Rat breeding Q's

OK, now that my first Rat litter is a week old, the second female popped. This was sooner than I expected. Now I need a water bottle for her to move them into the glass aquarium (forgot it today when I went to get the food but I'll be getting one tomorrow). So the male is still with her. I read the FAQ's on this forum and it says they can breed as soon as they're done weaning.

How soon after giving birth can rats breed? The reason I ask is because I can't move her yet, she's still with the male and today he was already mounting her again. I don't really need back to back litters. She had 11 and the fist had 7. That's 18 weeks worth of food for my one little snake, if I don't keep any of them.


I'm sure I'll come up with more Q's but it's getting late, so for now ty for the help on this one.


I'll be getting a bottle and food dish tomorrow after work, just hope she isn't pregnant yet (for her sake).

Maybe try and euthanize a few of them and freeze them for later?

The male rat can impregnate the female immediately after she gives birth (within the first 24 hours or so). Hopefully you'll get them seperated and that won't happen.

Wouldn't it be easier on mamma and the babies to move the dad to a new home and leave the babies where they are? You can put a little dish of water in with the male until you can get that water bottle....and leave the female in the cage that already has a water bottle, as her needs are more critical than the males at this point.

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Originally Posted by JLC

Wouldn't it be easier on mamma and the babies to move the dad to a new home and leave the babies where they are? You can put a little dish of water in with the male until you can get that water bottle....and leave the female in the cage that already has a water bottle, as her needs are more critical than the males at this point.

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I would love to do this, however I have them in a wire cage with large spaces. It's great for adult rats, just not the babies in a week or so.

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Originally Posted by frankykeno

Hopefully you'll get them seperated and that won't happen.

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I agree. I will put the male in the glass cage now before I go to work. I just hope she didn't get pregnant already.

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Originally Posted by Holbeird

Maybe try and euthanize a few of them and freeze them for later?

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I already plan to once they reach the right size. Maybe weanling or just a bit larger for most of them.



Thanks for your replies. I'll get that male out now.

Ok, I came up with a couplemore questions.

1: Can rats get pregnant by more than one male?

The reason I ask is that the pet store had them mixed when I got my rats. My albino female just had non albino babies, and albino babies. My only male in albino. Maybe it's more thanjust a simple resecive in rats?

2: How old to the rats have to be before you can tell there sex?

I want to keep one or two of the babies because I'm pretty sure this male isn't the daddy. (as mentioned above about the albinos)


Thank you frankykeno and JLC so far. I'm not really a rat person, but I think it's better to raise my own snake food. and health happy rats make better food.

She probably got pregnant by another rat that was het for albino, and thus 1/2 of the litter should be albino.

Once they start growing fur you should be able to make out nipples on the females. Prior to that they can be sexed by measuring the distance between tha genitals and anus. Males have a larger distance. It's not easy to do on young rats though.

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Originally Posted by Flagg

She probably got pregnant by another rat that was het for albino, and thus 1/2 of the litter should be albino.

Once they start growing fur you should be able to make out nipples on the females. Prior to that they can be sexed by measuring the distance between tha genitals and anus. Males have a larger distance. It's not easy to do on young rats though.

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well based on the nipple idea, it looks like I have a decision to make, cause I think they're both females.



https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil.../Picture24.jpg

Keep at least 2 because with only one she may stop lactating and then the one won't make it. Unless they are old enough to be weaned already, like over 3 weeks minimum.

I'd keep the colored ones so you don't end up with all albino rats.

Yeah most definitely a colored one. One of the 2 in the picture will be kept. They are starting to wean now, I saw one of these girls munching on a sunflower seed today, even at 2 weeks today. It seems like they're growing really fast and sooner than I thought, they'll be ready to go in the freezer.

