What should I do....

[tjones]

ok i put my male and female together about 3 weeks ago, and the person i got them from said that they didnt need to be seperated, Can i leave them together even if the female has babies??? and im not sure if she is prego or not, should i be able to feel the babies inside her??? AND YES I KNOW WHAT A FEMALE LOOKS LIKE WHEN SHE IS ABOUT TO GIVE BIRTH....im just wondering if they are of size, what is the proper size for a male and female to be at breeding age????

Thanks in advance!!!!

[SatanicIntention]

Yes, they need to be separated... You're going to need another male to keep the original male company for the next 6-8 weeks(birthing, rearing, weaning and rest for mom).

It's going to be alot of work and you're going to end up with rats coming out your ears for one snake. Why not just buy F/T and use what you need? Or buy one prey item a week from the pet store...

If you have 10+ snakes, I might understand, but even I have 35 Balls and still buy f/t cause it's cheaper and the snakes do fine on it.

[SlitherinSisters]

You definitely have to separate them. I haven't heard any success stories of males and females not being separated for babies. Females can stay together with babies, but even then you have some fights and loose babies.

You won't know that she pregnant till the week before she gives birth. I wouldn't breed any till they are around four months, that puts them at about medium size I believe.

Also I wouldn't be feeling for babies. You shouldn't even hold them if they are pregnant.

[suzuki4life]

you don't need to separate them...if she is pregnant to him, the odds are good there will be no issues...if she isn't pregnant to the male the odds are slightly more there might be a problem...

I only breed roughly 800-1100 rats a week...you probably shouldn't listen to me.

[littleindiangirl]

Are you recommending a person with one snake let two rats breed constantly? Wow, we should totally listen to your wisdom. That's not a waste of money at all.

[littleindiangirl]

TJ, yes, you will need to separate the mother from the father, or else every 3 1/2 weeks you will get 10-16 more rats.

With rats, they are only a good size for a very small window of time (about a week from weaning), requiring you to gas with CO2 and freeze.

If you don't have the ability to gas and freeze, you will soon be spending a TON of money, time and energy on raising crazy numbers of rodents.

[suzuki4life]

Are you recommending a person with one snake let two rats breed constantly? Wow, we should totally listen to your wisdom. That's not a waste of money at all.

actually my "wisdom" is very logical...

he wants to feed his snake not feed pet rats for eternity...

so he breeds until he feels he has enough feeders for 6 months....then he continues until is rat food is exhausted....

when each of his feeders reach appropriate size, he freezes them. He can freeze his breeders or turn them back into the pet shop for store credit (you can here if you ask nicely)

This should result in 7-8 months of food if done properly. He cleans the cage and stores it along with the bedding which he double bags.

Once his cage is bought, he can feed a pair of rats and their babies off one 50 lbs bag of mazuri for atleast 6 months $25 tops..a bag of $8 kiln dried pine will last that time also. So $33, some time and effort, some freezer bags and less than $10 in rats can feed his snake for 18 months or more...or he can breed and stop....and breed and stop....while feeding extra unneeded mouths instead of freezing them and saving cash, effort, and space for the extra year.

[littleindiangirl]

It's cheaper to buy bulk FT online. Just saying.

For one snake, easily get 2-3 litters and it's enough for 6 months. If that's the way he wants to do it, fine. However, you did not initially expand on how he could go about it, but thanks so much for letting him glean more information from you. This is a much better plan than just letting two rats breed constantly.

I even have a guide I've written up with that method in mind; here and on my own site. I'm no stranger to it.

[suzuki4life]

It's cheaper to buy bulk FT online. Just saying.

For one snake, easily get 2-3 litters and it's enough for 6 months. If that's the way he wants to do it, fine. However, you did not initially expand on how he could go about it, but thanks so much for letting him glean more information from you. This is a much better plan than just letting two rats breed constantly.

I even have a guide I've written up with that method in mind; here and on my own site. I'm no stranger to it.

buying versus breeding is a hard argument...

cost...heavily dependent on shipping charges....so his location determines this in many cases

quality...I have heard absolute horror stories about the animals received, how they were packaged etc....so some will argue that you get what you pay for and the only way to ensure the best is to do it yourself.

[OgleRpets]

With only one snake, I would say that yes, you should seperate them otherwise they WILL keep breeding. LOL

If you do want more babies then yes, you can leave them together and there shouldn't be a problem. As long as what was said before me (he is the daddy) is true.