory rats, an idea I thought was worth venturing in, because the speculation of students failing biology due to luck of the right specimens to dissect had been the talk from the time I was still in school,” she says.
Grabbing the opportunity, Ecum started with three rats, one male and two female, which she bought from a veterinary school each at Shs30,000.

Gestation
Rats give birth every after six weeks. When well fed, at birth one rat gives birth to 15 to 16 pups.
Four females are placed with one male in one cage. She says two males in a cage bring about fighting among themselves, which is a bad vice.
“Rats have a short gestation period and because of that, cages are most likely to get crowded in a short time.”
However, Ecum says this needs to be managed by moving the pregnant rats to different cages because when left among other rats, the pups might end up being eaten.
After three weeks, the mother rat (dam) is separated from the pups and put in another cage.
Feeding
According to Ecum, this type of rats eat and drink all the time. She says because of their feeding habits, they require consistent supervision. “White rats have a special kind of food called pellets. This type of food is the one recommended, but it is expensive especially if one has a big number of rats. A 70-kilogramme bag of rat pellets cost Shs73,000, and these last for one to two weeks, depending on the number of rats one is rearing,” she says.
However, Ecum supplements the pellets with other foods such as mukene mash mixed with maize flour. She says to boost the immunity of the rats, vitamins such as Vitaflash Amino wsp is added to their drinking water.

Market
“In this kind of business, finding clients is the biggest challenge, but with the proper marketing skills you can secure good sales.” Ecum remarks, noting that being a teacher has positioned her to the right market with the right buyers.
“Being a teacher has helped me market the rats. I make sure to attend workshops and try coordinating with other teachers especially those of biology. I ask them to inform me in time about the type of mocks the students are set to sit for and to let me know once the practical confidential information is out.”
Ecum says this helps her to know the type of spicemen they need.
Students normally dissect four specimens, rats, toads or frogs, cockroaches and at times fish. Other than targeting the final exams, she says, under normal circumstances, schools conduct practical studies.
Ecum also looks at research centres. “A few weeks ago, someone wanted 400 rats, however, we fell out when it came to price. He was offering less.”

Standard size
Ecum says when rearing rats for practical lessons, one needs to keep in mind the recommended standard size by the Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB). “The recommended size is nine to 11 inches long with a tail that is seven to nine inches long. At this stage the internal organs are well developed. The price depends on the size, nine to 11 inches costs Shs30, 000, for the rest you can sell between Shs20,000 and Shs10,000.”

Diseases
Ecum says rats are affected by a number of diseases and the infections you may notice are wheezing, coughing, and open-mouthed breathing.
She notes that mycoplasma, a respiratory disease is one of those farmers need to take note of.
When one realises that the rats are not feeding as expected, it is a clear sign that they are suffering from anorexia.
She says the other disease to worry about is lethargy (body weakness). These are the most common yet hard to identify especially if you rarely supervise them.
“When pregnant, one is advised to immunise the expecting rats and its pups soon after birth. Each injection costs Shs1,000. However, when trained, you can decided to buy the vaccine and do it yourself. This is cheap and will help you prevent some of these diseases.”

Housing
Ecum says before buying the rats, she had to make research on how rats are reared and the type of housing they require.
“Simple cages can be made out of wood and wire mesh. However, the type of wood used is important because soft wood is easily eaten by the rats.”
Ecum says the size of the cage should at least be 24 by 12 inches with small wire nets for light. A cage contains about four rats, one male and three females.