Gone and done it now

Today we re-joined the ranks of those breeding their own food, but this time with rats instead of stinky mice. We bought 1.2 brown and white rats, but they're still small, so it will probably be a few months before we have any offspring. We are all set up, though, with all three currently in a huge 3-story ferret cage, a Sterilite ready to put the male in after a bit of time with the female, and two birdcage-style small rodent cages for any weanlings not put down to be separated by gender. We have lab blocks, water bottles, newspaper, and fresh pears from the yard for them. There's a cardboard hide in each cage. I think we ought to find something to entertain them, but aside from that, is there anything you think we're missing?

i think all you are missin is rat babies lol

i think you got all of it .Post some pics when u can

Id be careful with that card board because rats love to chew and u might just have to pick a bunch of little pieces of card board all over the place

Sweet I wanted to breed my own rats but I am pushin it with my snake and my dogs and my bird My parents arent big fans of animals

Quote:

---

There's a cardboard hide in each cage.

---

Quote:

---

but aside from that, is there anything you think we're missing?

---

Well, like Buckeye said, they will chew that box up.
I was just going to say, with the above quote, that ......Well, your not missing it yet, but you will be missing that cardboard hide soon." lol

That's actually why I gave them cardboard, because I figured at least it would provide them with something to do, and the cardboard should be harmless unlike if they were chewing plastic. :)

Hehe yeah beats them chewing holes in the water drippers GRRRR.

I hate that! You can actually buy 'cages' for the water bottles to prevent their being chewed up, but I feel like I shouldn't have to take such drastic measures, ya know?

Just make sure to give 'em a little dog food or rawhide chewbones to keep their teeth worn down. Ours love both. We just had to cut our hairless boy rats's bottom teeth today because he couldn't close his mouth. He chews on everything and his teeth don't seem to wear down as quickly as the girls do. I don't know, but he sure loves his dog food and cheerios. They love whole grains like plain cheerios, wheat bread, uncooked wheat pasta, etc. Keeps 'em regular ;) If they do end up having issues chewing up their water bottles or jumping on them, I found a great way to stop that right then and there. Take some tape and wrap it around with the sticky side out or use double-sided tape and wrap it around the top of the water bottle. Then generously sprinkle cayenne pepper on the tape. It stopped our from hanging on the water bottle and chewing holes in the lid of the tank and chewing holes in the water bottle. Goofy boogers. Anyway, hope that helped.

Thanks, Becky. That does help about the water bottle, and I will pick up some Ol' Roy for them. They've enjoyed some plain Cheerios and some granola this week.

For some reason, 1.1 of the rats keep excluding the other 0.1, though. I'm a little concerned about that. There haven't been any attacks or anything, just Pajamas has to sleep/hang out outside the hide while Alpha and Lunchbox are cozy inside. I hope this doesn't lead to Pajamas being attacked or not breeding.

hey marla, how about some stick-ups or glade plug-ins!!! LOL


thanks
vaughn

You think she might have B.O.? ;)

the rats YES, i don't know about anyone else LOL



thanks

vaughn

I doubt youll have any problems in the breeding dept , I will say though that for optimal breeding results IE, good fertility and large litters youll want to keep them in the high 70's low 80's

I keep the females in cages by themselves, and simply rotate the male between them for mating (doesn't he have THE life?)
Maybe it'll be helpful to just keep the male with one female at a time? It's what works for me. Although, my females are aging a bit and are not as fertile as they used to be.

Well, question answered. She was the rat nerd and they killed her. Now the kids hate both the other rats and are looking forward to eventually feeding them off.

Yikes, they killed her? I have never encountered rat murder in all my years of rat keeping. But then again, I do not house the females together. If that's the reason you're giving up, then just try housing the females apart and they will not get the chance to go all catty and homicidal (or would that be "raticidal?" lol.

They killed her, and the only time I've known that to happen before was when there was inadequate food/water/space for the population, which definitely was not the case here. These rats have about 12 cubic feet of space and they're not even big rats yet. I've always heard that you could keep female rats together, but not to keep male rats in with any female not pregnant by him, so I had planned to house the two females together and only have the male in periodically (like now) to get them knocked up. It really seems ridiculous to use this huge cage for just one rat.

Do I take the male out and try buying another female to put in with the first? Do I really have to use this cage for just one rat? Do I put Punkin in with them since she's the size of both these rats put together and let her smack 'em around a bit?