Breeding Questions

[Miss_Ann_Thrope]

Okays a some questions for you. Right now I have a setup of one male rat and two female rats in a 20g. Now the first question is how do you prevent your rats from over breeding in a setup like that? I don't want that to happen to my female considering that one of the females just had a litter about 3 wks ago (a friend just gave her to me) She also came with two babies.

Second question is how to you tell when a female is too old to breed? Was wondering this because of my second female. She is a large/jumbo female and I don't know anything about her. She was the only rat that wasn't pregnant in the cage when I got her.

My male has been with the females for a few days now. He will get behind them and get in the position but then just get right back off. This is normal right?

So I think Thats all.

[Nate]

Not too big on rat breeding, but based on what I have read around here, you may need a second enclosure for the male to control the population.

[Emilio]

You need to get the male out into another tank. And there is no way to know how old the bigger one is hopefully she's not over the hill.Try her out maybe she will produce for you , one of my females is from petco and i got her from their large selection's and she aleady dropped a litter. If I had to estimate her age it would probably be 6 month's old.

[joepythons]

Okays a some questions for you. Right now I have a setup of one male rat and two female rats in a 20g. Now the first question is how do you prevent your rats from over breeding in a setup like that? I don't want that to happen to my female considering that one of the females just had a litter about 3 wks ago (a friend just gave her to me) She also came with two babies.

Second question is how to you tell when a female is too old to breed? Was wondering this because of my second female. She is a large/jumbo female and I don't know anything about her. She was the only rat that wasn't pregnant in the cage when I got her.

My male has been with the females for a few days now. He will get behind them and get in the position but then just get right back off. This is normal right?

So I think Thats all.

I have a 40 breeder size enclosure and a 37(old weird size) and in each i have 1 male with several females.When i notice the females getting the pear shapes i remove them to a seperate 10 gal tank with just them in it.After the babies are born and i remove the babies(depending on size i need) after 21 days mom stays in the 10gal for about a week or so to get her self back some weight.I do this for several reason,first my litters are larger as most moms tend to kill the babies when they become nervous from others messing with there babies.Second it gives the mother a chance to recouperate as she will not be rebred by the male shortly after given birth.Now as far as the larger female she might be to old to breed anymore,since she was the only one not pregnant when you got her.Now the male getting on then off is he young? He may not have the total concept figured out just yet lol.If not then maybe the females are letting him know they do not want his attention anymore .I have never observed this in any of my rats ever.

[Evan Jamison]

Okays a some questions for you. Right now I have a setup of one male rat and two female rats in a 20g. Now the first question is how do you prevent your rats from over breeding in a setup like that? I don't want that to happen to my female considering that one of the females just had a litter about 3 wks ago (a friend just gave her to me) She also came with two babies.

You can either pull out poppa when the girls are preggo, or pull out the females to drop and raise their litters in their own maternal tubs.

Second question is how to you tell when a female is too old to breed? Was wondering this because of my second female. She is a large/jumbo female and I don't know anything about her. She was the only rat that wasn't pregnant in the cage when I got her.

If she only has 3 or 4 pups per litter, or she just doesn't get pregnant anymore she is getting up there in age. If you go a month or so without her starting to look pregnant, she is likely over the hill. Our females produce good sized litters for about a year before the litter size starts dropping off.

My male has been with the females for a few days now. He will get behind them and get in the position but then just get right back off. This is normal right?

If your girls are going into heat, he will get the job done. You probably won't see the act unless they are in a room that you occupy often, though you may hear them. If you do see it, it will be a little rougher than him just getting on and back off. He will usually chase them around a little and do his thing often during that short window of time.

Hope this helps.

-Evan

[Miss_Ann_Thrope]

The male is medium size so he should be able to mate.

In your experience which seems to work better, placeing the females in seperate tubs (what size would be best) or tanks when pregnant or just removing the male.

And when this happens when should the male place back in with the females?

[frankykeno]

Umm how to put this delicately....you won't see much action as male rats are rather....speedy.


Mine just seem to bother the females until they figure out they aren't welcome anymore and then just hang out hoping somebody will please come into season LOL. When the females show a distinct pear shape I pull them out into individual 10 gallon tanks where they continue the last week or so of pregnancy in peace, eat like pigs, build their nest and then deliver and rear their young till weaning age. I usually give my females a couple of weeks after weaning their litter to rest and recover in a female only enclosure, before they go back in with the male.

My two male breeders basically live in a male only cage. When both are in "use" one male stays in that cage with his female rats, the other male goes to a big tank where he gets his breeding females or just hangs out with some male feeders for company if he's not needed as a breeder that cycle. I always breed my females in pairs so each male would have two females in with him. After they've done their jobs they go back to being lazy male rats again in their stud cage (nice work if you can get it LOL).

[Bdadawg]

Pulling males or females is personal choice. On my pet lines I prefer to pull the males ... this allows the females to help each other out with nursing. There are a few things to watch out for ... like the princess ... who will just pawn the litter off on the other female(s) and not do any nursing ... if you find one of these she'll need to get put into her own enclosure with a litter.

Male rats breed in about 2 seconds ... they then check themselves and chase her down again. This can last for hours or until the female starts putting her foot in his face. I've noticed that certain foods will put the male into an amorous mood ... It seems to be peanuts (unsalted), chicken, turkey, fish, or pasta ... they are all high energy food and this may be the reason.

Hair starts to thin out on females with age ... If its starting to look thin she is probably more than a year old ... however you can get this same trait with rexes or double rexes.

Put them back together about 4 weeks after the litter is born ... thi should put the rats at about weaned size where they are starting to eat and drink on their own.

Bryan

[Miss_Ann_Thrope]

Okay Thank you all for your help. It is much appericated.