How to reintroduce male to females?

I've been looking into starting a small colony of rats. I was planning on removing the male to give females a break period and to slow their breeding down a bit. How hard is it to reintroduce a male to say 2 females in a tank? or would it be better to intro females to his tank one at a time? If that is the case how hard would it be to put females back together? I might need 3 females need to sit down and figure out the averages to allow the mothers a little break, but ya'll should get my general question on being able to seperate and reintro them. Thanks

The only time I have problems is if you put two breeder sized males together with females present. The males probably will fight and hurt each other bad. Other than that you shouldn't have a problem reintroducing they may fight a little at first to establish the pecking order but I doubt anything serious.

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Originally Posted by jason79

The only time I have problems is if you put two breeder sized males together with females present. The males probably will fight and hurt each other bad. Other than that you shouldn't have a problem reintroducing they may fight a little at first to establish the pecking order but I doubt anything serious.

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Thanks, I wasn't sure if rats were as bad with introduction as mice. I had a colony of mice before and the females were actually the worst with introductions. I of course will probably make sure introductions are made on cleaning day to help eliminate some of the issues.

As long as your male is a MALE and not a male
then re-introducing is usually not a problem at all :P

Rats are rarely aggressive with each other. Right now I have two males in the same tub as a bunch of females, but one is a retired breeder that I've been waiting to die for over six months now-his manhood shriveled up long ago. I don't normally keep my breeder males together, just so I know who carries what genes.

I breed by cycling the females. They go into the breeder tub, into nursing tubs when they get big, their babies go to grow out tubs while mom gets a break, then mom goes back into the breeding tub. I've never had a problem with introductions, they just sniff each other like crazy.

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Originally Posted by SlitherinSisters

Rats are rarely aggressive with each other. Right now I have two males in the same tub as a bunch of females, but one is a retired breeder that I've been waiting to die for over six months now-his manhood shriveled up long ago. I don't normally keep my breeder males together, just so I know who carries what genes.

I breed by cycling the females. They go into the breeder tub, into nursing tubs when they get big, their babies go to grow out tubs while mom gets a break, then mom goes back into the breeding tub. I've never had a problem with introductions, they just sniff each other like crazy.

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Is your nursing tubs with a single female or do you put multiple moms in a tub? My wife has a thing with pack animals having to have friends.....one of the many reasons our house is a zoo. Also what tub size would be best for a 1.3 group? I have a 55gallon glass tank that I could use but ventilation wise not sure if that would be a wise choice especially if all 4 were in there at once.

The best advice given to me when it comes to feeders breeding it to take the females to the males cage. Not the other way around. They may defend their territory. Just like with rabbits! Haha.

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Originally Posted by bokuza

The best advice given to me when it comes to feeders breeding it to take the females to the males cage. Not the other way around. They may defend their territory. Just like with rabbits! Haha.

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LOL alright sounds like his tank will be deemed the cat-house.

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Originally Posted by chaoticstone

Is your nursing tubs with a single female or do you put multiple moms in a tub? My wife has a thing with pack animals having to have friends.....one of the many reasons our house is a zoo. Also what tub size would be best for a 1.3 group? I have a 55gallon glass tank that I could use but ventilation wise not sure if that would be a wise choice especially if all 4 were in there at once.

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I only keep one female per nursing tub. Females sometimes fight over babies, and the babies end up dead. If you keep multiple females together your bound to lose some babies, if you don't mind, it's no big deal. Some females will get along and never kill the babies, but I don't like the risk. My moms are only alone in the tub one week at a time.

My nursing tubs
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t...rats/005-1.jpg

Before Watering System
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t...s/ASFs/015.jpg

My breeding tubs, they are the long/tall storage tubs-this shows only about 1/3 of the length
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t...a/rats/003.jpg

chuck woolery..... The Love Connection..