rats

[brenttin]

im tryin to bred my rats i have 4 females and 1 male in 1 big tank and not much is happenin in there they have been in there foor about 2 months and no babys or fat rats do u think it is to many females in 1 tank but the weather has been up and down wat do people think cheers brenttin

 

[funcouple]

1 male can look after 4 females. i normally have 3 female to 1 male in my tubs. it could be the weather of late that has stopped them from breeding. do you know how old they all are? this may be a silly question, but are you sure you have a male?

 

[caradeller]

firstly...are u sure its a male..lol
ive breed them for a long time and had the same problem a couple times...if there is not alot of food available ect the females abort them..as their gestation is bout 21 days i think so u should of had a few litters by now..i would make sure there is plenty of food and maybe put the male with one female overnight and swap..so their all pregnat..as they breed like rabbits

 

[paleoherp]

how old are they now, i forget how long until sexual mature but i think is around 16 wks, gestation is 21-23 days

 

[brenttin]

3 female r about 200 mm long they have had litters but there other was a baby of the male she about 100 mm long she neva bred and the male he is huge

 

[funcouple]

its very hard to say why their not breeding for you. they could even be to old and are wornout. best to cull them and start off with some new young rats that havent breed before

 

[paleoherp]

If that is 200mm from snout to vent (not including tail) then that is certainly big enough to breed and as you said they have had pups before. Are you leaving the male in allowing the female to be caught postpartum (after birth) there is a 48hr window of opportunity for the male to impregnate the female again, allowing your females to drop litters every 21 or so days. If the male misses that opportunity then the weeks between the litters are longer than 3 weeks.

 

[brenttin]

well i no that 2 female and the male r not even a yr old but the other 2 not sure but they look about the same age as the other 3 yea nose to vent well i have kept them all together for adleast 2 months

 

[funcouple]

if you have had the male with the females for at least 2 months your wasting your time continuing with them. just start over with some young rats that you know how old they are. sorry dont mean to be blunt or rude.

 

[Aussie Python Lover]

rats become sexually active at 6weeks old, just cause you have had them in for 2mths dont mean they arent going to breed, rats can get to a certain age where they wont breed and thats over the age of 6mths.
By adding another male can also stimulate the females... Dont get rid of them keep them
I have been breeding for 5yrs now, im not an expert but I do read up on a lot of information about the best age to get them at, I do know they are sexually mature at 6weeks and mine all breed havent had any not breed for me... Good luck mate

 

[funcouple]

rats become sexually active at 6weeks old, just cause you have had them in for 2mths dont mean they arent going to breed, rats can get to a certain age where they wont breed and thats over the age of 6mths.
By adding another male can also stimulate the females... Dont get rid of them keep them
I have been breeding for 5yrs now, im not an expert but I do read up on a lot of information about the best age to get them at, I do know they are sexually mature at 6weeks and mine all breed havent had any not breed for me... Good luck mate

Aussie Python Lover, you have been breeding alot longer than i have so in listerning to you.
ive had some have litters at 9 weeks. so that means they have breed at 6 weeks, as you say they become sexual active at 6 weeks. i find most of my keepers are breeding by 12 weeks. ive tryed stimulating older females that have stopped breeding with another male. either an older male from another tub or a young buck, but without any luck. so now i dont keep my older females when they stop giving me litters.

sorry to take over this thread

 

[Aussie Python Lover]

Yea I dont keep my females if they stop breeding i get a new younger female to start breeding my snakes are happy with a big fat freshly killed female If my snakes are happy im happy

 

[seumas12345]

I agree funcouple.... If you're having no luck after 2 months, cull and start with new rats. I had that problem with a couple of rats, they just wouldn't get pregnant. I culled and started fresh, and have had booming results!

 

[matthew288]

I started with 8 females and 2 males, got them a bit younger. had first litter today of ten and all the others are ready to drop any day.

 

[matthew288]

Hit the send button to quick i only got them 28 days ago.

 

[Justdriftnby]

We have just started again because I lost prety much the lot in the heat last week but if they hadnt dropped any by 2 months they were made into food and replaced, We are averaging 13 per litter at the moment. I keep ours at a 2 female 1 male ratio and leave them together full time.

 

[KaaTom]

I too have just started again (2wks ago) and have 1 litter, 15 pregnant (almost 100% sure), 12 males and another 30females to get pregnant some are a bit young so im leaving them for a few more weeks

 

[Justdriftnby]

I too have just started again (2wks ago) and have 1 litter, 15 pregnant (almost 100% sure), 12 males and another 30females to get pregnant some are a bit young so im leaving them for a few more weeks

We had everything up and flying, airconditioner installed and temp set not to get above 28 but we lost power for 2 days and that was that, very disapointed. Garage got to 52.6 deg c, I have 2 females sitting on 13 and 14 pinkies and another 14 females ready to drop any day now, I managed to save a few females that were pregnant and a fw new ones and the kids had 2 lots of 13 babies in the house and they were being raised / fed by another older rat that the kids grew close too

 

[paleoherp]

Like I said I couldn't remember, I knew there was a 6 in there somewhere .
Matings can be confirmed by the presents of a compository/vaginal plug (spelling) Which kind of appears like a milkish silicon. The last time I checked the thought behind this was, 1 - to keep other males out and 2 - to keep in what had been deposited

 

[KaaTom]

We had everything up and flying, airconditioner installed and temp set not to get above 28 but we lost power for 2 days and that was that, very disapointed. Garage got to 52.6 deg c, I have 2 females sitting on 13 and 14 pinkies and another 14 females ready to drop any day now, I managed to save a few females that were pregnant and a fw new ones and the kids had 2 lots of 13 babies in the house and they were being raised / fed by another older rat that the kids grew close too

I lost all mine from the heat last year, it a real killer