keeping dad from being lonely

so here is my problem...I have three rats, 1 male 2 females and I just noticed yesterday that one of my females is prego, I plan on putting the moms in a tub by themselves to raise their little ones, but my question is what do I do so that my male doesn't get sad from being alone....thank you guys in advance

are both the females prego? If only one is showing signs i would leave the other female in with him. but if they both are there is not really much you can do give him toys, chew toys try and give him stuff to keep himself busy haha. A treat or something like that

I usually leave my preggo girls in with the dad until they're REALLY ready to pop (the sides of the belly will bulge out kinda funny) before removing them and putting them into there birthing bins. The male is usually okay with a little alone time. If your really worried about him being lonely then just keep a male pup from one of the litters to keep him entertained, or, get him a sterile girlfriend to keep him company ;)

Just remember to put your girls in separate containers otherwise you might end up with a lot of dead pups :(

QUOTE=Drew87;904683]are both the females prego? If only one is showing signs i would leave the other female in with him. but if they both are there is not really much you can do give him toys, chew toys try and give him stuff to keep himself busy haha. A treat or something like that[/QUOTE]


yeah so far only one of them is showing signs, I guess he will just have to make due for now being by himself for awhile...what I'm thinking about doing in the future is keeping one of the females from this litter and keeping two girls in a seperate tub and leave one female in with the male untill she is ready to pop then put her in a birthing tub and put in a new girl with him...I don't know I guess I am just being anal and over thinking it to much....lmao
:confused:

Get a couple more females and introduce them some weeks apart to try to stagger your litters and you should be able to have at least one female in with the male at all times.

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Originally Posted by photoman100169

him...I don't know I guess I am just being anal and over thinking it to much....lmao
:confused:

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I know exactly how you are feeling.

You can try to let him be with one of the moms when she delivers but that creates the problem of knocking her again without a rest. I've had dads that were wonderful and dads that were horrible so there is a risk.

Once you have a retired female breeder your problem will be solved but until then you might just have to give the guy some playtime with you each day until his girlfriend returns.

Good luck!

I would just leave them together he wont hurt the babies.I leave my groups together all the time and the babies never get ate.

yeah I would just leave them in with him but I don't want them to get pregnant again right away, for one I don't want the added stress on the girls and two, I don't want to have TOO many babys. I'm just trying to get a good supply of feeders so I don't have to run to the pet store so much...maybe I can sell off the extras

yea i would get one more female and keep the male with one female, then when she is ready to pop take her out, put her with the other females, and take one of the non prego girls and put her with the male, best of luck

do you think that the non prego and non nursing girls will mess with the babys?

Not really, my last litter i had, the mother was in with the pups and one of her older doughters and she was kinda helping take care of the pups it was pretty cool.

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Originally Posted by rocko

I would just leave them together he wont hurt the babies.I leave my groups together all the time and the babies never get ate.

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I'm glad you have never had any trouble with your males not messing with the babies. Unfortunately, I have on 2 occasions had horrible males and it was a bloody mess. Needless to say those males were giving up as feeders.

You really won't know how the father is going to act until you try it.

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Originally Posted by photoman100169

yeah I would just leave them in with him but I don't want them to get pregnant again right away, for one I don't want the added stress on the girls and two, I don't want to have TOO many babys. I'm just trying to get a good supply of feeders so I don't have to run to the pet store so much...maybe I can sell off the extras

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It's a bit sad...but I would suggest freezing any extras (unless your reps don't take frozen). You might have a hard time selling off extras, usually big places like PetCo, PetSmart, PetLand breed there own or have large scale breeders they get there rats and mice from.
Smaller petshops usually just breed there own.


You COULD try Craigslist.com if you'd rather try to sell rather than freeze.

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Originally Posted by MonitorLove

It's a bit sad...but I would suggest freezing any extras (unless your reps don't take frozen). You might have a hard time selling off extras, usually big places like PetCo, PetSmart, PetLand breed there own or have large scale breeders they get there rats and mice from.
Smaller petshops usually just breed there own.


You COULD try Craigslist.com if you'd rather try to sell rather than freeze.

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oh yeah I def plan on freezing...I just don't want to get beyond what I need for a couple months and just wasting them...I am going to try craigslist

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Originally Posted by photoman100169

oh yeah I def plan on freezing...I just don't want to get beyond what I need for a couple months and just wasting them...I am going to try craigslist

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How many reps are you feeding? I was strapped for feeders all the time with just one breeder that was almost constantly pregnant and birthed a consistent litters of 12. I fed two corns, a Savannah, and a ball python once a week.


