Litter size vs. coat colour in rats?

years ago i used to just leave the females with the male to raise up the babies . i found it burns the females out alot quicker that way and production of babies dropped by the third or fourth litter . the way i do it now , my females are always plump and healthy when they go back in the males breeder tank . i get bigger litters with bigger individual babies this way .

Thanks folks; I figured that all might be the case. Not really breeding myself, but a friend is and she said she wanted to get more albinos in because they are more fertile. Not having heard anything to that effect here, I thought I would ask...and I am content with the answers. :-)

Well Jess I have "heard" that albinos are more fertile and also that they are a more defensive, aggressive female when with their litter. I've only used one albino myself and she was a prolific breeder but a difficult female to handle and overly dominant with all the other adult females in the colony so she was culled out. I don't know if albinos are truly more prolific or not but personally I don't care for their look (those pink eyes make me shudder lol) so I don't use them myself.

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Originally Posted by markface

years ago i used to just leave the females with the male to raise up the babies . i found it burns the females out alot quicker that way and production of babies dropped by the third or fourth litter . the way i do it now , my females are always plump and healthy when they go back in the males breeder tank . i get bigger litters with bigger individual babies this way .

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I completely agree with you Mark. Our females are of good size before they ever have that first litter, they are well rested away from males between litters and well fed during the time they are nursing. Most leave their individual maternity tanks carrying appropriate body mass and are nice and plump before going back into the breeding tubs. We've got one female here from our original group of females who is well over 2 years of age. HoneyChild is in excellent shape, looks like a far younger rat and is now enjoying her retirement. She consistently produced 15 young per litter until her last which was only 6 so we knew she was due for retirement. Now she hangs out with other females resting between litters or spends a few days with recently weaned females. She's a gem with settling in the new weanlings, busting up their little tiffs and mothering them a bit here and there.

Honey as a young top producing female with one of her typical litters of 15 big healthy pinks.

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e2...Litterof15.jpg

Markface wrote:
"Years ago i used to just leave the females with the male to raise up the babies . i found it burns the females out alot quicker that way and production of babies dropped by the third or fourth litter . the way i do it now , my females are always plump and healthy when they go back in the males breeder tank . i get bigger litters with bigger individual babies this way ."

This is the same thing that I do, with great results!