some of my girls are starting to be retired and it is kind of a tough thing. i'm trying to find a place for them all but i wonder when it will come to a point, as it certainly will, that i just don't have space for that many non-producing rats. right now i can keep one with resting females, one with feeders, one with females that are pregnant but have a week to go before giving birth and have been removed from the male, etc. this requires a lot of shuffling and i worry that eventually i won't be able to shuffle enough when i have more retired females. to me my breeders are also pets--they have been given names, handled a decent amount, produced well and earned their place in the colony and i do care for them after all this and know each one's quirks and whatnot... i may have to convince my father-in-law to build me another rack just to keep the retired breeders in!