She's ready to pop - I think!

[jglass38]

Here is our favorite rat. She is so sweet and by the looks of things, ready to give birth any minute. She has been nesting the past few days so I just moved her to a quiet maternity tub. This will be my first litter (if she is really prego of course!)

[Evan Jamison]

Jamie,
She looks preggo, but I would say she has at least another couple days before she drops. They start to look pregnant 5 or 6 days before they go. They honestly look like they are going to burst open right before they give birth, very uncomfortable, and absolutley unmistakable!! How many rats do you have in your breeding colony? Are you planning on producing enough to to feed all your snakes? Anyways, here's to a big healthy litter!!

-Evan

[jglass38]

Jamie,
She looks preggo, but I would say she has at least another couple days before she drops. They start to look pregnant 5 or 6 days before they go. They honestly look like they are going to burst open right before they give birth, very uncomfortable, and absolutley unmistakable!! How many rats do you have in your breeding colony? Are you planning on producing enough to to feed all your snakes? Anyways, here's to a big healthy litter!!

-Evan

Thanks man, this is my first. I have 3.4 right now but i plan to hold a bunch of females back and find some additional ones. I dont think I will ever produce enough to feed everyone but I want to be ready to produce enough for all the hatchlings next year.

[frankykeno]

Oh yeah she sure looks preggo to me LOL. Hard to say when she'll go, some get really huge, some of mine just look very VERY fat then pop, kind of depends on the build of the female and the size of the litter. You'll hear the little pinkie squeeks sometime very soon though.

[Evan Jamison]

3.4 is a good start! You'll probably want to expand after you get some of those litters raised up and fed off, it is just so convenient. I think that getting our breeding colony up to the point that I could feed everyone and have surplus was one of the best decisions I made. Our feeding bill went from $200-250/month down to about $70-80/month. I also sell my surplus to the pet store or other snake owners and falconers so that helps cover the cost of food/bedding too. I jumped in feet first with good sized rodent colonies (about 15.65 rats, and 40.200 mice), and have had to expand the rats a little since then to feed babies. I LOVE having any size food available at any time, it has made keeping a continually growing snake collection that much more enjoyable.

I guess what I'm saying is, I recommend getting a good sized colony going, you won't regret it. Hopefully these first few litters will also help you see the light . Good luck with those guys!!

-Evan

[jglass38]

3.4 is a good start! You'll probably want to expand after you get some of those litters raised up and fed off, it is just so convenient. I think that getting our breeding colony up to the point that I could feed everyone and have surplus was one of the best decisions I made. Our feeding bill went from $200-250/month down to about $70-80/month. I also sell my surplus to the pet store or other snake owners and falconers so that helps cover the cost of food/bedding too. I jumped in feet first with good sized rodent colonies (about 15.65 rats, and 40.200 mice), and have had to expand the rats a little since then to feed babies. I LOVE having any size food available at any time, it has made keeping a continually growing snake collection that much more enjoyable.

I guess what I'm saying is, I recommend getting a good sized colony going, you won't regret it. Hopefully these first few litters will also help you see the light . Good luck with those guys!!

-Evan

Wow..Now that is a big colony! I figured I would try it and see if it works out for me. I dont have a ton of extra space so there will definitely be a limit to how many I can fit. I'll let ya know how it goes though!

[frankykeno]

I can't wait to have the room to expand our rat colony and yes even try again to breed mice *shudder*. Since we now have some seriously mouse imprinted BP's I've got no choice about that and after breeding rats and being able to basically take care of all the snake's needs I truly hate having to pay for mice rodent LOL. So far I've been lucky enough to trade larger feeder rats for my mouse needs but I'd always rather breed my own and know they are well fed and in perfect health.