New Ratties

We decided to go ahead and pick up some rats to start our rat colony. We picked up two females and a male. Once the male is old enough to start reproducing we are going to pull him from the girls' tank and set him up in his own until the girls are old enough to breed. I have pictures which I am uploading now. They are in a 20L for now but we hope to have a rat rack built within the next month or two.

Congrats! The male is able to start breeding at 4-5 weeks. But the females(to get at a safe breeding weight, but can get preggo at 5 wks) take up to 4-5 months, or at 250 grams. So I would get them separated out, btw, where are the pics!? Every new rattie needs pics!:D Good luck with them!

The biggest female, Kasper, who is an albino, is 108g, which according to the chart puts her between 6-8 weeks. We'll just say she's 6 weeks. The youngest girl is a little black with white paws, Nibble, and she weighs in at 27g so she's about 3 weeks old. The littlest is the boy. He's super sweet and his name is Monk. He is in at 25g so also about 3 weeks.

Ok pictures are here! First up is Monk, our little boy. He is super sweet and willingly crawls into your hand. I have a feeling I'm going to like him.

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r...ke/Rats001.jpg
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r...ke/Rats002.jpg
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r...ke/Rats003.jpg

Here is Monk with Nibble.

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r...ke/Rats004.jpg


And here all three. Kasper is the bigger albino female.

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r...ke/Rats005.jpg

Very cute! Yup give them a few weeks, and they will want to breed. The male is a hooded( I think he is dumbo too!), the balck female with white paws, is a berkshire, and of course your albino! Good luck!:D

Thanks. We fully intend on seperating the male from the girls next week and put him into his own 10g. Oh and we tried rat weanlings on all the ball pythons tonight and everyone took them no problem, so we are safe to breed whenever the girls are mature enough.

Thanks for IDing Nibble. I didn't know what a berkshire was. And I love hoodeds so Monk was one of the first we picked out. He is such a sweetheart! They are soooo different from mice. Monk actually crawls up into your hand. :D All are eating solid food. I will post new pics as they get older.

There was a link I came upon yesterday that had a list of the foods you can't give to rats and a list of those you can. Does anyone have that link? We often have left over fruits and veggies (from feeding the sugar gliders) so I would love to find a use for it. And how often can you feed these "table scraps".

Actually I was thinking that they looked a little young to be weaned yet. I hope they do well for you.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MarkS

Actually I was thinking that they looked a little young to be weaned yet. I hope they do well for you.

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I was thinking the same. My last litter's pups were all around 25gs at only 2 weeks, but if they are eating solid food thats great!

Here is the link:
http://www.ratnutrition.com/suppleme...forbiddenfoods

Yeah, the boy looks like he can't be more than a smidge over 2 weeks old - very young to have been taken from mom. Were they from feeder bins? I can't imagine them being sold as pets that young. I too hope they do well for you!