Rat breeding steps

So right now I only have one Bp, working on a second. I have two small rats in a 20 gallon long tank. I think they are both girlscause nothing is "happening". So I am going to buy a male cause when I feed my bp I have to drive 25-30 miles and buy a $5 rat every 5 days or so. So my question is do I have to do anything special to breed them? Or can I put a male in there and let them do the work. How often do they breed again?

Christian

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Originally Posted by Orangephoner

So right now I only have one Bp, working on a second. I have two small rats in a 20 gallon long tank. I think they are both girlscause nothing is "happening". So I am going to buy a male cause when I feed my bp I have to drive 25-30 miles and buy a $5 rat every 5 days or so. So my question is do I have to do anything special to breed them? Or can I put a male in there and let them do the work. How often do they breed again?

Christian

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Well, you can identify males by their GIANT "sack of jewels". It's rather unmistakable.
I'm guessing you have two rats of the same gender if their genitals look the same.

You don't have to do anything special.
Just put the male and females together and they will work their magic. Approximately 22 days after mating, you will get your first litter. And about 4-5 weeks after that, the litter should be fully weaned. They breed as often as you want them to.
If you keep the male with the females full time, the females can go into heat hours after giving birth. If this happens, the next litter will be born right after the previous litter is weaning.
Personally I like to give females breaks between litters, but that's really up to you.

Yeah a 2 week break for the ladies is good. Just put papa noms in a 5-10 gallon tank and he should be happy in there by himself.

How many are usually in a litter?

Christian

usually 5-20.. usually in the mid teens

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Originally Posted by Orangephoner

How many are usually in a litter?

Christian

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The average is 8-12. But there are exceptions +/-.
The most someone ever reported here was 32.

Wow. So it really wouldn't take much to keep one or two snakes going then huh?

Christian

yeah...your best bet would be to use babies for a personal f/t supply, or just get more snakes lool

i have had a pair of rats for about a month and still nothing has happend. they're in a big tub with wire windows and lid.

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Originally Posted by JaGv

i have had a pair of rats for about a month and still nothing has happend. they're in a big tub with wire windows and lid.

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"Irreconcilable differences"

^^Wha?

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Originally Posted by Salamander

"Irreconcilable differences"

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:rofl:

This is a very good thread. I have 2 ball pythons (and two coming in September sometime) and 4 corn snakes. I would save so much money if I could breed my own food. However, mice smell so I've been waiting until I can get a shed with a window unit to put in the back yard so it doesn't get too hot for them. Rats, however, I could probably keep a male/female pair in my bedroom no problems. Silly mice. I could have a whole rodent breeding operation in my room if they just didn't smell!

This thread has given me some valuable information when I'm ready to take the leap into breeding my own food.

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Originally Posted by Orangephoner

I have two small rats in a 20 gallon long tank.

Christian

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Something I missed while reading the original post the first time.
You said small rats? It could be possible that they're just not mature enough to breed. 5-6 week old rats are "small" in my book.
Technically rats can start breeding as young as 5 weeks, but I've found that they don't breed due to their mental immaturity at that age.
I would say 3-5 month olds would be the minimum age for a female to accept a male.

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Originally Posted by snakehobbyist

This is a very good thread. I have 2 ball pythons (and two coming in September sometime) and 4 corn snakes. I would save so much money if I could breed my own food. However, mice smell so I've been waiting until I can get a shed with a window unit to put in the back yard so it doesn't get too hot for them. Rats, however, I could probably keep a male/female pair in my bedroom no problems. Silly mice. I could have a whole rodent breeding operation in my room if they just didn't smell!

This thread has given me some valuable information when I'm ready to take the leap into breeding my own food.

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I keep a rat rack in my room. I honestly can't smell them unless it's day 6+ after cleaning day. I change bedding once a week. Type of bedding and quality of food does make a difference in the odor as well.

My friend breeds fancy mice in her bed room. She probably has 20-50 mice at a time and it smells awful.
I'm temporarily housing 2 mice and one of their litters. I can't really smell them until bedding changing day.

And if you breed ASFs, there is little to no odor with them. They're a desert species so they don't urinate a lot (the main smell with mice). And when they do, they urinate in a specific "potty corner".

Here are a few tips to keep the odor down:
Change bedding at least once a week minimum.
The key is ventilation. Still stagnant air is bad. Air flow helps A LOT when keeping breeding rodents. Maybe invest in an air purifier or a small fan.
You can also put a little baking soda into the enclosures before filling it up with bedding. And putting a few drops of vanilla extract into their water bottles help as well.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by snakehobbyist

This is a very good thread. I have 2 ball pythons (and two coming in September sometime) and 4 corn snakes. I would save so much money if I could breed my own food. However, mice smell so I've been waiting until I can get a shed with a window unit to put in the back yard so it doesn't get too hot for them. Rats, however, I could probably keep a male/female pair in my bedroom no problems. Silly mice. I could have a whole rodent breeding operation in my room if they just didn't smell!

This thread has given me some valuable information when I'm ready to take the leap into breeding my own food.

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Ya'll realize there is an entire forum dedicated to breeding rats. There's one for mice and asfs and whatnot as well. If you really want to find a buttload of information you can read through some of those posts. Or post in the forum yourself. Just saying.

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Originally Posted by satomi325

Something I missed while reading the original post the first time.
You said small rats? It could be possible that they're just not mature enough to breed. 5-6 week old rats are "small" in my book.
Technically rats can start breeding as young as 5 weeks, but I've found that they don't breed due to their mental immaturity at that age.
I would say 3-5 month olds would be the minimum age for a female to accept a male.

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I think my rats are full grown. They are fat. I called them small rats cause there are small medium and large rats. They are just different types



Christian

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Originally Posted by Orangephoner

I think my rats are full grown. They are fat. I called them small rats cause there are small medium and large rats. They are just different types



Christian

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That's exactly what I was saying.
The small rats categorized in petstores and feeding charts are around 5-8 weeks old.
I'm currently holding back a few rats that I just produced in my last litters. They're small rats and about 7 weeks old. And they're nowhere near the size of my breeding adults. Maybe half their parents' size or less.

Can you take a picture of you holding them for a size comparison? Or perhaps weigh them?

Thanks

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So both of my rats weigh close to eachother this one in the pic ( who i know is a female) weighs 165g and my other weighs 175g. now that i look i notice that their "junk" looks the same. so i have two females. Does it look like she is big enough to make babies?

http://i1246.photobucket.com/albums/...honer/mila.jpg

She looks about the right size. You just need a male. :)

Here's a picture of several males - you can see their "family jewels" hanging out. When you see them once, it's really easy to spot afterwards.

http://0.tqn.com/w/experts/Pet-Rats-...09/4-games.jpg

-Jen