Third time is a charm? (Ugh. You guys make it look so easy)

So since my first/last post in Nov:

Fed off feeder female kept the first male and female together for two months: no babies/pregnancy
Fed off male, got another male kept together for a month and a half: no babies/pregnancy

I can't remember, but I think somewhere in there I also tried with another female.
I also moved them from the tiny container into a 10gal aquarium
After about 3.5 months of no luck, I gave up.


I gave up back in late Feb and took a few months off and I'm going to start again.

I have a critter keeper that I was holding onto for a pregnant female, and just decided to start in there. I only have one male and one female, both healthy and from Petco. Once they (finally) have babies and they carry on reproducing, I'll have more than enough (I don't see a need to have more than a 1:1 outside of increasing chances, I'll get overwhelmed once they're successful, if all of them are).

So, crossing my fingers it works out this time. I got them Fri night and the male has been persisting her more since (early) this morning, she's refusing, but hopefully she turns up preggo in the next month or so.

If he mounts her and is only there for 0.5 seconds, that isn't her persisting, that is a successful copulation. Best of luck! How large is this female?

It took me a few times before I successfully found a group that would
Consistently produce

Part of the problem is probably one male and one female. I have never had success with that. I need a minimum of two females and one male, and three girls to one male is even better.

It will take time to get it right. It took me a solid three months of trying before I got it to work, and even now I sometimes put groups together that just don't produce. I have had the most success with starting the group young. I try to get three to five females together as soon as they are weaned and eating on their own. I give them about 2 weeks to establish dominance, then I introduce the male. It is best if he's a little bit older than the girls. Sometimes the dominant female will attack the male if he's too young. They will do quite a bit of squabbling and fussing and such, but they should not draw blood. The fighting will usually last a day or two, and then he'll start getting down to business. Roughly 30-45 days after putting them together, you should see the females with big, pregnant bellies. Be aware that loosing the first litter or two is normal. Don't panic. Give them a chance to get it figured out. However, if you loose the second set of litters that should come about a month later, then it's time to try and find the culprit and feed her off. That is another reason to make a group of 4 or 5, so if you have a problem female you must feed, you still have a productive group.

Gale