Quote Originally Posted by ssscales
my girls have dropped a litter each every 5-6 weeks. They've normally dropped 8-12 pups, but this time one of the girls dropped 16 babies.

I just cleaned their tub and placed them in a fresh tub and counted 16 plump pups! What could've caused the increase in pups all of a sudden?
I'd say temp could've played a role, they seem more fertile around 70 degrees, and diet could also be part of it. The first few litters of most females tend to be a little smaller, then they peak out after a they've had a few. I think my average litter size is about 10, but I think my largest was 19, and that was from her 4th or 5th litter.

I feed a rodent block that has formulated and tweaked for many years by a couple local breeders, and is in lab block form. It is locally produced by Intermountain Farmers Association (they produce a lot of different agricultural feeds) with a 3 ton minimum run, so i usually split a run with a few other breeders. I usually get about 1500 lbs at a time, which lasts me 5-6 months, and this is all I feed and I am happy with the results.

I couldn't imagine keeping my rodents inside (P U!!!!), my wife wouldn't even allow a small breeding group in the house, so I have an insulated 120 sq. ft shed out back I keep at 65-70 degrees year-round (AC in summer, heated by occupants in the winter ).

Quote Originally Posted by Shaffer
How long does it take for rats to reach the "small" category? I'm thinking about breeding my own rats for skin, and mice for bones. Skin eats small rats, but i think she could take mediums. Bones is still on adult mice. How long for the mice to be "food"?
All the live rats I feed are weanling size or smaller, so 4-5 weeks old tops. Any larger than that and they are raised-up to breed, or put down to feed as f/t. As far as mice, they will get to a good adult feed-off size at about 7-8 weeks.

-Evan