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  1. #1
    Registered User Jahbeard's Avatar
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    Time between litters

    My two females had their first litter each, about a week apart. I was wondering how long to wait after these are weaned to put the girls in again. I don't want to over do things.
    1.4 Normal BP( Marco, Polo, Mary, Xena, unnamed)
    1.0 100% het Albino (Dean Venture)
    2.0 100% het Orange Ghost (Dr. Orphius & Lyle)
    1.0 50% het Axanthic (Emperor Hotu)
    0.3 99% het Albino
    2.0 Hamsters (Speedy and Peanut)
    0.1 Dog (Toby)
    0.0.1 Cockatiel (Sonny)
    0.1 Dog (Sadie 08/17/1993-10/16/2006 We Miss You)
    Rats out the wazoo

  2. #2
    BPnet Veteran recycling goddess's Avatar
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    Re: Time between litters

    i like jo's method... she lets the mama rest the same amount of days as she had pups.

    so a mom who gives birth to 12 pups... rests 12 days after the pups are weaned before going back in with the male.
    in light, Aleesha




    You have 1440 minutes a day... how are you going to spend yours?

  3. #3
    Registered User Jahbeard's Avatar
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    Re: Time between litters

    Thanks. You are a kind and generous lady. My boys are 2 1/2 years apart, so I was trying to figure out what that was in rat time.
    1.4 Normal BP( Marco, Polo, Mary, Xena, unnamed)
    1.0 100% het Albino (Dean Venture)
    2.0 100% het Orange Ghost (Dr. Orphius & Lyle)
    1.0 50% het Axanthic (Emperor Hotu)
    0.3 99% het Albino
    2.0 Hamsters (Speedy and Peanut)
    0.1 Dog (Toby)
    0.0.1 Cockatiel (Sonny)
    0.1 Dog (Sadie 08/17/1993-10/16/2006 We Miss You)
    Rats out the wazoo

  4. #4
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    Re: Time between litters

    If your separating the prego mommies from the rest of the colony then as soon as the babies are weaned back in she goes. Using this method I get about 9 months of prime high number litters from the females.

    They get over bred really fast when you leave them in with the colony and their always prego. When I used this method they cashed out A LOT faster.

  5. #5
    BPnet Veteran frankykeno's Avatar
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    Re: Time between litters

    I think the females deserve a bit of time to rest and recoup after litters, especially the larger litters. If one is production breeding rats then of course there's a difference in how you manage them but for most of us breeding in smaller colonies for smaller snake collections, it's quite possible to allow the females a decent rest after the strain of breeding, pregnancy, delivery, nursing and raising an active litter.

    Sure I have to keep extra females around so I can cycle this way. Generally we work with 6 females per male. 2 in with him breeding, 2 currently nursing his offspring, 2 resting (or thereabouts...it's never that exact). We have three breeder male rats that cover our group of female rats this way.

    I have three females currently in our colony that have been with us the longest. They've been bred and rested as even though they are all either 2 years old or older they are in prime condition and do not even appear to be "older" rats. They still have their place in the colony. They keep resting females company, act as companions to females being raised as future breeders and take turns "babysitting" the recently weaned rats in the grower bins (I've noticed this cuts way down on any scrapping that goes on in there when new weanlings are introduced).
    ~~Joanna~~

  6. #6
    Registered User Jahbeard's Avatar
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    Re: Time between litters

    How old were they when you stopped breeding them? It is my plan to care for the breeders after they are done producing, and that seems like a good role for them. I have my sons doing the care (they are 12 and 15) with the older one doing the snake care and the younger one caring for the rats. Its a good personality match, believe me, and my youngest is very experienced at caring for pets and is quite devoted to their success. He does understand that they are not primarily pets and what the are for, and he supports the whole "circle of life" thing. However, for some reason he calls the babies "piggly-wigglies". Thanks again.
    1.4 Normal BP( Marco, Polo, Mary, Xena, unnamed)
    1.0 100% het Albino (Dean Venture)
    2.0 100% het Orange Ghost (Dr. Orphius & Lyle)
    1.0 50% het Axanthic (Emperor Hotu)
    0.3 99% het Albino
    2.0 Hamsters (Speedy and Peanut)
    0.1 Dog (Toby)
    0.0.1 Cockatiel (Sonny)
    0.1 Dog (Sadie 08/17/1993-10/16/2006 We Miss You)
    Rats out the wazoo

  7. #7
    BPnet Veteran frankykeno's Avatar
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    Re: Time between litters

    The nice thing with the rat colony is your son will get excellent experience understanding genetics and management of breeding adults that he can carry over to other creatures. It's not the same exactly but the concepts are and it's a much quicker way to learn basic genetics and health (especially of the producing females).

    We generally start our females breeding around 4-5 months of age when they've hit 250 grams or thereabouts. Really depends on the particular rat so I just basically eyeball it and know when a female is looking big enough. We retire the females anywhere from 12 to 16 months of age. 12 months is recommended, however, with the good resting and not back to back breeding, we are finding the females are in great condition and breed very nice litters months past the year cut off. I just watch them closely after the 12 month mark and as soon as I see any indication the female is not up to it or a sharp reduction in her litter size...she's retired.

    HoneyChild is a good example. She consistently produced 15 per litter, from her first litter. When she was about 15 to 16 months old she produced her last litter of only 6. Very nice rats, in fact we kept a few out of that litter, but a clear indication momma rat was done. I'll have to get a pic of her today, she's in fantastic shape for an older female breeder and going strong having a great life. I don't know if it's because she was such a good momma but she clearly seems to get more out of life being in with the recently weaned rats than in with other mature females. She's highly maternal so I think HC just likes something smaller to cuddle and groom.

    Alita, another female, produced 12, 16, 16, and 18 then dropped to 10. We got her as an adult with her age unknown but I suspect she's done now as her last rotation through with a breeder male produced no litter. She's retired and her lovely all black daughter, Jet, has quite nicely filled momma's place in the breeding rotation. I like to keep the best daughter from a good producer as they say good breeding and litter raising skills are somewhat genetic in rats.

    Our retired breeder male, Casanova, who is a bit older than HC, hangs out in the male only cage with the younger actively breeding males. We call him "King of the Food Bowl" as every rat in there knows that when we put in the new food, Nova is always first to feed. Any young stud rat who thinks he can get to the treats first gets quickly tossed on it's back, rolled around and scolded by old Nova LOL.

    I once tried to count how many feeders Casanova has fathered for us. I stopped after the first few hundred...my brain ached!
    ~~Joanna~~

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