Don't Really know what I am doing yet........

[zeion97]

If this happens, I suggest culling your buck.

I've been breeding rats for a few years now and have not had this happen... yet. I suppose anything is possible and I would personally cull the buck that does this to ensure you don't pass that on, and you get rid of a buck that doesn't fit your breeding plans (if you want to keep the buck with the does).

Moms will cull if they are stressed, tubs are over crowded, they run out of food/water, you bug them (if they aren't used to it) or if the babies have something wrong with them.

I've heard bucks will cull the litter if it's not theirs. I have no first hand experience with that.


:-D

I've seen a male kill another males babies.... ugly site at a pet store.. ;/
I've also had one of my MICE kill 2 of her young that were weaker.

And I'd second that, unless hes a awesome breeder put him down, or use him for food. (if you mean the definition of culling to put down, as it CAN be used to separate animals.) Either way is good, Rats do make good pets though im not TO found of them.

[youbeyouibei]

This web-site is focused on breeding for the pet rat side of things but the information is still applicable to breeding feeders...just don't post comments or ask for help if they find out you're raising FOOD, lol!

http://www.80stoysale.com/ratbreeding.html

I'm by no means an expert at raising them and get lost in a jungle of allele locus and what constitutes a self vs. an Irish Berkshire (Irish Carbomb!? Yes, please, and a double at that!) but what I've found to work for me: I run mine in 1:2 ratios of males to females. I have a couple concrete tub racks that mine live in. I've recently begun rotating the males out on a weekly basis, just to try and stagger the production some, as I had a few weeks with six or seven litters all at once and not enough snakes to feed them to. Food, water, and the correct temperatures (mine are in a climate controlled bonus room over my garage and the temps run in the mid 70's). I feed Native Earth (Harlan 4018) and occasionally grapes and/or organic plain yogurt and/or hard boiled eggs, especially when a female is nursing.

I've tried all the possibilites as far as leaving two females together, separating them out, leaving the male in with two girls, taking the male out, leaving the male with a single girl, etc. I've not really found anything to work better than another and couldn't really say except that it comes down to personal preference. I remove my males from the tubs just to give the females time to nurse and recover from their pregnancies so they aren't being bred back-to-back. It's slower but with only six snakes, it works for me as far as production and having the right size food item to offer when I need it. Here's an awesome chart that helps to give you some ideas as to how to cycle your males/females:

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...-Many-to-Breed

As one of the other posters suggested, don't stress it. I did when I first got started with mine and it didn't help anything. Put a female and a male together and they'll figure things out, lol! Good luck, sorry for the novel but I hope somewhere I offered some info that might help. Take care!

[Steven Raymer]

This web-site is focused on breeding for the pet rat side of things but the information is still applicable to breeding feeders...just don't post comments or ask for help if they find out you're raising FOOD, lol!

http://www.80stoysale.com/ratbreeding.html

I'm by no means an expert at raising them and get lost in a jungle of allele locus and what constitutes a self vs. an Irish Berkshire (Irish Carbomb!? Yes, please, and a double at that!) but what I've found to work for me: I run mine in 1:2 ratios of males to females. I have a couple concrete tub racks that mine live in. I've recently begun rotating the males out on a weekly basis, just to try and stagger the production some, as I had a few weeks with six or seven litters all at once and not enough snakes to feed them to. Food, water, and the correct temperatures (mine are in a climate controlled bonus room over my garage and the temps run in the mid 70's). I feed Native Earth (Harlan 4018) and occasionally grapes and/or organic plain yogurt and/or hard boiled eggs, especially when a female is nursing.

I've tried all the possibilites as far as leaving two females together, separating them out, leaving the male in with two girls, taking the male out, leaving the male with a single girl, etc. I've not really found anything to work better than another and couldn't really say except that it comes down to personal preference. I remove my males from the tubs just to give the females time to nurse and recover from their pregnancies so they aren't being bred back-to-back. It's slower but with only six snakes, it works for me as far as production and having the right size food item to offer when I need it. Here's an awesome chart that helps to give you some ideas as to how to cycle your males/females:

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...-Many-to-Breed

As one of the other posters suggested, don't stress it. I did when I first got started with mine and it didn't help anything. Put a female and a male together and they'll figure things out, lol! Good luck, sorry for the novel but I hope somewhere I offered some info that might help. Take care!

