Not Pregnant???

[Petboy15]

Hi guys. I have 1.4 rats, bing in 2 groups of 2 with the male rotating evry couple weeks. The problem is, I have been doing this for over 2 months and have no babies. What gives? They have water, eat lab block and whatever else I throw their way, and are all at least 3 months old. The male is 300 grams, the females are between 200 and 250. Where are my babies?

[lillyorchid]

Might want to get another male and keep 1 male in with both girls till they start to show.
So you'd have 1 male and 2 females per bin.

[Jahbeard]

Play some Barry White. Works every time. I've had to slow mine down a little, as the were getting a little out of hand. It seems like they started slow, but now I'm at about a litter a week.

[frankykeno]

It's entirely possible that you have a infertile male as you should have seen a litter at this point. If you've been doing this for "over 2 months" though you started when those females were way undersized for breeding but even then you should have seen somebody come up pregnant. I've had a couple of males in our colony that were duds when it came to breeding. I'd suggest trying a new male, keeping him with 2 of the females for 3 weeks and then the other 2 for 3 weeks and see how it goes.

[Petboy15]

Thanks guys. I have a weanling male that I guess I can use. When should I put him in with the girls? Right now his "balls" have dropped clearly, but are still pretty small.

[gibbrishclown]

My guess is they work already... I got 3 female pet rats and one of them developed and dropped and was renamed SuperBalls but he impregnated both females very early on like before he really showed as a male... I still don't understand it... maybe he was a late bloomer... but I also left him in with the new litters hoping he'd kill off some babies, but he just made more 48 hours after the birth of the first litters... *shudder*

[Gooseman]

I've had the same experience before when I wanted to bring new blood into my colony and i purchased a new male. He was a little small when I got him, but I was certain he was sexually mature. However it just took him longer than usual to become well "equipped"... I had him in the tub with a girl for 3 months before I saw any signs of pregnancy, and a week later I had a litter of 16 pinkies, which is an abnormally large litter, especially for a first timer. Had to give some off to a wet-nurse.

My point to this is, you may have a dud, or you may have a slow grower. You could give him another month while you wait for your younger male to mature, otherwise you may just have 2 more months to wait if you just rely on the youngin.

[Jahbeard]

My guess is they work already... I got 3 female pet rats and one of them developed and dropped and was renamed SuperBalls but he impregnated both females very early on like before he really showed as a male... I still don't understand it... maybe he was a late bloomer... but I also left him in with the new litters hoping he'd kill off some babies, but he just made more 48 hours after the birth of the first litters... *shudder*

Rat daddies are actually pretty good daddies, and so far I have had more trouble with one of the girls dragging the babies around away from the mom. Had to split her out with one of he daughters.

[frankykeno]

You left a male (that you thought was a female) in with the females and new litters hoping he'd "kill off some babies" and instead you got more unexpected litters? Lovely.....

[Petboy15]

LOL Joanna. I think Ill give the little guy a try...