How many snakes do you have?
Check out the rat breeding subforum sticky threads here
Female rats go into heat every 4 or so days. Breeding takes place around twilight and during the night. It happens very quickly and you may not even see it.
Gestation lasts roughly 21 days.
Pups will start weaning at 3-4 weeks of age.
Pups can become sexually mature at 5 weeks of age so separate males and females.
If you keep the male in with the females permanently, he will breed her during her post partum estrus. This is the only time she can get pregnant after she gives birth to a litter. So, she'll give birth to a litter. A few hours later she will go through a heat. The male will breed with her. When the current litter is weaned, she will give birth to another litter. So careful with leaving males in with their females too often. A female that has too many consecutive litters can be worn down quickly.
A few tips:
- Rule of thumb is have 1 breeder female rat for every snake you have. You may have to add or subtract accordingly.
- Feed a high quality diet. Low quality diets usually result in more smelly rats with poor production. The rats also go through more low quality food than high quality food at a time. They eat more food to compensate for the lower nutrition.
- Change bedding at least 1-2x a week to prevent respiratory infection.
- It's a good idea to keep enclosures uncrowded and have good air flow. This also prevents illness and odor build up.
- cull all biters, escapees, and bad mothers. You don't want to introduce any bad traits into your colony. Keep it simple and keep it clean.
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