Quote Originally Posted by Miss_Ann_Thrope
Okays a some questions for you. Right now I have a setup of one male rat and two female rats in a 20g. Now the first question is how do you prevent your rats from over breeding in a setup like that? I don't want that to happen to my female considering that one of the females just had a litter about 3 wks ago (a friend just gave her to me) She also came with two babies.

Second question is how to you tell when a female is too old to breed? Was wondering this because of my second female. She is a large/jumbo female and I don't know anything about her. She was the only rat that wasn't pregnant in the cage when I got her.

My male has been with the females for a few days now. He will get behind them and get in the position but then just get right back off. This is normal right?

So I think Thats all.
I have a 40 breeder size enclosure and a 37(old weird size) and in each i have 1 male with several females.When i notice the females getting the pear shapes i remove them to a seperate 10 gal tank with just them in it.After the babies are born and i remove the babies(depending on size i need) after 21 days mom stays in the 10gal for about a week or so to get her self back some weight.I do this for several reason,first my litters are larger as most moms tend to kill the babies when they become nervous from others messing with there babies.Second it gives the mother a chance to recouperate as she will not be rebred by the male shortly after given birth.Now as far as the larger female she might be to old to breed anymore,since she was the only one not pregnant when you got her.Now the male getting on then off is he young? He may not have the total concept figured out just yet lol.If not then maybe the females are letting him know they do not want his attention anymore .I have never observed this in any of my rats ever.