My new rats

[Schaub]

I got myself some rats. I want to breed to hopefully cut down on my feeder costs. I already love these guys! I like them much more than the soft furs I have. I have 2 males and 2 females.

If anyone has any tips for me about rats, I'd love to hear them. I've been doing a lot of research, but I still have a lot of questions...

Anyways, without further ado, meet Violet, Casper, Bernard, and Bianca!



Sorry for the crappy cell phone pics

[satomi325]

I love them! Super cute little guys! Congrats.

What sort of questions do you have?

[MootWorm]

Awesome! Welcome to the other half of the addiction . My best advice is to feed high quality chow, give plenty of chew toys and spoil them rotten lol. If your rats are friendly, they're much more receptive to you stealing their babies lol. Feel free to ask any and all questions!

[ROACH]

I dont know about anyone else, but I dont think you need 2 Males with 2 Females. I have 1 male to 3 females and get plenty of babies. I think 1 male takes care of all 3 females with no problem. I just lost a pregnant one today due to difficulty giving birth. She was really hugh! I just grabbed another young female and put her in to replace it.

[Schaub]

Thanks everyone!


QUOTE=ROACH;2155094]I dont know about anyone else, but I dont think you need 2 Males with 2 Females. I have 1 male to 3 females and get plenty of babies. I think 1 male takes care of all 3 females with no problem. I just lost a pregnant one today due to difficulty giving birth. She was really hugh! I just grabbed another young female and put her in to replace it.[/QUOTE]


Well, I originally only got 3 (1 males, 2 females) but I know loner rats can get depressed, so I had to go back for the other boy because he was the last one left. Thats the only reason for my two boys. But that brings me to one of my questions: now that I have both boys, should they have separate homes or live together? I haven't found any information on whether or not males will fight each other over females.

Also, do momma rats need to be separated or can all the moms live together? Assuming none of the mothers are eating the babies..

I should mention that I plan to get more females and try the system explained in the 'Should I breed? How many to breed?' sticky. This is just my beginner group.

[ROACH]

Thanks everyone!


QUOTE=ROACH;2155094]I dont know about anyone else, but I dont think you need 2 Males with 2 Females. I have 1 male to 3 females and get plenty of babies. I think 1 male takes care of all 3 females with no problem. I just lost a pregnant one today due to difficulty giving birth. She was really hugh! I just grabbed another young female and put her in to replace it.

Well, I originally only got 3 (1 males, 2 females) but I know loner rats can get depressed, so I had to go back for the other boy because he was the last one left. Thats the only reason for my two boys. But that brings me to one of my questions: now that I have both boys, should they have separate homes or live together? I haven't found any information on whether or not males will fight each other over females.

Also, do momma rats need to be separated or can all the moms live together? Assuming none of the mothers are eating the babies..

I should mention that I plan to get more females and try the system explained in the 'Should I breed? How many to breed?' sticky. This is just my beginner group.[/QUOTE]

Like I said, I have 1 male and 3 females together. I dont seperate any of them even before, during or after birth. I think I have read that some people do seperate their prego mammas, but I dont. I do know that the females will all share in the feeding of the babies, at least mine do. I have had some babies just up and vanish, but nothing on a large scale. Im no expert on raising Rats so I dont know what is the best ratio is to have in each housing, but 1 to 3 works fine for me. I have a rat rack of 6 tubs for breeding and several tanks for weaning and growing. As for keeping the males together, honestly I dont know if they will fight over the females. Maybe someone else can answer that one for you.

[Schaub]

Thanks for your advice, Roach.

[MootWorm]

Hmm I'm not sure if they would fight over the ladies. One potential issue I see is one female bearing the brunt of their 'affection'. I house my rats in pairs or trios now. Originally, I tried putting my two breeder males together in a tub when I was giving my females a break. Now, these two had grown up together, previously been fine with cohabbing, but for some reason they started beating the crap out of each other. And all this was without the presence of a female rat for them to fight over...

I ended up having to separate them, and bring in some new girls to put In their tubs.

[satomi325]

Just wait and see how it turns out when they're older. Some males can live peacefully together in the presences of females, and sometimes they'll fight to the death. It just depends on the males.

Once I had a tub of males all related to each other. I accidentally put a female in because I thought it was an extra male.
And a few days later I saw it....All of the males were taking turns breeding with the female with no squabble or fighting. It was the craziest thing I've seen in a while because all my previous experience with males have been them fighting for dominance.
It reminded me of male lion coalitions where they form a male group and take over a pride and both(or more) males end up co-leading/breeding with the females.

You can leave females together when they have babies. They help each other nurse and care for the pups.

[Ronin]

They are soooo adorable!! I am into breeding ASF's and you don't need to separate them at all. Even the male rats will help with the raising of the young. I have been thinking about getting into breeding regular rats, and I remember reading somewhere that you put the male in with the females for about two weeks when the females are in heat. Then after that you take them out and keep them separate. I remember reading (hopefully I am right) that the males are known to eat the young, but they are OK living with other males because they get depressed when by themselves.