how long will it take for breeding? (rats)

okay, so becky :wuv: and rosie :hokitty: have invited ricardo rodente' :rat: over for a sleepover. it started as an email romance... and when ricardo heard there were two ladies waiting on him... well he decided to take his chances and had his mama bring him over to meet the girls in person today.

well, each girl came out of their cage and introduced themselves... sniffing ricky's butt :please: and begging him to sniff theirs! :lick: (such tramps my girls are!)

so eventually ricky climbed into their cage and they've all been getting along great. :date: we were planning on keeping him in a smaller cage and letting the girls come in for a visit... but they all seem to really like each other so ricky has taken up residence in the bottom of the cage and the girls are up in their hammocks.

now... how long until the girls are ready to get pregnant? :trophy:

i have sat in my rat room and watched some of the rats in our harem cages for hours on end. I can tell you that when a male breeds a female, it last for about two seconds. So, unless you stand over them and watch them for a week, it is quite possible that you would miss the breeding. Now that they have been introduced, I would say that within about a week at the most, your femalse should be prego. They typically take about 28 days to have a litter. So, after all of that, I would say to expect some pinkies in about 5 weeks. Hope that helps. Also, it just came to mind, but my rats typically breed more at night, when they are the most active.

It just depends, if the females aren't easy it could take a while, especially if they are bigger than the male :)

But females go into heat alot, so more than likely within a 1-5 days.

so you figure a week before the ladies are ready? cause ricky's mama would like him back home ASAP but we do want both bred before he leaves...

we posted at the same time LOL - the male is older and larger (1 year old) than the females...

i just had 2 females give birth--one 22 days after being put with a male and the other 23 days afterward. that seems about average for my breeders.

hahaha thats a good story!

I've got my male seperate from my two females. but i have a hopper who was supposed to be dinner and is now a pet residing in the same cage as the male. i dont know if the hopper is a male or female but theres nothing hanging so im guess its a gal. I doubt im going to feed either of them to the snake so i guess in time im going to have myself some baby Whiteys and baby T.J.s someday

Maybe a day maybe a month :) Nice answer, I know :(


I've had females introduced to males and give birth a little over 3 weeks later

Ive had a few females introduced to males and not give birth for 7 weeks.....


but yeah, most likely 1 week gives you a pretty good chance :)

by the way,... the girls are 6 months old

okay a week it is!

thanks everyone :)

Or if your unlucky, the rats will never breed. The female may not be ready and run every time the male makes an attempt. Usually if your in the room you will be able to hear the squeeking. It can happen the first few hours or it may take days.

Good luck

well ricardo rodente' went home today... his visit was great. the two girls and him got along really well... not a single scrap during his stay... so now we wait... and watch for our girls to get big tummies!

yeeah! big tummies are fun. :P good luck!

I wish I had seen this earlier ...


Females come into heat about every 5 days (maybe its 7 days), anyhow its normally suggested that you leave a male with a female for 10 days to cover 2 cycles.

Depending on the male it may or may not have happened ... I have a few males that just dont take no for an answer ... and other ones that back off at every little squeak the female makes.

Bryan

well he's back home now... how soon before the ladies get a big tummy... is it about 14 days?

so if they don't get a belly... then we'll invite him over again :D

The first thing youll notice (if you handle them alot) is the tummy hardening up, about 2 weeks youll notice a little tummy, and at 3 weeks they should be pear shaped.


Some of my females show no signs other than the belly hardening. Other ones are so huge they cant get comfortable. It really depends on the genetics of the line they are from and what their average litter is. The ones that cant get comfortable average 14 per litter. The ones that dont show average 8.

Bryan

oooh good to know, good to know.