Can you help me?

[Seeker]

I keep forgetting that there is a breeding sub-section. Not sure if people have posted, or asked about this; assuming the size of the sub-section I am sure someone has. So I am asking again; maybe some new tips, and tricks will come forth in rat breeding. So here's my problem: Hungry snakes, and local pet shops getting richer do to my easy $30 a week rat habit. I am trying to breed my rats. I have 9 rats. 6 girls 3 boys. One of my boys I believe is sterile so he is out of the picture. We have had them together for several months with out a single litter. I think they are all old enough to breed. They would be classified in the medium rat size. The person we bought 5 of the from says that they where about 5-6 months old. They boink just about all the time. I remove the male after a boinking session, and give the girls a couple of weeks to see if there is any signs of pregnancy. I rotate my males every few weeks in hopes of getting someone giving a litter.

So what can I do different?

[Seeker]

No Help?

[Sama]

How long are the males in with the girls? If your rotating males I would leave them in for a week to 2 weeks straight. You should be able to tell if the females get pregnant, they start to look like they swallowed a baseball about 2 to 3 weeks in. 6 months should be breeding, what size cages are they in and how many to a cage? Have any of the girls looked pregnant?

[Seeker]

I leave the male in for about a week. Two of my girls are in a 10 gallon tank. Right now my other two girls, and one male is in a multilevel cage. where they can climb and such. And my last 2 girls, and male are in another larger multistory cage. They are all still in my room for the peace. If I have then any where else the kids won't leave them alone. I thought a couple of times they did so I pulled the male and place him with the other male just in case, and if I don't see any thing with in 3 weeks after pulling him I introduce the other male.

[Sama]

They are 6 months now or they where 6 months a few months ago. I'm better with mice, but some rats mature slower then others. Although after 6 months of age they should be producing. If they are first time mom they will occasionally lose their first litter, although rats are better with their babies then mice. Still I have had one or 2 first time moms freak out and lose a first litter and not leave sign unless you know what to look for. You said they are in the house? So temperatures should not be an issue. What are you feeding them? I need to go to bed but for starters I would just try leaving the males in until you KNOW he got the job done, very very rarelly have I had a male harm babies, so if you miss the signs or they have a small litter you shouldn't lose them if you didn't notice to take the male out. I tired and I hope that made sense. Make sure they have plenty of food and water at all times and occasionally a little extra protein for pregnant and nursing moms dosn't hurt.

If you do have a litter, make sure the mom isn't buring them to hide them. I have one mom who always does this, without digging through her bedding I never know if she has babies or not. At least twice now I thought she lost her litter just to see then all alive and well a few days later. Also be careful about switching bucks when you have nursing babies, on occasion the new buck will kill babies if they arn't his/ if he wasn't there when they where born.

[PitOnTheProwl]

When I started I left my groups together all the time.
If you have 3.6 ratio I would spilt it to 1.3 and leave the males in for 2 weeks and this gives your 3rd male a break in his own cage.
I seem to remember having troubles getting them started too and now I have 22 tubs going LOL

Also I would use the cages for breeding instead og the tank, it holds a lot of amonia in it and will give you problems. I tried everything because we had a ton of 20Ls and never got anything to work. Yes I even drilled them to give air flow near the bottom but the rats would push the bedding up against the holes