Breeding Rats and Mice together in the same room??

Hi guys a quick question for you,do people keep there Rat and Mice breeding colonies in the same room? I do but have started having problems with the Rats! I started off breeding the Rats with no probs then i added mice colonies in the same room and they started breeding way better than the rats!! so my mice colony increased from 1 cage to 12 cages! The rats have started eating young not feeding young etc.. and i'm wondering if its the smell of the mice putting them off?? Feeding has not changed or anything else just the mice coloney has increased? I've tried younger Rat females and the same thing happens! i'm running 1.2 Rats per tub.

have you tried moving the rats to another room?

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Originally Posted by ballmorph

Hi guys a quick question for you,do people keep there Rat and Mice breeding colonies in the same room? I do but have started having problems with the Rats! I started off breeding the Rats with no probs then i added mice colonies in the same room and they started breeding way better than the rats!! so my mice colony increased from 1 cage to 12 cages! The rats have started eating young not feeding young etc.. and i'm wondering if its the smell of the mice putting them off?? Feeding has not changed or anything else just the mice coloney has increased? I've tried younger Rat females and the same thing happens! i'm running 1.2 Rats per tub.

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I have approx. 100 rats and 500 mice in the same room and don't have any problems.

I've had mice and rats in the same room at one point. I had trouble with the mice eating their young but I suck at mouse breeding so it's likely just my poor luck or bad management of the mice. Can't think it's the mice colony upsetting your rats to that degree. Something else is going on as rat females rarely turn on their own litters that way.

Do you guys heat your rooms in winter mine are in a garden shed all year round with just natural light and temperature! this wasn't a problem before so just asking the question, i'll just have to biuld the colony of rats up and try again?

I have my rats in the garage and I have a oil filled space heater in there set at around 68 or so.....

I keep my rats and mice in the upper 60's in the winter and natural light from a window.

i've kept rat and mouse colonies in the same room in the past with no problems at all . as far as heating goes , my rats are kept in a spare room that is mostly used for storage so its kept heated in the winter and cooled in the summer . if its getting to cold where your rats are kept , then that might have something to do with it .

I breed rats, gerbils and african rats in the same room no problems here. My rodent room is not heated and things are running pretty smooth and the temps have been in the 30's lately too.;)

Breed both rats and mice in the basement with no extra heat and no problems. :) http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n...g?t=1165879675

Does it count that I have a freezer in my rat room with frozen mouse in there?

Thanks for all the tips and advice guys,i'll continue with them in the shed with no heat and natural daylight and see what happens! my mice happily breed all year round in there and our winters in england can get cold! I'll start a fresh with new Rat breeding females which i can buy from my local pet shop.Once again thanks for the advice.

personally i think the issue is no heat here. if it's too cold for the babies to survive the mama's would eat them to take the nutrition back into their bodies instead of just leaving them to die on their own.

add a heater for them and i bet things will settle down. cause at those temps... their water dishes will freeze!

after all, rats in nature would find a nice warm compost pile or the attic of a house etc... for warmth!

i would add a light as well... since grey skies do not bring much light!

Worth a try thanks for the input.:carrot:

I've found that when the temps are down in the 30's in the rodent room the actual temps inside the tubs are in the 60's thanks to temp guns. I also turn the exhaust fan down real low or off because it will suck out any warm air the rats generate quickly. I turn off all the fans in the room as well. Just some more food for thought.

Ps If their water supply starts to freeze its too cold