Rat Breeding... (advice please)

Ok me and my brother purchased a male and female rat for the hopes of breeding so we can feed the rat pups to our snakes....

What steps should be taken for the breeding to happen???

We want to make this as easy on the rats as possible (if possible)

Thanx in adavance for your help...

-Kayla

Are they sexually mature? If not, wait a few more months.

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Originally Posted by Byte

Ok me and my brother purchased a male and female rat for the hopes of breeding so we can feed the rat pups to our snakes....

What steps should be taken for the breeding to happen???

We want to make this as easy on the rats as possible (if possible)

Thanx in adavance for your help...

-Kayla

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make sure you feed them properly. there is a sticky in the feeder thread explaining how to make a mix that is cheap and nutritious to make sure your rats are healthy enough

can you post a link to that for me please...???

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Originally Posted by _BoidFinatic_

Are they sexually mature? If not, wait a few more months.

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Yes they are large rats... both sexually mature.

When we bought them we made sure that they were both "ready" to breed.

I can post pics of them so you can see how big they are??

We have them housed together at the moment... is that ok????

If we need to divide the tub that they are in how would we make a divider???

-Kayla

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Originally Posted by Byte

We have them housed together at the moment... is that ok????

If we need to divide the tub that they are in how would we make a divider???

-Kayla

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You may leave them together. Rats are social and they enjoy each other's company;).

when reasearching we read that we should keep them apart untill the female is in heat (which occurs ever 5-6 days) then put them together so we dont stress the female out.

Is that just someones opinion or is it true?

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Originally Posted by Byte

Yes they are large rats... both sexually mature.

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How old are they? Because the really big ones are often too old to breed, especially if the female has never had pups before.

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Originally Posted by Byte

when reasearching we read that we should keep them apart untill the female is in heat (which occurs ever 5-6 days) then put them together so we dont stress the female out.

Is that just someones opinion or is it true?

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I'm just going by the many threads I've read on the topic here....

Rats are social creatures and really need a buddy with them to thrive. But leaving a male/female together all the time can cause complications with the male trying to breed while the female is still nursing her current litter, etc. But until she actually gets pregnant, I don't see any reason to keep them separate.

were not sure, we bought them from petco out of the large rats cages.... would you like me to post pics of them so you can see the sizes???

You can post pics if you want, but I won't be the one to be able to tell you how old they may be. I'm not sure how well anyone could tell from pictures, but it certainly wouldn't hurt to post some for our resident ratsperts to look at.


Here's a link to the FAQ page that may answer a number of questions you have:

http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...ad.php?t=31106

do you know of anyone on here who would be selling proven breeder female rats?

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Originally Posted by Byte

do you know of anyone on here who would be selling proven breeder female rats?

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No one local to you, no. Sorry.

It's fine we know a lady here who owns a pet shop so we are going to go to her and if that doesnt work out there is a guy were planning on buyin a RTB from and he has millions of breeder rats so im sure we can work something out with him..
But thank you for your help :)

-Kayla

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Originally Posted by Byte

can you post a link to that for me please...???

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Psssttt..... go to the feeder forum, you'll find all the info you want or will ever need there.

I have a communal tank where my single male is kept with any females I want bred. When I notice a preggo female, I put her in her own 10g tank so she can raise her babies in peace and privacy. Then once they're weanable, I seperate them from the mom into their own tank (they are usually being fed to my snakes at this time), give her some time off to gain more weight and condition, and then place her in the male tank again. Sometimes there is a little scuffling between girls when a new female is added, but it dies down after a few minutes and I have never had anyone get injured or killed through it.
Rat breeding is so easy once you have good stock, setups for them and a wholesome feed.

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Originally Posted by Ginevive

I have a communal tank where my single male is kept with any females I want bred. When I notice a preggo female, I put her in her own 10g tank so she can raise her babies in peace and privacy.

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I do pretty much the same. I have 1.7 in the 'communal' cage and then the preggies get seperated (2 to a tall sterilite/rubbermaid tub w/no lid) or metal cage.

If you're starting out, I would recommend buying subadults and raising them up a bit before breeding them. As a rough estinmate, I like to start w/ ones that are from weanling size, to about 5 inches, not including tail. Find a place that seperates them by sex so that you don't have any girls that are preggo before they should be. I'd say the toughest thing about rattie breeding is finding stock to start with. But by buying already-adult sized ones, you never really know how old they are.