male & female housed together consecutive months

[zeion97]

Thanks for the info. I think harem aka colony breeding refers to 1 male + >1 female. I was thinking in terms of 1.1 assuming of course a non-aggressive male.

Yeah several sites mention the wearing out, but none quantify it. For example: January 1 = 15 pups; January 21 = 14 pups; February 15 = 13 pups; etc

I woke up to 16 pups this morning, hoping she would split them up into 2 ~equal groups as I have seen with other breeders in the past. But instead she has a group of 3 and a group of 13. I guess the group of 3 are going to grow much faster, we'll see.

Usually mothers will take turns nursing them. I've seen mothers split in half and switch off or one take a few and freed them and than another female do the same back. Rats mothers are excellent. You shouldn't have anything to really worry about besides wearing out your females. Just keep a eye out because some mothers will take ALL the duties and not let the others be mothers. I'd give you more advice but my iPad has 1% battery..lol