When are they considered smalls?
I have one group of rats that was weaned last week, and one thatt was weaned 2 weeks ago, when will they be up to small size? What will the weight be?
Re: When are they considered smalls?
I have always used the weights on the RodentPro site to judge. They sell their smalls between 45-84 grams.
One thing I noticed is that my rats LOOK smaller than that but when I weighed the ones I thought were getting close to that they were all over 90g. Next time I'll know to check weights sooner. :)
Re: When are they considered smalls?
When you say you "weaned" did you just take them away from the mother and gave them hard food? because i have a litter thats almost at 4 weeks and im kinda confused do i just take them away and seperate?
Re: When are they considered smalls?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Drew87
When you say you "weaned" did you just take them away from the mother and gave them hard food? because i have a litter thats almost at 4 weeks and im kinda confused do i just take them away and seperate?
Yup thats what i did, they already started eating and drinking on there own, and very rarely nurse.
Re: When are they considered smalls?
My smalls are going to be between 4 and 5 weeks of age. At 6 wks the males are definitely medium size and over the 150 gram range.
My rats are weaned at the age of 3 1/2 weeks. They are consistently between 60-80grams, with the average being 65 grams.
For me:
Small are considered to be at 100 grams (4-5 weeks for males)
Mediums are 180+ grams (5-6 weeks for males)
Hope that makes sense.
Drew, yes, separate the males from the females into appropriate tubs no later than 5 weeks. Males can mate successfully at 5 weeks of age. Failure to do so will result in a multitude of pregnancies from both the mothers and her daughters.
Re: When are they considered smalls?
I need to euthanize some males! Im fixing to have 20 medium males...:O
Re: When are they considered smalls?
Re: When are they considered smalls?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
stangs13
I have one group of rats that was weaned last week, and one thatt was weaned 2 weeks ago, when will they be up to small size? What will the weight be?
It really depends on the person or seller.
I call small a 4 weeks old rat which is what I usually feed.
Re: When are they considered smalls?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Deborah
It really depends on the person or seller.
I call small a 4 weeks old rat which is what I usually feed.
Then what do you call a weanling? Cause that is what I age I weaned at.:oops: I will be making a trip to the local walmart for euthanasia material! i will have to make a thread of my Co2 chamber. I personal think that balls should be fed on something a little bigger than smalls. I guess I just am being an ignorant and worrying teenager..lol. But I listen to my elders.:bow:
Re: When are they considered smalls?
We wean at 4 weeks of age. I call them weans (or weanlings) at that point. About a week to 2 weeks post weaning I called them smalls. The males of course grow generally bigger and faster than their female littermates so I usually feed them off first to avoid them over-growing our size needs. I haven't a clue quite honestly what they weigh. I just go by knowing our snakes and having a fairly decent "eye" for appropriate feeder size. Depending on the size of the litter, the quality of the mothering they got, the genetics, etc. you can see quite a lot of variance if you go purely by age.
Re: When are they considered smalls?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
frankykeno
We wean at 4 weeks of age. I call them weans (or weanlings) at that point. About a week to 2 weeks post weaning I called them smalls. The males of course grow generally bigger and faster than their female littermates so I usually feed them off first to avoid them over-growing our size needs. I haven't a clue quite honestly what they weigh. I just go by knowing our snakes and having a fairly decent "eye" for appropriate feeder size. Depending on the size of the litter, the quality of the mothering they got, the genetics, etc. you can see quite a lot of variance if you go purely by age.
Great post jo! I only have one(maybe a cornsnake too) ball on small rats, so I wont be able to feed them all off fast enough anyway. I am getting more balls in a few weeks, and it wont be long till they will all need smalls.
Re: When are they considered smalls?
Lol I don't know if I just have fat rats, but my rats are generally 45-55g maybe 3-4 days after they open their eyes, so ill round and say 3 weeks.
They are generally mediums 80-100g by 4-5weeks and by then they are usually fed off. Very rare I have to euthanize.
Re: When are they considered smalls?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
stangs13
Then what do you call a weanling? Cause that is what I age I weaned at.:oops: I will be making a trip to the local walmart for euthanasia material! i will have to make a thread of my Co2 chamber. I personal think that balls should be fed on something a little bigger than smalls. I guess I just am being an ignorant and worrying teenager..lol. But I listen to my elders.:bow:
I wean my rats at 3 weeks old, if I have any runts they get to stay with mom one more week.
Usually my 4 weeks old rats are about 80/85 grams.
I like to feed smaller preys (4 weeks old) it has work very well for me, the only time I have fed differently was in september/october last year right before breeding season and I will do so again prior to each breeding season.
Bottom line feed what works, you know YOUR animals the best.