Largest litter?!?

Since I started my small breeding group consisting of 1.2 rats 7-8 months ago; my girls have dropped a litter each every 5-6 weeks. They've normally dropped 8-12 pups, but this time one of the girls dropped 16 babies. :O

I just cleaned their tub and placed them in a fresh tub and counted 16 plump pups! What could've caused the increase in pups all of a sudden? Diet is still mainly pellets, but occasionally we add some Granola and a hard boiled egg here and there.

My 2nd girl should drop any day now as well...:pinkele:

I have to admit they are no trouble at all to breed, this is our 9th or 10th litter we've had already. We even brought them in the house since temps have been in the mid 90's for a few months now. We use to change the substrate every 7 days, but now we do 5 day cage cleanings and at this schedule you don't even know we have rats.

Could the lower temperature have effected their number of babies? We keep the day temps at about 78F and the night temps at 75F compared to mid 90F outside during the day and low to mid 80's during the nights.

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Nice size litter! My female just had 13 as her first. Maybe it has something to do with the feeding. I give lab block, cheerios, rice krispies, oatmeal and leftovers including eggs . I wouldn't doubt that better quality food contributes heavily to it. I am sure others would know more about it than me though.

Hi Jaime, I know we chatted about rats, but when did you get a pair?
They sure are easy to breed, but I still couldn't imagine housing 100's like some on here. Unless of course I had a complete separate house for them along..LOL.

I may hold back 1.4 or even 1.6 next year as mine age and start getting closer to retirement.

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Originally Posted by ssscales

Hi Jaime, I know we chatted about rats, but when did you get a pair?
They sure are easy to breed, but I still couldn't imagine housing 100's like some on here. Unless of course I had a complete separate house for them along..LOL.

I may hold back 1.4 or even 1.6 next year as mine age and start getting closer to retirement.

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I've had them for a couple months. I have 3.4 right now.(ended up keeping an extra male for company and my girl got attached to one as well). One of the females just gave birth last week and another is getting close. I am just doing it to supplement and to have experience so I can have pinks for the hatchlings next year.

I fed mine beneful (dog food)plus all kinds of other people food, including chicken with the bone, cooked veggies,swiss cheese crackers, mac and cheese, spaghetti, eggs, etc.,etc. When we went out to dinner, I would box up my leftovers and give em' to the rats.......hell, sometimes they even got steak or shrimp!!!! The average litter size of my rats was 12, but once in awhile one would pop a 16,17,or18. I have heard of 23 baies, but that never happened to me.

My highest number has been 14

How long does it take for rats to reach the "small" category? I'm thinking about breeding my own rats for skin, and mice for bones. Skin eats small rats, but i think she could take mediums. Bones is still on adult mice. How long for the mice to be "food"?

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Originally Posted by ssscales

my girls have dropped a litter each every 5-6 weeks. They've normally dropped 8-12 pups, but this time one of the girls dropped 16 babies. :O

I just cleaned their tub and placed them in a fresh tub and counted 16 plump pups! What could've caused the increase in pups all of a sudden?

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I'd say temp could've played a role, they seem more fertile around 70 degrees, and diet could also be part of it. The first few litters of most females tend to be a little smaller, then they peak out after a they've had a few. I think my average litter size is about 10, but I think my largest was 19, and that was from her 4th or 5th litter.

I feed a rodent block that has formulated and tweaked for many years by a couple local breeders, and is in lab block form. It is locally produced by Intermountain Farmers Association (they produce a lot of different agricultural feeds) with a 3 ton minimum run, so i usually split a run with a few other breeders. I usually get about 1500 lbs at a time, which lasts me 5-6 months, and this is all I feed and I am happy with the results.

I couldn't imagine keeping my rodents inside (P U!!!!), my wife wouldn't even allow a small breeding group in the house, so I have an insulated 120 sq. ft shed out back I keep at 65-70 degrees year-round (AC in summer, heated by occupants in the winter :D).

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Originally Posted by Shaffer

How long does it take for rats to reach the "small" category? I'm thinking about breeding my own rats for skin, and mice for bones. Skin eats small rats, but i think she could take mediums. Bones is still on adult mice. How long for the mice to be "food"?

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All the live rats I feed are weanling size or smaller, so 4-5 weeks old tops. Any larger than that and they are raised-up to breed, or put down to feed as f/t. As far as mice, they will get to a good adult feed-off size at about 7-8 weeks.

-Evan

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Originally Posted by jglass38

I've had them for a couple months. I have 3.4 right now.(ended up keeping an extra male for company and my girl got attached to one as well). One of the females just gave birth last week and another is getting close. I am just doing it to supplement and to have experience so I can have pinks for the hatchlings next year.

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I got a great rat breeder 10 minutes away, but decided to try my hand at breeding a few to supplement. Now I only buy a few weaned rats a month to fill the gaps. All my BP's are on small rats now. I just wish BP's were more like Boas in feeding! I've got a cooler full of Frozen rats that last me 4 months! No muss, no fuss!

