Rat Breeding Help

[Jnksnakes]

WELL. After browsing this forum for a few minutes I realize that the new 6 Tub rack system I am building for ASF rats with 1/2" Wire mesh will not work. I'm already 2 days and $100 in. I'm not re-doing re-investing anything into this so I will just increase my colony of Regular rats I guess. I dislike breeding regular rats because of the need to remove the male from the tub. Once I get into 8 breeder tubs and only 2 male growout tubs I am definitely going to forget which male goes where. LOL. The tips I want for regular rats, is Does a 1:4 Ratio work well with them, or would 1:3 be the max? When do you guys remove your males? I hear a lot of people say to remove the the day or two before the first female gives birth, but I would really like consistent births from my females (every 3 weeks). This would involve leaving the male in the tub while the females give birth. I do not like this idea Too much because I do not want the males eating the litter while I'm at work etc. Any tips with this? Also will my females be able to survive producing litters every 3 weeks? If this is not a healthy idea, When do I put my male back in? After 2 weeks (when the male Shouldn't eat the litter anymore)?

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Back to back breeding is not the best the female being pregnant while nursing a litter will take it's toll on the female not to mention you will produce smaller litters and babies may be smaller as well.

I rotate female and remove them when pregnant to set them up in individual birthing tub until the babies are 5 to 7 days old, this prevent females from fighting over babies leading to serious injuries and losses.

Once the babies are 7 days old I do communal nursing at that stage the babies are less likely to be injured.

Now back when I rotated males I would leave the males 2 weeks with the females before moving them to the next tub.
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My advice do not leave the male in and definitely do not remove the male to put him back later on or you will even more likely to get the offsprings killed.

Put the male back in when the rats are weaned at 3 weeks and in their own tubs.

[Jnksnakes]

Should I always wean them right at 3 weeks? I have been waiting to 4 but honestly the sooner the better for me. I have 21 snakes to feed, lol.

[the_rotten1]

Some male rats are good fathers. I don't normally leave mine in with the babies, but I lost track of time once and left a few females in with a male a little too long. He didn't hurt the babies, but he did try to mate with the females again as soon as they were done giving birth, so I separated them. I like my females to raise their babies before I breed them again, they're healthier that way.

If you do take the male out, you definitely don't want to put him back in while the females are still nursing. My girls defend their babies viciously from any perceived intruder, even if it's the father. I put a male back in the wrong tub once and he got bitten badly. Treating his wound was not fun. Either leave the male in the whole time, or take him out and don't put him back until the babies are gone.

Deborah's method works. I've tried other ways too, but I keep coming back to the her method because it gives me the best results. Putting the pregnant females into nursing tubs as soon as they're pregnant guarantees that no one can harm the babies, except for the mother. But you didn't mention nursing tubs. Would I be correct to assume that you keep the mothers in groups to give birth?

You should do whatever works best for your rats. Some male rats are good fathers, but some are not. Some females like to be on their own to give birth and others do fine in groups. You can try leaving a male in and see how he does, but I would keep a close eye on him to make sure no one gets hurt.

[Jnksnakes]

I do not have extra tubs for the mothers to be separated. I leave all 3 mothers together to nurse. I accidentally left a male in a tub a few weeks ago and I came back to all of the babies dead (well eaten). I definitely remove the males. I think I will start to wean every rat exactly at 3 weeks and put the males in the same day I wean. Thanks.