Breeding Rats

If I keep them in the barn during the summer time, would I need to have a heat lamp at night? or maybe for the nursery?

I've heard that a litter could consist of 20...is this true? how many do you guys usualy get? How long will it take before they reach 4-6"?

perhaps a mild heat light but if you have some bedding they can nest/burrow in then they should be able to huddle together and or burry themselves to keep the heat up. Also rats are pretty resiliant hence that whole bubonic plague ;) see also; city of New York: "rats" :lol:

oooh! scope this out! may help.
http://health.ratzrus.co.uk/breeding.htm

lol :lol:

I used to live in England so they had the same problem in London.

Thanks for the link.

In your personal opinion, after a liter, do you seperate the males and females or leave them together? Thanks for helping me wiht this!!

I had my own rattery for many years, you can leave them together if you want, but be forwarned, rats can get pregnant again as soon as they deliver... causing way to many. Their litter sizes depend on many things. But usually 7-13 is what I have gotten in my litters. Some times more- some times less. If you choose to separate the females from the males, do so when you notice they are pregnant, and you really dont want to put males in with females whose babies are not his, esp. when they are very young- he will eat young that are not his. It can take any where from 4-8 weeks for a rat to get 4-6 inches...maybe longer, depending on quality of food, genetics..etc. All in all, breeding rats will pay for itself as long as you have several snakes, I think it may be a waste of time and risk of over abundance for just one or 2 snakes. Rats are definately less stinky than mice... Also, I would be careful about leaving the breeding animals out in a barn...first, summer weather should not bother them, but thier stink that they do have and what not will attract other unwanted visitors, also, you may be risking exposure to parasites you may not want your snake/snakes ingesting. Also, do you have sufficient housing or a plan for winter...rats really cannot handle too cold weather, it causes them to get respiratory infections that spread quickly through your colony, and can kill off a colony faster than you realize. Just some thoughts. Hope it helps.


EDIT: For many years there has been a debate over proper bedding for rodents. I have tried many.. with my experience, I do not suggest using pine..the oils in it can cause respiratory problems. Try to use aspen or carefresh. Recently I was reading that someone (a rat breeders site) was using news paper- I do not reccommend doing this, because I have had rats get sick and die from chewing up and eating the newspaper with the ink on it.

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...I think it may be a waste of time and risk of over abundance for just one or 2 snakes.

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Well for me it's this or spend lots of money over the internet...I don't have a petstore around where I live that sells sm. ones. About the over abundance, I figure I could save for the winter.

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Also, do you have sufficient housing or a plan for winter...rats really cannot handle too cold weather...

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I know that this would be a problem...I didn't expect to continue breeding during the cold months...if I have enough rats saved up, I could use those. If by that time she could eat med. ones (which the petstore sells), I could feed her those.


Thanks for all the input! :)

P.S. My family once had rabbits...by accident they bred and since we did not know it the female got pregnant again after the first litter was born and they (the 2nd batch) all died :(

Here's my rat cage. I keep one male and 3 females. That seems good for my one bp.
https://ball-pythons.net/modules/cop...at%20Manor.jpg

Do you feed live, f/t, or fresh?