Quote Originally Posted by dacalio View Post
Ralph Davis uses bleach too, check out his youtube videos. I use 1.3 groups for communal breeding in those cement tubs. I only use this setup sparingly since a lot of groups don't mesh.

I prefer to separate pregnant moms. I use the cement tubs as their breeding tubs. I place three males and up ten females in a tub. I will probably get flamed for this but hear me out. The males have to grow up together. If you throw in three adult males that don't know each other they may kill each other. I like this method because as soon as a female rat is receptive one of the three males will knock her up. If you use one male I feel you are more likely to run into problems. Female rats are funny. They will not breed if they don't like a certain male. Just watch Ralph Davis' videos . He rotates his females through the males tubs every week for this very reason. If you use three males no rotation is necessary and you need less tubs for breeding. For the females I place them in some old school Bush tubs that are about 15 inches by 15 inches. I usually put one or two females in each tub to give birth and wean. Sometimes I place three females in a tub if I start to run out of space or if the weather is really cold. I prefer to place females together that came from the same breeding tub. I feel they are more accustomed to one another and less likely to fight over babies.

David

David, it's been my observation that placing 3 males in with any number of females is more likely to cause fights and death. All of my males are known to each other and get along. However when removing a male from females, he is given a night to himself to work that breeding frenzy out before he returns to the other males to prevent fighting by him having the smell of females on him.

What could possibly be happening in your tubs is a free for all donkey kong style, and the female is being bombarded by males trying to get the goods. While she is in heat, she will have several males attempt to breed with her all at once. However, usually in the wild, females have their own hide to retreat to, and can choose when to be present, in a tub she does not have that option.

This is a pretty stressful environment and is usually only present when colony population is nearing the maximum capacity and pretty much ready to explode.

When populations are low to moderate, the males will watch over a group of females, and will fight with other males to the death if they have to, to protect the females and young.

I keep my males separate when breeding, just to avoid the problems, eventually you will have a fight and a very badly injured or dead male.

Ralph's method is different and I think a lot safer. I like to switch up males and females when I think about it. It's not on my top priority, but it does give the males a bunch of new females to get excited about and more likely to impregnate.

Females aren't usually so picky that they will always refuse a particular male. If they are so inclined to refuse a male for a few weeks, it's always good to give them a boost by switching it up.

Some males just cant get it done, and sometimes, there are other reasons for lack of pregnancies like health conditions.