Sexing rats what age

[Drew87]

Ok so i have some pups that are over 3 weeks have not opened there eyes but have full coats, and are running around the cage, but when will i be able to tell the boys from the girls???? so i can get them seperated in about a week and a half????

[stangs13]

The males parts will be visible at weanling time. Just flip them over, and give there belly a little push, and bam ther either male or female.

[ThyTempest]

You can tell male/female at day 3. I judge by the genital distance.

[littleindiangirl]

Yup, before you really learn what your looking for, the best way to learn is to hold 2 rat butts side by side in the palm of your hand, lift their tails and judge the distance between the anus and genitalia.

Once you figure you have a male (longest distance from anus to genitalia), it's easy to just compare side by side until you can tell at just a glance.

My males are usually very prominent by 3 weeks of age.

[Drew87]

ok so im guessing females have a smaller distance between anus and gen, and males are farther???

[littleindiangirl]

Oh yup, sure are. If I didn't think it was dirty to post pictures of, I would. There are a few websites with side by side pictures. Just google "sexing rats" and you should get a lot of hits.

[panthercz]

ok so im guessing females have a smaller distance between anus and gen, and males are farther???

Yes.

This is informative: http://www.ratz.co.uk/sexingrats.html

[Drew87]

Thankx everyone, that helps alot but its not much of a difference haha i hope i get it right haha, i mean like the distance is very close but there is a difference so ill be able to tell here is to alot of females haha,

[frankykeno]

Before their hair is fully in you can tell your females by their obvious little nipple marks. Once they are ready to wean at about 3.5 to 4.5 weeks of age just dangle them head up (sort of under their armpits). Those with dangly bits are your boys, those without dangly bits, those are your girls.

[Somed00d]

I check for nipples.. you should be able to see them now.