Breeding rats

[G4series]

Hello everyone, I want to breed rats with the least amount of rats as possible, but still look out for the rats. I heard your suppose to separate the male and female when she is pregnant and that they are social animals, so they should have a buddy. With that in mind, should I get 2 males and 1 female?

[The Serpent Merchant]

generally you want more females then males. Back when I tried breeding rats (smell was too much lol) I had 2 breeding sets. Each set had 1 male and 4 females.

[satomi325]

Yup. You want more males than females. That way you can just maximize rat pup production w/ additional females. Or you can give a female a break while another female breeds.

You can do it a number of ways.
You can keep 1 male in a harem style breeding group w/ multiple females.(You don't need to separate males and females once the female is pregnant. However, the male will breed her right after she gives birth to the current litter. And yes, she will become pregnant again)
Or you can just keep males and females separately and just breed them at your convenience.

I have 11 females in 3 separate enclosures.
And I have 3 males in their own bachelor enclosure.

I individually breed a pair in a separate 'breeding bin' every two weeks.

Females in a group will synchronize their fertility cycle meaning they will all go into heat at once.
I tried dong harem style, but I didn't like having so many litters at once.

[G4series]

Well I don't have many snakes so I don't want more then one litter a month lol.

[satomi325]

You can have 2-3 females. Rats have about a 22 day gestation period.
So that way you can have one w/ a litter, one pregnant, and one resting at a given time. And just rotate the cycle among the females.

And maybe 2 males to house together so ones not alone.

[RobNJ]

I keep my rats in groups of 1:3...they do fine. I never separate anything. I wouldn't put 2 males in with one female ever...

1) Male rats are insatiable...2 males to one female could just be terribly overwhelming for the girl.

2) Unless the 2 males were litter mates, or together from a VERY young age, it just wouldn't work as they'd fight for the female all the time. The fights can get nasty.