WOW thats a lot of info, THANKS!!!!! I am just stressing because my snakes need food soon.... and I cant pay the prices they want in Oklahoma (expectantly in the summer when my ball's are eating every four days)

[WingedWolfPsion]

My opinion? People who are breeding feeders, often overthink this too much.

Stick 2 or 3 female rats in a bin with a male, give them food and water and keep them clean, and they will produce gobs of babies for you. After 4 months or so, hold back a nice group of 3 more females and a male, and set them up in another bin. They'll be producing when your original group slows down.

Yes, this will shorten the rats' lifespans, but not nearly as much as you will when you feed them off once their production slows down.

If one of your females eats babies, feed her off. If the male eats babies, feed him off. The odds of this happening aren't actually very high.

Rats are very social animals, and if you set them up in a group while they're young, they usually get along and take care of each other and all the babies. Even the males can be paternal toward babies in their established 'colony'. When they are always together, the male knows the babies are his.

[Sama]

If you can get a big enough cage I also like the 1:2 set up. As for the males, rarely I see a male who kills babies, but much more often I see males who are better moms then the females. Few things are as cute as big daddy trying to take a nap and the babies are using his head as a diving board : )

[Balls Out Morphs]

If I were you I would check out this link;

http://www.metalmonkeyexotics.com/blog/?page_id=329

I have been following this information and find it spot on and very easy to understand.

[jasbus]

My opinion? People who are breeding feeders, often overthink this too much.

Stick 2 or 3 female rats in a bin with a male, give them food and water and keep them clean, and they will produce gobs of babies for you. After 4 months or so, hold back a nice group of 3 more females and a male, and set them up in another bin. They'll be producing when your original group slows down.

Yes, this will shorten the rats' lifespans, but not nearly as much as you will when you feed them off once their production slows down.

If one of your females eats babies, feed her off. If the male eats babies, feed him off. The odds of this happening aren't actually very high.

Rats are very social animals, and if you set them up in a group while they're young, they usually get along and take care of each other and all the babies. Even the males can be paternal toward babies in their established 'colony'. When they are always together, the male knows the babies are his.

SPOT ON

I've been breeding rodents since the mid 80's. When I was just starting out, I used to overthink everything.
I remove males all the time, very often replace them with a younger buck, even with pinks in the tub. If the rats are socialized, they more often than not will have no problem with another males babies.
Don't over think it, rats are easy. Mice, not so much...
Put your females with your male, leave them to do their business. If you need to, replace a cannibal.... It's really that easy. If the rats are old enough, you should start getting babies within a month...

[PghBall]

SPOT ON

I've been breeding rodents since the mid 80's. When I was just starting out, I used to overthink everything.
I remove males all the time, very often replace them with a younger buck, even with pinks in the tub. If the rats are socialized, they more often than not will have no problem with another males babies.
Don't over think it, rats are easy. Mice, not so much...
Put your females with your male, leave them to do their business. If you need to, replace a cannibal.... It's really that easy. If the rats are old enough, you should start getting babies within a month...

I agree with you and WingedWolfPsion. I leave my males in with the females and have had no probs running 1.3 and 1.4 tubs. They seem to figure it out themselves.

[wolfy-hound]

I'm running anywhere from 1.2 to 1.6 right now(the 1.6 is one huge tub, and they're all young too).

At a month, you're probably right on schedule. I think rat gestation is 25 days? so if it took a bit for them to GET prego, then about a month for them to BE prego, then BLAMO babies appear and begin squeaking.

I did look at rotating males in and out of tubs, but honestly, I'm not very good at complex scheduling, so I decided to try leaving males in. I have removed one male, because I lost two litters in the group, and haven't lost more litters since then. Was it him? Was it young moms being stupid? I don't know for sure yet. He's in with some more females to see how he does. Since he's a big blue dumbo, I do want his genes.

Hang in there! You'll get babies soon!

[Steven Raymer]

Got a litter today!!!!!! She gave birth last night around midnight to 14 babies..

I am a little concerned with the fact that they seem not to stay on top of the pine i have already taken a lot of it out should I take out more?

I also took out the female she was with so that I could breed her with the male by them self's.