Here's the best pictorial link on sexing rats at different ages I've ever seen....

http://www.ratz.co.uk/sexingrats.html

As for albinoism in rats, rat genetics are extremely complicated LOL...they have hets and so on but they also have polygenes which are modifiers on colors and so on and so on....here's some links if you want to read up on that....

http://www.afrma.org/ratgenpart1.htm

http://www.geocities.com/Petsburgh/7.../genetics.html

I'm not sure if two males can impregnate a female, I suspect it's possible though I never allow two mature males around a female in season. They will fight to the point that one male can be killed and the female can get injured in the process.

The pups will start trying hard food prior to being weaned but they still need their mother's milk to grow. Usually they start nibbling around 20 days of age but aren't weaned until 4 or 5 weeks of age (though lots of people do wean earlier I find I get bigger, hardier weanlings if I leave them with mom a bit longer).

I hope you aren't just putting them into the freezer still alive. That's a horrible inhumane death. Kill them humanely first, either with CO2 or cervical dislocation.

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Originally Posted by Flagg

Kill them humanely first, either with CO2 or cervical dislocation.

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How is cervical dislocation prefromed? Is there a site or something I can read up on?

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Originally Posted by Flagg

I hope you aren't just putting them into the freezer still alive. That's a horrible inhumane death. Kill them humanely first, either with CO2 or cervical dislocation.

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Well I was planning on just putting them in the freezer. :eek:

I don't think so. That would be messy at best, and yes cruel. I already said I would do it humanly. I'm going to get some dry ice and do a CO2 chamber. I'll have way too many rats to put down all at one time for cervical dislocation, besides I heard that could get messy if it's not done right.

Dry ice will work if you have a cheap source for small quantities of it. Here I can only get 10 lbs for 7.50. I went with paintball 20 oz CO2 tanks. Less mess and easy to control the CO2 output flow. Refills are only $1 but 1 refill lasts me for a LOT of uses. like 3=4 months worth.

Putting them in the freezer is far far far from humane.

C02 is the best way to go for large numbers IMO.

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Originally Posted by Flagg

Dry ice will work if you have a cheap source for small quantities of it. Here I can only get 10 lbs for 7.50. I went with paintball 20 oz CO2 tanks. Less mess and easy to control the CO2 output flow. Refills are only $1 but 1 refill lasts me for a LOT of uses. like 3=4 months worth.

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Well I have enough rats with this bunch to last a while. I only have one small BP right now. She growing fast, but at only 420g she doesn't need too much or too big of food. Right now I'm giving her 2 f/t mice once a week. She'd eat a third one in the middle of the week if I gave it to her too. I'm going to convert her over to rats once all my frozen mice are gone.

I'll have to find out more about the paintball method, however. I have them available here at the house.

Maybe you could put it on here, or PM me the way that works.

Basically just a refillable 20 oz CO2 tank , a remote coil which has the valve and tubing.
Connect the coil to the sealable chamber and also connect a length of rubber tubing to the chamber for an exhaust hose. Like in this picture

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p...c/7701ebbe.jpg

Seems easy enough to make...Flagg did you have to seal the hole to the tupperware? If so what did you use, aquarium sealent?

I used a hot glue gun, though it looks like crap. Aquarium sealant would work much better.

Next time I would go for a larger chamber, and one that has a better fitting cover, perhaps a twist on cover. The one pictured is cheap and good for mice and ASF rats but a bit small for domestic rats.
And I have to hold the cover down when filling with CO2 or it pops off.

Do you possibly have a picture of the tubing connected to the end of the CO2 chamber? Does it fit snugly or did you have to wrap tape or somethign around it too?

looks like a great idea. I think for now dry ice is the way for me. It's fast to get and not another device I have to keep around. Plus I can still use the ice box. I'd have to go out and get a hose to go from the tank to the container. Maybe in the future I'll be making one, just not yet.

I used hot glue for both tube connections, they should be airtight. Silicone would work as well, or even tape in a pinch if its reasonably airtight.

The exhaust hose goes in a glass of water so it will release exhaust gas/air but not allow oxygen back into the chamber.