How big are your litters?

[AndEGA]

Mine are between 8 and 12 pups.

[GoingPostal]

Just started breeding rats but so far 15 and 16 were the first litters produced.

[sorraia]

Anyone talking about growth rates in smaller litters being higher is 100% correct! In the show business (well this is talking about mice specifically, but it transfers to rats, and ASFs also), we take litters down to 6 or less, and when compared to babies from litters 7+ they grow practically twice as fast, I would estimate 40% faster size increase. And they grow up to be healthier (and probably more nutritious!) mice with larger bodies and more fat and muscle.

Also, if you're looking for plenty of big pups for feeders, male pups grow faster than female pups. If you can tell the difference early on, and you're breeding strictly for feeders, it might not be a bad idea to keep more male babies around if you take out any pinkies for feeding to another critter.

I know a number of big time rat breeders who culled their litters down to 6 babies maximum. Some of them would not sell rats to other breeders unless those breeders also culled, because they believed so strongly it was better for moms and babies. Those rats were on the show table and winning ribbons so much faster than any other rats. I never had the stomach to cull like that, but there's no denying smaller litters do fare better.

[J.P.]

i get 12-15 pinkies per litter....i do not cull pinkies for the sake of trimming down litters, but i do feed them off to hatchling snakes as soon as possible until about 8-10 remain. the rest of the litter grow faster and momma rat is not worn down at weaning time, almost ready to be bred again.
whenever i want to groom replacement breeders, i cut down a litter to about 6, i then remove any males as soon as possible, then the remaining females stay with mom until they wean on their own.

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i get 12-15 pinkies per litter....i do not cull pinkies for the sake of trimming down litters, but i do feed them off to hatchling snakes as soon as possible until about 8-10 remain. the rest of the litter grow faster and momma rat is not worn down at weaning time, almost ready to be bred again.
whenever i want to groom replacement breeders, i cut down a litter to about 6, i then remove any males as soon as possible, then the remaining females stay with mom until they wean on their own.

[Pandora Morphs]

My average litters range between 10-16, I feed them furry friends rodent fude. So they are getting healthy rat food not dog food the babies are big and healthy and the moms lay 6-7 litters before i replace them.

[Annageckos]

My rats always have 18+ for their first litter. After that the numbers start to drop and most end up having 13-16 on average. I too like smaller litters because they grow faster. I try to feed off the females first since the males get bigger faster.

[MissFangs]

I usually get litters varying a lot.. Some first-time mommas get 3-4 large pinkies, and then I'll get a first-time momma who has 10+ really small pinkies! It's always magical when you see the babies for the first time.

[bunnykit]

I rarely see less than 12 babies in my litters, females that produce less than 9 twice in a row gets culled out and replaced by a new female.
My rats are medium size, a bit on the small side, but produce lovely looking show quality rats, better with every generation.
I work a lot on the temperament and have been working on my lines for a little more than one year. In the beginning I had several females that dropped 16-24 babies per litter, but those babies were small and a bunch of them didn't make it. I still get happy when I get a litter of 16-19 now though, but most are, on average, 14.7 in numbers, so the average rat gives me babies in the 12-16 range.
I don't mate my females right away when they birth (the 24hrs after birth heat), I mate them again when I have removed all babies after 3-8 weeks and she comes in heat again from weaning the babies. For some females I cull/remove a whole litter of pinkies, but typically I will remove some as pinkies or babies to feed my young snakes, and keep a few to gain size and feed my adult snakes.

[D&G]

It took me over 2 years to breed a female to drop over 20 babies, the trick is having the moms to raise them. What I do is breed babies to give to wet nurse moms. I have 3 moms per tub to raise one batch of babies. I have 102 tubs going full time, I take the babies as soon as they are born and add them to the mix. I have found the babies grow twice as fast and are much healthier. When the number drop below 20 I will replace the breeder. I found by crossing the Himalayans I can make huge litters. The breeders will wear out fast but the largest nursing females I can produce can handle all the babies I give them. I know its weird but I have found this way far superior to produce more rats than any other way so far.