Rats quit breeding

[DemmBalls]

I'm looking for some insight.

I have a rat colony in a rack system. The rack is 6 shelves high and kept in masonry tubs from lowes. We have 2 females per tub and rotate a male through each tub as needed and keep him there for about 2-3 weeks at a time...Which is longer than typically required. We used to get great production this way.

Lately our production has stopped completely...We haven't had a litter in about 2 months and we are still rotating males. The only factor that I can think of is we switched from from a mixture of various pet store "Rat Foods" to a mix of 12% sweet feed and high quality dog food (I forget the brand at the moment). I have friends who use a very similar diet and they have great production.

Would the change in diet cause the rats to quite breeding? Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

[marwari31]

How old are your females? Typically after 3 or 4 litters mine would not be as willing to breed.
If that's not the case, it's probably the food. It can take them a few months to get used to a new food. Or it could be too hot. I don't know where you are but here in PA we have had heat waves up close to 100* and that could make them stop breeding


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[Anatopism]

What is the actual protein and fat content of your new food? How old are your males, and females?

[2kdime]

How hot is it where you keep your feeders?

[RobertVDK]

If the only thing that changed is the food, then I would suspect that's the problem. If room temps are the same, and all other practices....either go back to the original mix, or be patient...and hope they come around.

I seem to have too much production, with all my snakes off food....hard to predict what animals will do

[DemmBalls]

Hmmm...Glad you guys mentioned the temps. Most of our house does not have AC, so their room temp is mostly dictated by the outside temp. They are kept in a sun room of sorts and we leave the windows all open in their room for air circulation. Temps could also be the issue here I suppose. In fact they have not bred since the first heat wave of the season.

So, will i just not have rats until the fall?

[RobertVDK]

Hmmm...Glad you guys mentioned the temps. Most of our house does not have AC, so their room temp is mostly dictated by the outside temp. They are kept in a sun room of sorts and we leave the windows all open in their room for air circulation. Temps could also be the issue here I suppose. In fact they have not bred since the first heat wave of the season.

So, will i just not have rats until the fall?

Yup, sounds like the temp. Try to keep them around 70 if you can year round...if not, expect some production issues. They really wouldn't be thrilled about being in a sun room in the summer....too hot for...well...you get it.

[2kdime]

You can try putting a bunch of fans on em to try and keep them cooler

But sounds like thats the issue

Switching up food I always noticed either more or less smell and more or less consumption of food.

That then translated to more or less frequent cleanings as the smell built up faster with the cheaper food.

Try and get em down to between 70 and 80 and Ill bet it picks back up.