Re: How many breeders should I have?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Andybill
So then when it comes to breeding I read a thread that said something like week 1 male 1 goes with female 1. Do they stay in the tub together for a full week or does that just mean that week you will pair those 2 rats for a couple of days and then you're good? This should be the last question I have so thanks for all the help everybody. :)
That thread means 1 male is breeding to only 1 female at a weeks time. You can leave the pair together in the same tub for a week if you want. But it really only takes one time for the female to become pregnant.
If you have more than 1 female in that tub, the male will mate with all of the females.
This is how I do it:
I house groups of 4 females together, but I don't want them all having litters at the same time so I individually pair rats. I don't have enough snakes to feed all 3-4 litters off at a time, so I breed 1 female every other week. I have a separate breeding tub for my rats to go in when I want then to. I generally leave a breeding pair together for 24 hours. It usually only takes them a few hours to copulate multiple times, so I just remove them after those 24 hours. I keep this breeding tub in my room so I'm able to hear whether or not they breed. (Peak time is around twilight). If they don't breed, I just leave the pair together until they do.
Back to your question. You could house a male/female pair together for a week or you can do it for a few days. It's really preference, but leaving them together for a week will guarantee mating. Females come into heat every 4 days, so she's bound to breed at least one day in that week.