Usually they start out around 10 their first litter, or so, and move up to 12-15 average.


Right now my average size litter is about 13-16, and my biggest litter was 24.

what does wean mean?

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Originally Posted by Shaffer

what does wean mean?

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As a verb or describing the size?

Im too lazy to look it up on dictionary.com, but I use it to describe the act of moving the baby from the mothers milk onto solid food...


As for size, I use it to describe a baby with its eyes open who has started nibbling on solid food, but also drinks milk.

When talking about about people like Cue, i add an IE to the end, and the meaning is fairly obvious. :P

Litter size is determined most by genetics, other contributing factor are food, temp, and caging.

My first time females go 8-10, my average across all my stock is 14 ... one of my lines average 18 ... another one 16. However I cull once a week to leave only 8-10 pups per nursing female.

Foods biggest role is actually growth in the litter ... however I've noticed more stability in litter size at 16-18% protein.

Temps above 76 give me more still borns ... I guess I should count them as part of the litter size ... but as they are usually eaten shortly after birth its hard to gauge an exact number.

Caging ... If overcrowded females will cull their own/others litters. Again this is usually done within the first day so hard to get an exact number.

Like Evan, IFA makes me a block. Unlike Evan I buy the whole 6000 lbs, that has been lasting me 3-4 months ... However this 3 tons will most likely be gone in 2 months.

Bryan

Where in the heck do you store 3 tons of lab block? :eek:

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Originally Posted by rabernet

Where in the heck do you store 3 tons of lab block? :eek:

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How in the heck do you transport it..
Do you just chip off chunks and pass it around? Mwrrrr

btw: largest litter, via mouse was 20. then 16.... then 12.....then 6...then none... i think she and the nanny were eating them but i could never catch them in the act.

I woke up this morning to what sounded like a whole new crowed of babies! I checked the tub and yep, looks like another 12-15 freshly born pups! Now I have about 30 babies in the same tub with 3 adults. Should I start separating them into two groups?

It's got to be the temps, their protein intake is still 20-22% from Lab blocks and extras. I've never seen any still borns and have only had one pup die in all the litters due to what I think was being stepped on by the adults.

We keep our rats in a room that is 120 square feet, and keep the temps at 72 degrees. We feed Mazuri rodent blocks to our rats. Our typical litter is about 10-12 pinkies. Our largest litter to date was born about four weeks ago and was a shocking 26 babies. That was a chore making sure Mom was taking care of them all. Mom only ended up losing one or two babies.

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Originally Posted by muddoc

Our largest litter to date was born about four weeks ago and was a shocking 26 babies.

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:omfg:

26 babies....:O and I thought 15-16 was large!

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Originally Posted by ssscales

I woke up this morning to what sounded like a whole new crowed of babies! I checked the tub and yep, looks like another 12-15 freshly born pups! Now I have about 30 babies in the same tub with 3 adults. Should I start separating them into two groups?

It's got to be the temps, their protein intake is still 20-22% from Lab blocks and extras. I've never seen any still borns and have only had one pup die in all the litters due to what I think was being stepped on by the adults.

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When we bred rats we noticed you should NEVER bother or seperate them untill the rats are about 3-4wks of age at the very least or mom will get stressed or any other emotion and will kill/eat/dispose of her babies. I always kept all my rats in seperate enclosures unless breeding 1 wk after breeding I seperate them into their own homes and all is well :) And so daddy wont try to mate with mom because when rodents have babies they go back into heat right afterwards!:eek:

Rats are pretty good about taking care of each others litters. 3 nursing females can take care of more than 30 pups so just leave them together. I'm in my litters almost every day ... Most rats are really tolerant of being disturbed.


6000 lbs of food is 120 bags ... 40 bags per pallet ... Pretty easy to store 3 pallets. Its brought up on a semi ... off loaded with a forklift.

Bryan

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Originally Posted by Sapphire7

When we bred rats we noticed you should NEVER bother or seperate them untill the rats are about 3-4wks of age at the very least or mom will get stressed or any other emotion and will kill/eat/dispose of her babies. I always kept all my rats in seperate enclosures unless breeding 1 wk after breeding I seperate them into their own homes and all is well :) And so daddy wont try to mate with mom because when rodents have babies they go back into heat right afterwards!:eek:

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The problem with moving them by themselves 1week after breeding is they get lonely :(

I pull all my super fat/freshly birthing moms and babies out and put them in seperate tubs... If we dont, we lose an average of 2-4 per litter... just from trampling and etc....

It is amazing how often the moms get knocked up after they give birth... I would say only about 1/10 of ours are double poppers, but we try to move most asap.

I've left my group together throughout all the litters and have only lost one baby, that I've seen. I use to freak out when I would see a baby separated from the litter, but quickly realized that one of the females always picks them up and groups them together.

We really don't disturb them at all except when cleaning and basically we have a back up tub prepped with clean Aspen, hide Box, and fresh water and all we do is pick up the group and move them over.