New to breeding. Have a few newb questions.

[mckaax]

1. How do you sex the babies?

2. How many females can I keep together in a 10 gallon tank during recovery?

3. How many rats can I keep in a 10 gal grow out cage.

[Elise.m]

1. How do you sex the babies?

2. How many females can I keep together in a 10 gallon tank during recovery?

3. How many rats can I keep in a 10 gal grow out cage.

1. Either popping or probing. Please research how to do these, youtube videos, threads, etc.

2. If you're talking about full grown females recovering after laying eggs... None. They should be in separate tanks/tubs. Tanks probly need to be ~30G, tubs should be at least 28qt or higher.

3. I don't know, I don't raise rats.

[Jay_Bunny]

1. Either popping or probing. Please research how to do these, youtube videos, threads, etc.

2. If you're talking about full grown females recovering after laying eggs... None. They should be in separate tanks/tubs. Tanks probly need to be ~30G, tubs should be at least 28qt or higher.

3. I don't know, I don't raise rats.

*points to board title* I believe the OP was asking about breeding rats, not snakes.

1. It is best if you have two babies to compare. If you are talking about sexing pinkie rats, then I'm not so good at sexing those, but once they are a week or two old, it becomes rather easy, especially once they start growing in fur. If you look at a baby rat who has just gotten its fur, if you see nipple spots, its a girl. If not, its a boy. (Of course, this is only visible for a short period of time once the full fur has come in, usually around 2-3 weeks old.) If you look at the genitals, the genitals of a male are further from the anus than that of a female. Usually, the vagina of a female is rather close to the anus.

2. If you are talking about full grown female rats recovering after raising a litter, I would recommend only housing 1 rat in a 10g tank, 2 at the very most. More than that is overcrowding.

3. If you are talking about weaned rats that you are intending to raise up, I would say no more than 4-5 and that is only if you are starting with 4 week old babies. Once they reach 10 weeks or so, its time to move them into something larger.

In all honesty, if you are looking to breed rats, I would advise against 10g tanks. They are just too small a tank to be working with when you are breeding. If you want to use them as nursery tanks or tanks for individual rats, that is fine, but trying to house multiple rats in them long term is just not good for the rats. Not to mention you will have to clean them practically all the time. I recommend using tubs or larger tanks.

[snakesRkewl]

1. How do you sex the babies?

The males at birth have a larger "knob" and it's further away from the "pooper"
I sex babies the day their born.
Flip em over, pull the loose skin on the back to tighten up the skin on the belly and the organs will stand out better.

2. How many females can I keep together in a 10 gallon tank during recovery?

None, 10 gallon tanks are for fish, rats don't do well in glass tanks.

3. How many rats can I keep in a 10 gal grow out cage.

Same as #2, wire cages or racks built for rats are a much better way of keeping any of the rats, hold over or not.
If your hold overs get myco being in a glass tank and then it spreads to your breeders....no fun

[Elise.m]

Oh wow, I completely failed. I guess that's the bad thing about google reader sometimes.

This became the laugh of my day.

Disregard my first post please!

[Shenzi Sixaxis]

1. How do you sex the babies?

2. How many females can I keep together in a 10 gallon tank during recovery?

3. How many rats can I keep in a 10 gal grow out cage.

1. Ehh, it's hard. Isn't there a sticky? When they're about 1-2 weeks old it's easy.

2. NONE! Unless you are keeping a female with no little in there.

3. Not many.


Invest in a proper rack, not 10g tanks or tanks at all.

[bad-one]

Here's a link that should help you sex pinkies-adults. Just scroll on down to the rat section

http://www.afrma.org/sexing101.htm

The difference is easier to see in person, so once you get the concept down you can sex them very reliably at birth. Basically, with new borns- no space between uretha and anus = girl. Space and a slight bulge= male.

I agree with everyone else, 10 gals and tanks in general should be avoided. Rats need good ventillation!