Starting a small colony

I have 1 male living with 5 females. I also have several other tanks with feeder rats in them and I generally have an additional 10 rats that are not breeders being housed. The harem has been living together for what seems like a month now or close to. I have noticed that the rats in the breeding tub are growing much faster then my non breeding feeders and I am hoping that is a sign that they might be pregnant?? I currently have about 30 snakes that I need to feed and by this time next year I am hoping to be at about 150 snakes so I need to figure out my rat breeding as soon as possible. This first colony was created mostly for an educational experiment for myself before fully investing into rat breeding. If anyone could give me an idea as far as how long the total mating to baby rat timeline will take I would appreciate it. I have read plenty of information online but I haven't found any real experience posts that say how long it takes from initial pairing in a harem to when the babies are born. Any help is appreciated. Thanks!!!

21-30 days us what I am seeing. I have caught them in the act and sometime in a month I have pinkiesn check the females for sperm plugs and its a good indicator she was mated. Its hit and miss.

I usually see pinkies anywhere from 3-5 weeks after introduction. Females go into heat every 5 or so days. I've noticed that my first timers take a few cycles to take, but my experienced moms get pregnant very easily and I usually see pinkies closer to 21-25 days after introduction. If you plan on that many snakes, you will probably want to invest in rat racks and keep 1.2 or 1.3 groups. I only have 20 snakes and I have a 6 tub rat rack with 6 litters and 6 females in with males and I'm still not feeding my live-only eaters.

Thanks for the help! I will have to look into the rack systems. I am worried about the smell though. Eventually I will move the operation into my own shop or with luck I can use about 2500sq st of my fathers shop which would allow me to really get some things going. I currently have had my females in with the male for 30-45 days and I can't even tell if one is pregnant. Hopefully any day now something will happen.

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Originally Posted by alan12013

Thanks for the help! I will have to look into the rack systems. I am worried about the smell though. Eventually I will move the operation into my own shop or with luck I can use about 2500sq st of my fathers shop which would allow me to really get some things going. I currently have had my females in with the male for 30-45 days and I can't even tell if one is pregnant. Hopefully any day now something will happen.

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I keep my rats in my clothes closet because that's the only space I have for them right now until after I move. I manage to keep the smell down by simply cleaning the tubs about every 4-5 days. It's really not that bad at all.

As for your females, if they are first timers, sometimes it takes them 3-4 weeks to finally get pregnant. You will know when they are about a week out from delivering because they look very round and swollen.

Currently my rats don't stink but I only have the 6 plus the 3 mice that I am also trying to breed. I also have anywhere between 1-10 feeder rats that rotate in and out of the tanks I have set up. If I am still in my condo next year though I might hesitate turning an entire room into a rodent breeding facility because of the smell though. I'm in a condo and worried my neighbors will smell it. If you think that it wouldn't get any worse by adding a whole bunch of extra rats on top of what I have now then without hesitation I will fill my room top to bottom with rats lol. I do have a lot of time to clean the tanks and almost all my free time now is spent taking care of the reptiles and rodents.

Depends on how many rats you plan to add. In my 6 tub rack, right now I have 2.17 (I rotate the females) and about 35-40 pinkies - pups. I change the bedding every 4 days and I don't notice a smell. If I do notice it get unusually stinky, I change the bedding early. The mice are going to be your problem. Mice STINK. I don't like working with mice. But the rats won't be too bad. You can also put some pure vanilla in the water bottles to help with the smell. I don't do this, but some people swear by it. I'm sure you can search in the forum and find out exactly how much vanilla to add (just make sure it's PURE and not the fake vanilla)

Many times the rats take extra long to get pregnant the first time, since you just put them all together and it's new space and all.

Once they get rolling, it should be a routine production!