putting together different sizes..

[ADEE]

ive found a local breeder and plan to go by there and pick up some bedding/rat food/ feeders/ and perhaps.. maybe... most likely get a few new members of the family.. maybe, i would like to add a different coloration to the family. lol. can you put weanings with small rats? meaning could i put a weaning in with the girls and it be ok? if i wanted to breed for our own snakes is it a bad/good idea in your opinion? i know we have the time and i hope most of you know we would do the best job we could taking care of them.. maybe get two males (so mr man isnt alone) and put them in a different enclosure, do you think they produce too many babys at once seeing as we only have two snakes they are currently eating rat pups one each every 5 days.. it may give us an over abundance of rats and then with no snakes to feed them to we would be selling them to the petstore?

this is just a thought.. i would like to get one more female to put with the girls to make it an even number but its still up in the air, we got lucky with our three girls, they get along great (all came from same place) and are really easy to hold, bathe and take care of.. thoughts?

when it comes to breeding, do you have to wait for girls to ovulate or do you just stick mr man in the enclosure with them and let them do their buisness? how do you know if mr man would inpregnante all three girls or just one (aside from seperating them) do you reintroduce male a few times to be sure? if i dont ask i wont know so please dont flame me for not knowing.. everyone has to start somewhere.

[lord jackel]

OK...first with only 2 snakes I wouldn't recommend breeding (unless your snakes will take F/T?) The reason is that healthy females can have 12-15 baby litters easily and you only have about a 2 week window before they grow too big to be the recommended feeder size.


To your other question about putting different sizes together. Yes it can be done but you really have to keep a close eye on them for the first few days so the larger one doesn't beat up on the smaller one to much. Like all animals they will go through a dominance routine - which can lead to the death of the smaller one.

Also, if you are planning on getting a new rat you will need to QT it(them) for at least a month before introducing it to your current rats - this keeps, mites/lice, sickness and junk from affecting your current rats.

[ADEE]

thanks i figured it would be far too much, even with just one litter we would be fine for months and i dont want to mess with the whole dry ice routine. i do know we would have to quarintine if we were to introduce a new female (at this point concidering the whole breeding thing not being a brilliant idea) poor little lady would be all alone for awhile, not to mentain the fact of over populating the 20gal the three girls are currently living in. we do plan to get them a large enclosure in the near future though as i dont want them to get too crowded in there (they are snuggle buddys though)

thanks for your input

[frankykeno]

Normally rats are very social and accept new members after a bit of butt sniffing, tumbling, chasing and boxing. You can always help this acceptance by transferring scent in the form of a bit of used bedding from the established group into the quarantine home of the new rat. Sort of "oh I don't know you! but you smell like us!" thing.

Usually when I'm introducing rats I take everyone out, clean the enclosure, put in fresh bedding, clean water and food (with some special treats on top). Then I put the new rat whose been running on the colonies used bedding in first to allow it to lay down some scent of it's own, have a drink and a nibble of food, then introduce the regular colony rats. Everyone is usually so busy checking out the treats and putting down pee trails that they don't fuss as much with the newcomer.

Always watch though and be close at first in case the dominant rat really gets nippy. A sharp rap on the enclosure, a loud hand clap or a loud holler at them generally busts up any impending fight (at least it does with mine who are used to me being Boss Rat Lady lol). If the fight does turn nasty, do NOT put your hands in to break it up...grab a big wooden spoon and pop em on the butt to drive them apart...then grab out the rat that's causing problems. I never usually do a tail grab, but if a rat's in a hyper, nasty mood, that's the only way I'll deal with them (have a cage ready to put the crabby rat into).

I don't mind a rat being dominant, that's normal for their social group. I have had to cull rats though for being overly dominant and mean natured. I won't tolerate that in the colony or in any rat producing feeders for me. Remember rats are highly social, intelligent critters....they can recognize you as boss and it makes life easier dealing with the adults if they know you and respect that you won't put up with silliness from them.

[ADEE]

good information, thank you..

[Ginevive]

I would quarantine for a few weeks. By that time, the ratties should be closer to adult size. I have seen a larger female pin a smaller one and the smaller one is at a disadvantage if they do get into a scuffle. Unless it is a much larger overweight one; then it could be at a disadvantage against a youthful one.. it is all about trial and error, and not mixing sexes.