Early bloomers?

[LotusCorvus]

Normally with my litters I wean them at 4 weeks, as long as they seem healthy (I've had a premature litter, and left the survivors in with their mom for 5 weeks). I'm good at sexing, and double check anyways because I've had a couple sneaky males in the past. However, even with all of this I currently have a grow out tub full of pregnant young females. 11 pregnant girls, a good deal younger than I would choose to breed them. I remove the male from my breeding groups once I see the moms swelling, so the culprit has to be one of the boys from the litter.

Especially since I separate them a little early, this is kind of frustrating. Anybody else been plagued by an early-blooming litter.... or want some baby rats next month?

[Grenna]

Any chance one of the girls is actually a boy? Or is the weanling tub comprised of just the 11 heavily pregnant young does?

I can only speak from my experience, but have never had a 4 week old buck able to do the job. Your line is very virile

If it helps, just imagine that if you really wanted a group of does bred and put in a 4 week old buck, you wouldn't see a litter for months. Murphy's Law
(I know, I know - that doesn't help. I tried!)

[LotusCorvus]

Any chance one of the girls is actually a boy? Or is the weanling tub comprised of just the 11 heavily pregnant young does?

I can only speak from my experience, but have never had a 4 week old buck able to do the job. Your line is very virile

If it helps, just imagine that if you really wanted a group of does bred and put in a 4 week old buck, you wouldn't see a litter for months. Murphy's Law
(I know, I know - that doesn't help. I tried!)

Hahaha, yeah, that would be exactly what would happen!

At first I thought I must have just mis-sexed one. I've got one old male I would have sworn up and down was a female until he was almost 6 months. Temperament, size, and anything less than a very close physical exam would still lead most people to take him as a girl. Pretty sure he's infertile, too, so he may just be an in-between. Sweetest pet rat though, makes a great cage-mate for my retirees and oddballs.

However, when I cleaned the girls' cage a couple days ago they were all showing pregnant bellies, and most of them had visible nipples, so either I have a male with megacolon or a pot belly, or I did indeed sex them correctly. Thank the rat fertility gods that I'm picking up a rack my friend is building for me next week, haha.