A bit of assistance or guidance? Please?

[protech09]

OK, so I have a rat colony for close to 5 weeks now. I have 8 females and now 2 males. I have 2-3 females in 101 qt tubs all setup properly. I had originally 1 male and 8 females and he immediately began mating with the females in each tub, I would let 3 days go by after visually seeing them actually mate. That was close to 5 weeks ago. One week ago, 1 Female started in what I thought to be labor, 1 kit was born (stillborn) my wife and I were watching as it started and sat there for close to 3hours and no other kits were birthed, I find this baffling that only 1 baby was born, and still born at that. OK, so since about 2 weeks ago I have been weighing the females to see if their is growth in weight everyday and NOTHING some of them lose 2-3 grams here and there but none of them are gradually gaining weight like you would think they were if they were pregnant. NOW 1 week ago I thought maybe its the male...... So I went and got a male from a breeder and he said this guy will do the job..... OK I removed the other male temporarily and put in place the new guy. He has mated with 3 of 8 of my females the 5 that he doesnt mate with he will sniff them and then go away from them. I think they are either pregnant from male#1 or just not in heat. I have left the new guy in for a week with these 5 females in one tub and he will have nothing to do with them... Can someone comment or give me some advice? Thanks... Oh also just to mention the temps in the room is anywhere from 68-74

[Jnksnakes]

1 male to 8 females is a very large ratio. I would put 1 male to 4 females Max. Since you have two males, you could do a 1 male to 4 female ratio in 2 separate tubs. I do not remove my males until 1-2 days before the first female is going to give birth. You can tell because they will become very obviously pear shaped.

[protech09]

Yeah I have 4 tubs, 2 females per tub and I rotate the male out... I dont have 8 females in 1 tub if thats what you were thinkin.

[Jnksnakes]

Even so, That is a lot of females for 1 male. 1 male should only be breeding to 4 females. Even if you keep 1 female per tub and rotate him through 4 tubs. You will not get good fertility with 1 male to 8 females. Put 1 male in the tub with 4 females, and put the other male in the tub with the other 4 females. take the out the day before the babies are born.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

When you rotate the males you want to leave them about 2 weeks at the time in each tubs not 3 days or because you see visibly copulation.

Things that are important to know when breeding: Getting adults is usually a mistake as they are often no longer in their prime for breeding, getting young animal (4 to 6 weeks) and raising them to breeding size is recommended. Takes time but it pays off and of course once your production gets going always holdback from the biggest litters.

Here is a good post for rotation https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...t=rat+rotation