Weaning BabyRats - When & How

[John chandor]

Hi,
I am new to this forum and breeding my first rats. How old do you typically wean your babies at? How do they learn to drink from automatic watering system?

Thanks!

[Caspian]

I've got my first rat litter, as well. I've read you can wean them at four weeks, and should have males out by five weeks to ensure that they can't breed the females anyway. With mice, I just pulled the males out between four and five weeks, and left the females in for the mother to wean on her own. One of the females I bought to breed turned out to already be pregnant - the others are just starting to breed now, and she's already dropped eleven pinks. Not so pink now at just over a week old... it looks like mostly black (the mother is a black self), with at least one blue and one that's pink. Not sure if it'll be white or beige. I plan on keeping those two, so I'm handling them to get them used to me, since the adults I bought are unanimously unfriendly, hard to handle - and prone to biting.

I'm no expert, though - just what I've read. There are others around with vastly more experience than I have.

[Marrissa]

Five weeks here too for boys. Females I usually leave with mom until I do some tub organizing. I don't keep track of mice ages and such. I just keep the tubs in an order that those at the top are my oldest and holdbacks go to the bottom tub next in line. This cycles out old breeders for food and constantly keeps younger guys moving in. With the mice I just pull the babies when they're small adult size and put them into groups of 1.4 or so then. They don't usually end up getting pregnant for several months so it seems to hold true of they'll breed when they're ready.

I'm switching over all racks to auto water this week. I'm going to move the needle and let a few drops out to show them the water and then it just takes one in each tub to teach the rest. Babies will learn from mom just like with the water bottles. I doubt I'll have any issues.

[Kokorobosoi]

I wean at four weeks, but that's just me. I have some snakes that need that size, so I pull some for feeding, pop the rest into gender separate cages for growing to the next size.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

I wean a 3 or 4 weeks (depending on the litter size, large litter 14 and over I tend to wean at 4 weeks, the rest at 3, all you have to do is separate the babies from the mother and provide them with food an water.

[Ufoo9k]

I do 5 weeks. Got told by a breeder that it made the babies less agressive. I never got bit by a rat but don't want to try!

[Kokorobosoi]

Huh. Less aggressive? Never heard that, but cool. I handle aggression different. If it bites, it's culled. I handle my pups daily, and if there is biting, other than grooming or very scared bites (i.e.: my fault) I sharpie the base of its tail. Then when it's time to cull, or when I need feeders, the marked ones go first. Biters are not tolerated here.

[grcforce327]

Some of you need to learn the definition of "weaning", which is a gradual process. All you are doing is removing the young,which is what this topic question should really be!

[Kokorobosoi]

Wean: verb; accustom (an infant or other young mammal) to food other than its mother's milk.

we all wean the same way. Offering food in the cage (the mother has to eat the whole time). The mother eats, the pups watch and learn, and imitate. Once the pups are old enough to be eating that food (around 4-5 weeks) the breeder moves them away from the source of milk, thereby encouraging the animal to food other than its mothers milk.

The question of how, is by seperating. The difference of opinion is when it's done, with variations of about a week. Water bottle training is done by example. The pups watch the mother, as with the food.

i hope this is more clear for you. If not feel free to pm me.

[Caspian]

Personal experience and a bit of research, not a professional:

Weaning is done pretty much the same with all animals, including humans. You deny them access to an accustomed source of food. With rodents, you put them in a different cage. Alternatively, the mother will eventually start refusing to nurse them, which has the same result - but by the time she does that they may be old enough to be interbreeding. With calves, you either remove them from the mother, or attach a flap to their nose that prevents them from nursing. With horses, you remove them from the mother. Otherwise, you may end up with two-year-old horses still nursing, depending on the dam. With dogs and cats, usually the mother gets tired of nursing them and starts refusing. By five weeks old, mice and rats are pretty much just nursing for comfort. They're fully capable of living on solid food.

Weaning is a gradual process, in that by five weeks old, or four weeks really, the rodents have already been eating solid food for a while if it's available for them to eat.