my pregnant ratties

thanks jo. i think i'll move them in a couple of days then... give them time to get used to their new surroundings before they birth.

i'll put in lots of carefresh as well in case they want to build a wall LOL

I have all those thing you guys mentioned. I have one of them chube tubes i got at petsmart as well as an "iglo" hide and a wheel. I only have 6 mice though5females to one male so its not as bad as buying all those toys if i had hundreds of mce like some profesional breeders. So im assuming providing a wheel to all those enclosers is really expensive so it might be out of the question for them. Most the picture i seen from people who breed in large quantaties usually dont have any toys, so i was wondering if that was ok as well?Whne my mice decide to get pregnant should i remove any of these toys/hides? (wheel,tube,igloo hide)?

you can leave all the toys, wheels etc in even with babies. IME the mice are happier with all those things in with them.

:D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by recycling goddess

you can leave all the toys, wheels etc in even with babies. IME the mice are happier with all those things in with them.

:D

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Cool. Thank You

My daughter Beth bought a big wheel figuring the rats would enjoy it. HoneyChild my oldest and best breeding female is a beige hooded. She could never figure out that dang wheel! The other rats would run in it (this was back when they were all too young to start breeding). Poor HC would stand upright behind the wheel and spin it with her front paws. Then she'd balance on one hind foot and spin it with the other foot too. She'd then of course topple over. Occasionally she'd spin the wheel madly and then try to hop in. The wheel would then stop from her sudden weight. Then Honey would simply sit there wondering I guess what the heck happened. So back to spinning the wheel and pondering her rattie life I guess. We just called them HoneyChild's "blonde moments" and tried to not laugh at her too much (I think the other rats who conquered the wheel were though! LOL)

While providing hides can be beneficial Ive found them to actually be a detriment. Rats that I have put in enclosures with hides will often run off and hide when you approach. Where as with no hides they just lounge around wondering what you are doing.


Heres a few that are about 5 days from delivering. This line averages 14 a litter

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f3...ts/pregfem.jpg

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f3...s/pregfem2.jpg

Bryan

Aleesha,


While I'm not in the business like Bryan is, I started breeding our pets when I didn't have the money to buy f/t. The pets started out as snake food but got too big for the snake. We eventually ended up w/3.2, but Petunia ended up frozen, and then we raised a female from Peek's first litter, and we have two 1/2 sisters not quite large enough to breed for the first time.

Peekaboo is nursing her 3rd litter right now. They're in communal cages similar to yours, until about a week before birthing. I move mine BEFORE they start to do the serious nesting so that I'm less likely to upset them, even tho' they're pets and handled every day. I have a 20g tank as one nursery and one of the bigger "First Pet" cages w/a snap on lid as the 2nd. The only difference I've done w/Peek and Peachy, is giving them more ckn pieces or Iams kitten food (free choice) once they've brought forth issue.

Peek has had 11, 7, 11. Peachy's first litter was 13 and I'm waiting to see if she's bred again.

I wouldn't do anything different w/the bedding or care. Just move them to separate nursery cages. That helped me when I had to graft some of Peachy's on to Peek. Peachy was having trouble with so many, so I grafted the skinniest 4 on to Peek. The advice from here for that worked like a dream. :D

Good luck and may you have many baby ratties :rat:


RuLyn

thanks so much! i'll definitely move the girls to their 'birthing chambers' tomorrow... so they have a minimum of 5 days (if they bred the first night) and possibly 10 days in their new homes before birthing.

i'll keep you all posted! with pics of course :wuv:

Great information in the thread, I will just add my experiences:

I always separate the mothers out when they are fat, or if they give birth, to an individual tub. I had several friends insist that keeping 1.3 or 1.5 in a large tub and leaving them in there was the best way to go, but after a little trial, and much error, Ive found moving them out works best for me.

If you have established females that all get along and give birth at ~ the same time, then it can work, but everytime 2 females give birth in a tub for me, I can sit there and watch one hoard all of the babies up, or have them take turns stealing babies, or watch as the rats trample the mother and babies when I open the cage, just not cool.

As for hides, I used to do that when I had just a few rats, but they would tear anything I put in there to shreds within days. Plus I agree with Bryan, hides encourage them to "hide" :)

okay so we did the separation last night and it did not go well.

the ratties were so stressed out and upset. they would not relax and calm down :( at first i wondered if it's because the tank is clear but in a cage they are open to the world so that can't be it.

i put one in a cage with very close bars and the other in a 10 gallon tank... i'm very worried about ventilation and heat as it is summer and it has been very hot here lately (of course not today but up until now LOL)

so last night i moved them back to their normal housing as after about 6 hours they were still very stressed out. (running back and forth and refusing to relax... pushing on the lid and doors to try to get out)

i wonder... should i perhaps try a rubbermaid container? i'm again concerned about the ventilation... but i just don't know what to do. i won't have them stressed like they were yesterday :(

help...