Quote Originally Posted by WingedWolfPsion View Post
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...