Quote Originally Posted by littleindiangirl View Post
How do you know the females are not getting enough protein when nursing? Have you had sick rats when they wean? Are they not maintaining weight very well? What are the effects from not feeding enough protein?

I'm asking because I take quite a bit of pride in my colony. I treat all the breeders like pets, and actually serve two different feeds for my breeders. I pay close attention to their mass at weaning, how the litters look, how many in a litter, how big they are at weaning... it's all very important to me.

I have great success with 16-18%. Now I read that somehow my rats are not being fed the proper amounts of protein?
If that works for you, then stick with it. I've used up to 25% protein for rats with absolutely no problems, with better weight gain than with a lower protein content, and with no problems for my males. I was producing stockier babies at 20% than I was with a lower protein content. However, I don't plan on breeding my females until they can breed no longer. I have never bred a female to the point that she could not produce anymore, I simply have no reason to, and would rather retire my females early with less litters. Granted, I have 4 balls and one corn snake, and the rats come as pets first. I have the luxury of retiring females without burning them out.
If what you do/use works for you, then stick with it, but I'm going to stick with what I know and have done in the past and know to work.