Worthless Thread

Because there are no pictures, and can be no pictures, because my camera is dead! :(

But.....some of you know that I was convinced that Mrs. Snuggles, my b/w hooded girl was sterile, because she showed no signs of pregnancy, and Scarlett who was in the same enclosure with Mrs. Snuggles and Caesar, had her babies two weeks ago last night.

Well......Mrs. Snuggles was set up in a maternity tank Tuesday night when I noticed some nesting behavior and a slightly swollen tummy - and Karl calls me today to say that she had her babies last night (I wasn't expecting them until this weekend, so I didn't even peek in on her this morning)! Woo Hoo!!!!

Sadly, some of Scarlett's litter are scheduled to be fed off on Saturday - this is truly the tough part of raising your own feeders, especially with something as cute as rat pups (their eyes are just opening).

Awww I hope Santa brings you a new digi cam for Xmas Robin! Congrats on your second rat litter. Some females really do hide their pregnancies well. I've had a surprise litter or two myself from a female I was sure hadn't caught as she was only slightly chubby looking.

I know it's tough feeding off the first litter hon. I can only tell you it does get easier over time and repitition. Try to keep in your mind that you really are just an agent in the process of predator meeting prey. They were both put on this earth to do this dance of nature hon, you are just a cog really in that big wheel that's been turning for eons and will do so long after you and I are gone.

Also it helps to know that you are providing through your careful breeding and management of the rats, a very good life for the rats while they exist in your colony and an absolutely top notch food source for your lovely snake collection.

:hug:

Feeding them off is definitely the hardest part. Especially when they are so cute after they open their eyes and start crawling around. I keep trying to figure out reasons to keep a couple more, but I don't have the room for that many rats. (nor would the hubby be happy about it)

Congrats on the second litter. (you're right... we need pics, but we'll forgive you for awhile. ;) )

Mrs. Snuggles and Caesar are proud to announce the birth of 10 bouncing baby rats! All have dark eyes, so no albinos.


It's so wild to compare their jelly bean size to their half siblings, children of Scarlett and Caesar who are two weeks old today with eyes just opened!

ah it's not totally worthless... after all... we are talking about cute little rattie pups!!!!

my two girls are not showing any signs of pregnancy... which is too bad. hopefully they'll surprise me!

Don't give up hope, they really don't start showing until about two weeks or a little longer into their pregnancy. Mrs. Snuggles had her litter five weeks after being introduced to Caesar, Scarlett took right away!


We have another female, a beige hooded (which is when I discovered my camera was broken) named Foxy, who looks suspiciously pregnant, but we'll see!

I was going to buy plain white rats to breed for feeders but SOMEONE (I know you are reading this!) told me to get the cute ones, not the ugly plain white ones... Now I have a bunch of cute little babies that are going to be fed off.... Hmmm... maybe they will be mean rats and I won't feel so bad feeding them off.... Thinking about building another rack and keeping a few more, but then I guess I will be breeding cute to cute making MORE cute ones.... then the next thing you know I'll have like 3000 cute rats....... that's just no good.

LOL don't worry dear, after all the cute factor wears off and you are quite happy to see the cute and full snakes and a few less rats to manage believe me. Congrats on another fine litter there Miss Robin the Rat Breeder! :) Looks like Caesar is doing his work well. See I told you going around pet stores peering at the working end of young male rats would pay off with a good studly one LOL.

Today's feeding day - so, I have to get over this cuteness factor really quickly. We decided not to keep one of Scarlett's sons THIS time, as we still need a few more enclosures. Now Mrs. Snuggles has one that I'm hoping is a girl that has a hood, but rather than a stripe, a cute circle on her back of pattern (keeping in mind they're only 3 days old at this stage, but we can see the patterning - all hoodeds).

Congrats Robin! Rats are a lot of fun....

My siamese girl just had her second litter (I was starting to worry that the lightning face was a dud). Ill get some pictures up eventually!

They are adorable. Well - fed off 10 of the rat pups. Five were previous rat eaters, but have also been eating mice with me (Sophie, Casper, Piper, Oliver and Pandora has had rats before). Four previous mouse only eaters (Bailee, Pretzel, Mackenzie and J-Lo) readily took a rat pup and Oliver and Casper were offered two. Oliver took his second, and Casper refused, so Pandora got that one.


Scarlett looks so relieved to go from 12 babies to 2. I think that two others that were offered rats will eventually switch, their rat pups hid behind the water bowl, so I removed them and dropped in more curious mice and they snapped them up immediately (Bindi and Reese).

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Originally Posted by frankykeno

LOL don't worry dear, after all the cute factor wears off and you are quite happy to see the cute and full snakes and a few less rats to manage believe me. Congrats on another fine litter there Miss Robin the Rat Breeder! :) Looks like Caesar is doing his work well. See I told you going around pet stores peering at the working end of young male rats would pay off with a good studly one LOL.

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That definitely helps, but also the good advice from you to make sure the ladies were about 250 grams before they were introduced to a male helped as well. I believe their nice weight for their first breeding also helped in such nice sized litters. Karl's excitedly waiting for Foxy's litter, he wants to pick out two pets from her for his very own! LOL

Thanks hon. I just firmly believe healthy, bigger moms have a better chance to produce healthy, bigger litters. Why waste your time and the rat's resources on breeding too early, getting little litters (number or sizewise) when a bit of patience will give you better odds of everything going very well.

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Originally Posted by rabernet

Karl's excitedly waiting for Foxy's litter, he wants to pick out two pets from her for his very own! LOL

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Look at Karl getting all into the rat breeding! Good for him!

congrats on all the rats!

I recently picked up a 1.2 trio and are keeping them in a 37x17 enclosure. one of the females looks to be in the early stages of pregnancy from what i have seen some of my rats do. she is constantly just stretched out instead of kind of hunched over just sitting there. i cant wait for more ratties