Breeding Feeder Rats

We breed rats in 1.4 then ill separate females two to a bin to have their babies.I know which females are good together and which ones aren't some of them might steal each other's babies and some females will bully other females although most of the time they get along. I give the females a week off after weaning the babies before breeding them again. I find they take better care of their babies and you have less die rather than back to back breeding. It's a personal choice though. I breed for colour and temperament and sell for pets and feeders. I think feeders shouldn't be sickly and should be well fed and treated because you wouldn't want to feed a sickly rat to your bp. We have about 15 females and 4 males. I'll pick and choose nice young males for future breeders and put them in with the breeder males and have never had a problem, the males are fine together and i do the same with baby females I want to keep as future breeders.

i just want to thank everyone on this post. i didnt even have to post a question to get the information i needed. very helpful thread.

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Originally Posted by satomi325

I don't want to harem breed because that will give me too much food. You just have to try out a system that works for you.

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Yeah, right now I have been harem breeding to make room in the rack for the triple het dwarf dumbo siamese rats. I don't know how I feel about it to be honest. I know in the wild the males can breed females the day they birth but it feels a little wrong to me. The males get excited the night before the babies are born and harass the females while they are swollen to the maximum and about to pop. The shrieks I hear tell me this is extremely unpleasant for the females even if they don't have visible damage from it. Also, the moms then have to fight off the pups that should be weaned while they are nursing pinkies. Worn out is really the best term to describe how my females are looking after 3 back to back breedings like this. I'm going to reduce my males and start rotating to make sure they don't have to do these back to back litters any more. Also, I have more food than I'll need for a few months so it seems like overkill to keep breeding. Time to buy a food saver...

TL;DR I can't force my moral perspective on anyone but I can share my experiences. After doing it for a few months I can say my determination is that harem breeding is not a practice I am comfortable with for myself.