Photos of my new rats

[Awaiting Abyss]

Here are photos of my new rats since the others wouldn't show up for some people in the last thread.. Also, it includes pictures of the three females I got from the strange breeder... I also got three more males today from another breeder (who was much more knowledgeable about rats lol) who I don't have pictures of yet.. but I'll add pictures of them when I take some
My plans are to see which boys have better personalities and health and then breed those with the females.
I'd like to have a few strictly feeder breeding rats... do you guys typically leave female and male rats together at all times to breed feeders? Or is it the same as pet breeding- just adding the male to breed and then separating?



This is Socrates- beige? dumbo buck. He is my husband's favorite and was named by my husband.


This is Cicero- agouti dumbo buck.


Cicero again.


This is Archimedes- champagne hooded buck.


Archimedes again.


This is Sweetie Belle- marked black eyed white doe.


This is Apple Bloom- blue capped doe with a blaze.


Apple Bloom again.


This is Scootaloo- black capped doe with a blaze.


Scootaloo again.


This is the rex bareback dumbo boy named Aristotle... I haven't decided yet if I'm going to keep him. He is a very poor rex, only slight curls in his fur. I'm going to wait and see what his personality is like.


Aristotle, Cicero and Scootaloo.


Aristotle and Socrates.


Archimedes, Celestia (the beige bareback girl), Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom.


Sweetie Belle and Cadence (beige? Dove? bareback girl).


Cadence and Luna (I dunno which is which... they are almost identical except Luna has a spot on her back)


Apple Bloom... with her reflection.


Luna.

[Awaiting Abyss]

Anyone?

[BulkMice]

Very nice rats my good sir.

[Kat_Dog]

BEW rats are so pretty :O

I'm jealous.


I keep the girls and boys together for 2 weeks before I separate them. I like to keep moms alone with no other rats in with her.

There are people who just leave them together all the time and they do fine.

[MrLang]

I dont see the need for 3 bucks but they look great. After they have been separated and with females be very careful about reintroducing the males to each other.

[Awaiting Abyss]

I'm a girl. Owo

I have 7 bucks out of the babies and 6 does. I just got 3 more bucks yesterday that are not pictured, so that brought the number from 4 to 7 baby bucks.

I plan on only breeding some. The others I will cull or they will be pets, since my adult girl and neutered boy are getting older.

[satomi325]

I'd like to have a few strictly feeder breeding rats... do you guys typically leave female and male rats together at all times to breed feeders? Or is it the same as pet breeding- just adding the male to breed and then separating?

I personally don't leave the male in with the females 24/7 throughout their breeding life.
When you leave the male in, they breed to the females during their post-partum estrus (The heat that takes place hours after the birth of a litter). So then your females are birthing one litter after another with no recovery time.

I rotate 1 male throughout my rack every week or two, which gives me 1-2 litters a week. One litter a week is enough to feed my snakes for that whole week so that particular schedule works well for me. I used to keep multiple males, but I was tired of them fighting with each other whenever I reintroduced them to each other. It's just easier on the boys to just not see other breeding males, in my opinion. Plus they probably like being the sole dominant king of the colony. lol
Some people do have multiple males, but they usually are assigned to one tub of females each and kept in there the whole time.

After a litter is weaned, I introduce the male back in with the female. So this gives her a pretty decent break compared to if she had to care for a litter back to back. And in my opinion, you get more out of a female this way. She isn't so worn or exhausted. But if you only breed a female once or twice, I think that is kind of a waste since housing/feeding/caring for your rats will outweigh the cost of feeding your reptiles.

[BulkMice]

Very nice rats my good sir.

Very nice rats madam.

[Awaiting Abyss]

I've had rats for many years and I've never had issues introducing males.

These rats will be pets above all else. I'm wanting to eventually become a pet rat breeder once I get my lines to where I want them as far as health goes.

I would give my girls a break from breeding like I do with my mice, but I find some females handle breeding better than others.

[satomi325]

I suppose the question is, have you had breeding males and mature females in the same vicinity? I had males together fine for a long time until they started breeding. Then I stopped housing males together once one male pulled the intestines out of another while he was still alive.... I culled both. But I still don't house mature breeding males together.