Just to avoid any confusion: The monitor was fed daily, and got a rat once a week.

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Originally Posted by MonitorLove

How many reps are you feeding? I was strapped for feeders all the time with just one breeder that was almost constantly pregnant and birthed a consistent litters of 12. I fed two corns, a Savannah, and a ball python once a week.


Just to avoid any confusion: The monitor was fed daily, and got a rat once a week.

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right this minute I only have one...I know I know, I shouldn't start with feeders till I have more, but I am in the process of getting more...I just have a control thing I guess...lol...I like to know what my snake is eating and everytime I go in to the pet store to get feeders I always find something wrong (over crowding, no food, no water) I'm sure you know how that goes

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Originally Posted by photoman100169

right this minute I only have one...I know I know, I shouldn't start with feeders till I have more, but I am in the process of getting more...I just have a control thing I guess...lol...I like to know what my snake is eating and everytime I go in to the pet store to get feeders I always find something wrong (over crowding, no food, no water) I'm sure you know how that goes

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I would have started with feeders the second I got my first snake, but to be honest, at the time, I didn't even think of it.
It's just simply so much more cheaper, efficient, and healthier to breed your own then to go to a pet shop. The initial buy is rather pricey, since you have to get a cage, water bottle, bedding, food, etc. But after that they pretty much pay for themselves.

I feed Ol' Roy Lamb and Rice Meal dog food to all my rats and have had better results then feeding rat food or lab blocks. My females gain back weight a lot faster, my weaned pups are nice and fat, and they all love it.
Another plus is that I can also feed my dog and my cat off it :P

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Originally Posted by MonitorLove

I would have started with feeders the second I got my first snake, but to be honest, at the time, I didn't even think of it.
It's just simply so much more cheaper, efficient, and healthier to breed your own then to go to a pet shop. The initial buy is rather pricey, since you have to get a cage, water bottle, bedding, food, etc. But after that they pretty much pay for themselves.

I feed Ol' Roy Lamb and Rice Meal dog food to all my rats and have had better results then feeding rat food or lab blocks. My females gain back weight a lot faster, my weaned pups are nice and fat, and they all love it.
Another plus is that I can also feed my dog and my cat off it :P

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yeah luckily I had I couple old cages and tanks in a spare room, so I didn't have to buy that stuff, I am feeding a high protien dog for right now, but I just food a feed store near me that sells lab blocks so I am going to get a bag of that and try it out and see what it does for me..

ok here is another question for you guys, do any of you keep records of your rats and litters, and if so what kind of info do you keep..I was thinking of keeping track of when the litter was born, how many was in the litter and the ratio of males to females...yeah I know probably over kill but it keeps me entertained...lol

I keep the males in with 2 or 3 females all the time--I've never had a male mess with the babies, or had more than the rare occasional loss of a newborn from trampling--but the moms are as likely to do that as the dad is. I seldom find babies dead or missing--it's no more common than stillbirths. All of the moms will cooperate to take care of the babies.

If you do wind up with a male that kills babies--well, he's food. <lol> If you wind up with a female that does so--same thing.

It DOES mean the females are re-bred immediately. Some prefer to give the female a rest between litters.

If you aren't keeping the male in a bin, you might consider getting him a wheel--if you hunt around, you can find rat-sized wire running wheels.

It's important to remember that, while rats are more easy-going than mice, they still form established 'families'. A group that has been together since adolescence will not take kindly to outsiders--you can't just add another female if you have to remove one. The other females WILL kill her.
You shouldn't add a new male to a group with pregnant females, either--they may kill HIM--and if they don't, he may kill the new pups to ensure that any pups being raised are his. That's just instinct.

I always try to set up breeding groups with hopper mice and rats, and raise them together. I've found that trying to introduce them later results in a lot of bloodshed, and horrible things. (I had a group of 5 female mice set up with a male--the male turned out to be sterile, so I removed him, and a day later I introduced a young male mouse. They castrated him...) >.<

I just found a great program for keeping track of my feeder rats. It's called Kin Traks. Got it from www.kintraks.com
It's very easy to set up for rats, and now I know when to wean each litter, and when to expect new pups.