rodent breeding questionz

[Wrightpython]

Ok sweet, trying to find some albino ones, so there less like pets to me.

Ive bred some that look like wild mice as i had wild caught snakes when i first started and some would shy at white mice but coloured was ok so i kill of all albinos when there dropped, usually 1 week when colour comes thru. i dont like lab rat looking food so breed colours instead and interesting enough when i sell rats to shops they keep more coloured ones for pets rather than food.

 

[-Katana-]

I brought weaner champagne hooded females from my local pet shop for $6 each and I crossed them once they reached the right size with my Dove Silk cross male. He's a really blocky solid type and I find the Hooded rat to be a longer bodied animal.
After a few generations of line breeding I'm finding more and more pink eyed whites being born and a good mix of ruby eyed as well as pink eyed animals.

 

[ricky_91]

i keep 3 females 1 male per tub a male will kill another males babies but not his own

 

[Aussie-Pride]

If they are a cm long at 3-4 days old there is a massive problem. I am assuming you have mice and not rats? Mice open their eyes at around 12-14 days, and are able to be weaned at 21 days. 'Hoppers' are about 15 days onwards. Pinkies should start to fuzz up at around 5-6 days. If you want continual breeding, leave the male in as there is postpartum estrus, if you want the female to have a break, take him out once you can see the female is pregnant.

There mice, yeah there about a cm is that a problem? can u please give me a bit more info.. cheers for the info

 

[saximus]

AP get a ruler and look at what 1cm looks like. No pinky mice are that short. I'm guessing it's more your estimation skills than anything wrong with your breeders

 

[Aussie-Pride]

Depends how big your wallet is Kellyville pets charge $26 a rat most herpers will sell you them for $4-5 depending on amount etc put an ad on wanted section someone will have excess i reckon aussie pride will have some in 3 weeks

$26 wow i got my pair of rats from kellyville two weeks ago and they cost me 12 each, 26 for a rat you got taken for a ride mate.

AP get a ruler and look at what 1cm looks like. No pinky mice are that short. I'm guessing it's more your estimation skills than anything wrong with your breeders

lol yeah you could be right mate, that's it I'm grabbing a the tape measure and going to have a look.

 

[-Katana-]

AP get a ruler and look at what 1cm looks like. No pinky mice are that short. I'm guessing it's more your estimation skills than anything wrong with your breeders

True.

Also to check to see if they are actually getting milk, pick up a pinkie and look at it's tummy. Rat and mice pinkies skin is very fine and translucent and if they've been suckling you'll see a white elongated patch which is the milk in their stomachs.
If the doe isn't producing milk there'll be no white patch and the bubs will look emaciated.
I'd be culling any doe that didn't produce milk and I'd be culling the litter before they starved to death.

 

[thepythonguy]

yeah wow 26 dollars pretty full on I got 1 male and 2 females for that price

 

[Aussie-Pride]

yeah sax my estimation skills are of by a about a cm and a half there about 2 and a half cm give or take a few mm for there tails..

Thanks for that Katana there getting milk for sure they have fat little bellies and they look good, it was just the size that had me worried when i looked at them yesterday but as i said to sax my estimation skills were a bit off.

Cheers everyone for your helpfull comments, much appreciated.

 

[saximus]

Haha no worries man. Just good to hear they're all good for you

 

[campbell72010]

Does anybody know what would happen if a female had a litter and all pinkies where removed straight away, would this cause problems?

 

[ingie]

Only for the pinkies!

 

[campbell72010]

Only for the pinkies!

hahaha thanks.. i thought maybe the mother would have a few issues

 

[saximus]

I've seen rat mothers freak out a little if you take the whole litter off them. One actually tried biting through the bars of the cage looking for them once but after a few minutes she seemed to be acting normal again

 

[Fuscus]

Does anybody know what would happen if a female had a litter and all pinkies where removed straight away, would this cause problems?

Mastitis (Sometimes)

 

[campbell72010]

Mastitis (Sometimes)

thats more along what i was thinking off. Sometimes, as in how often do you know? is it rare?

 

[MissFuller]

any body have problems when they started and how did you fix the problem

 

[saximus]

The big problem I had when I started was that they just weren't breeding. I fixed it by removing the male from the females for a week. That gave him sufficient time to get horny from the lack of females and he went on a bonking spree when he was put back in with them

 

[MissFuller]

ok thanks i have had a few mates try to breed with no luck and im about to start my self any advice

 

[ingie]

The thing to remember is that breeding rats should be super easy and nearly all mothering qualities can be selected for and passed on to offspring.

If you have females that have issues during pregnancy, birth and mothering then the best advice is to cull them and use different females because it is usually all hereditary.

This includes any kind of biting - especially when taking babies from the mum at any stage from birth to weaning. If males are slow to impregnate females, use different males. If females freak out after you take the babies or get really sick at any stage of pregnancy or raising babies, get different (unrelated) females.

It is not worth wasting time on lines of rats with issues when you can get ones without issues and breed far more efficiently. Sourcing live rats from another breeder who has a lot of rats breeding successfully, is the way to go! Pet shop rats are too unreliable and you may waste months trying to get good results.