Super male!

How many females can these guys breed? I just picked up 10 new female breeders and put them along with 3 I was waiting on and 1 male in a stock tank, I swear, that male was humping everyone of the girls atleast 1 time each. How many females can one male take on within a matter of 10 minutes? I left him in there for no more than 10 minutes and he had humped all of them. Wish me luck on a bunch of babies from these girls!!!

So you have 10 separate tanks to put them in? I wouldn't put him with more than 5 of so, or you might risk potency issues and females won't be getting pregnant.

Are these mice, rats?

Rats. I keep 3 females per tub when they give birth. I don't believe its neccesary to seperate them all into seperate tanks.

If they are first time mothers, I would separate them. Communal birthing just leads to stressed out rats, stealing of babies, babies getting injured/eaten, and one female pushing the others away and nursing 30 babies by herself. It's just not healthy.

Rats like company, females will midwife for each other.

The females share their duty in the colony. Since I started doing 3 females per tub, I have had an almost 100% success rate with babies growing up til fed off or weaned.
I am breeding them for food, not pets. Lets not let what you believe they should be housed like get in the way here.

Hun... This is not just what "I" believe. MANY people on this forum do the same thing I mentioned with their rat colonies and are highly successful. You do what you want, no one is going to stop you.

Good luck with that!

Its just you were making it sound like I would need 10 seperate tanks for my breeders, I was simply stating that there is more than 1 correct way to do it

I read the topic title "super male" and was going to say that I did not think male was a co-dominate trait. :P

Rick

lmao!! Nice Rick

Some of my females are great communal mothers and some play tug of war with them. When I know a female is very pregnant (ready to pop)I isolate her so she can be alone and stress free with the babies and I have less problems. I pamper my rats and try to make their lives as comfy as possible. I have much better success that way!

What's your average litter size, Jake?

What size enclosure are you using for three adult female rats and their offspring (which could be 10 to 15 or so per female)?

Just my .02 cents: I don't think I've ever done more than 1 male to 3 maybe 4 females. I also do not seperate my pregnant females and have great success with the females sharing the work. Different things work for different people, and for me isolating females from their groups doesn't seem necessary nor does it make them very happy.

Again this is just my experience over the years raising mice, rats, and now african rats. Take any and all advice and go with what works for you.

I use cement tubs in a large rack. I let my males stay with the females.

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Originally Posted by frankykeno

What size enclosure are you using for three adult female rats and their offspring (which could be 10 to 15 or so per female)?

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I keep the females in the 28" by 19" tubs. My average litter varies. I have some females that give me huge litters and some that give me small litters but are very good moms so I keep em around anyways. Over all they average 11 babies as of this last month but most of the babies are frozen off by 1-2 week old now.

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Originally Posted by Pork Chops N' Corn Bread

I keep the females in the 28" by 19" tubs. My average litter varies. I have some females that give me huge litters and some that give me small litters but are very good moms so I keep em around anyways. Over all they average 11 babies as of this last month but most of the babies are frozen off by 1-2 week old now.

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How are you euthanizing them for freezing at 1-2 weeks?

The "flick" method. I tried CO2 at that age and it didn't seem to work nearly as fast.

Hm.. I have never had success with communal mothering. One mother always would steal all of the babies and ward the other one off. This happened all of the 3, maybe 4, times I have tried it.
I like seperating the moms, especially first-timers who are going to be WAY stressed to begin with. Giving them a nice, secure and solitary tank or cage is the way I roll. I hardly think that a birthing mom needs another female poking her nose in and irritating her; I actually put newspaper around the tanks of near-birthing moms to give them some respect and solitude.
10g tanks are dirt-cheap. I use those for nursing moms. Much more cost-effective than having schkitzy new moms become evern more stressed and cannibalizing.

In the years I have breed rodents I to have observed the moving of babies from one pile to another. "Most" of the time I have at least 2 females giving birth around the same time with the third helping out. I have never observed females fighting over babies when they are moved, I have seen females feeding either group of babies when separated. Alot of times litters are left in mass. In my experience the size of the enclosure, read as how much space they, have greatly effects the situation.

I'm with you on that. Since I started the 3 moms per tub deal, I have had great results, assuming that all the babies aren't all going to be weaned out.

To each their own. :) I always had one female take on all of the babies, and it was bad for her too because she was overworking herself. But if others can make it work, more power to you. I like to know who gave birth to what babies; if there were a deformity or something, and I didn't know which mom birthed that baby, that would upset me. It is impossible to track each one when they look so similar!

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Originally Posted by Ginevive

To each their own. :) I always had one female take on all of the babies, and it was bad for her too because she was overworking herself. But if others can make it work, more power to you. I like to know who gave birth to what babies; if there were a deformity or something, and I didn't know which mom birthed that baby, that would upset me. It is impossible to track each one when they look so similar!

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Exactly why I do it that way too Jen! :)

http://www.ratbehavior.org/CommunalNesting.htm

"Not all rats are equally likely to nest together. Familiarity and relatedness play a big role. Pairs of sisters who have grown up together are more likely to pool their offspring and to share parenting than females who have only known each other for a few weeks. Unfamiliar females tend not to pool their offspring, and when they do, one female tends to monopolize the litter. Familiar pairs of sisters are more successful than unfamiliar pairs: overall they produce more weaned offspring and are less likely to commit infanticide than unfamiliar pairs..."

I think this is a great explanation of why it works and sometimes doesnt. :)

Excellent post!