Re: Photos of my new rats
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Awaiting Abyss
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.
Re: Photos of my new rats
Quote:
Originally Posted by
BulkMice
Very nice rats my good sir.
Very nice rats madam. :D
