Re: Heat cycles / Housing choices
Quote:
Originally Posted by
artgecko
Thanks for the advice sorraia- I had originally planned to just put her with him during her heat cycle, but watched for over a week and didn't see any signs of heat in any of the females, I may just not be good at looking for the signs. But there was absolutely no female humping or dilated vaginal openings that I could see. Thus, I resorted to this method, even though it isn't as accurate.
Do you think I need to leave a non pregnant female with her in the birthing tank? Only having 3 females makes things tricky at best, if I do this, someone will be alone, unless I pair the remaining female with the male while the pregnant female / non pregnant one are together.
Hopefully, when I get my additional females from the breeder I talked to, this will be resolved. Then I should have a group of five, plus any female pups I keep from this litter.
One other question: I have been reading an interesting article (the virtual mentor) for rat breeding, and she suggested only keeping back females from your first few litters. Do you agree with this? I will hopefully be bringing in 2f/2m from the breeder, so in theory, I could use those males for breeding (but I have yet to see their quality).
It isn't necessary to keep a friend with the pregnant rat. after breeding, you can leave the girls together for 2 weeks, then separate the pregnant one for the remainder of her pregnancy. That minimizes her time away.
the virtual mentor has some good info, but it is also one person's opinion. I know that person, and I'm just going to suffice to say, not everything is as it appears. *i* say keep your best rats from your litters,regardless whether they come from the first or tenth. It really doesn't matter. If your first litter produces an 8,so you keep that baby, but your second litter produces a 10,why would you throw away the 10 just because it wasn't from the first litter? Makes no sense. You keep the best of the best you produce, regardless when they were produced, and then bed those best of the best to other best of the best. breed up for improvement, instead of breeding down.
