I have a question for you. I was reading your post below, where you said you oldest rat never had litters of more than 5. Her daughters produce 8-9 babies, and arent that good of mothers. Now, I have just got into rats, and have a 1.4 setup.I have had 3 litters so far, and the smallest one was 15 babies(live). They are phenominal mothers, and were purchased at a local pet store (I got the male at a different pet store). I couldn't immagine putting up with the hassle of breeding, cleaning, and taking care of the rats of i wasn't getting a good production out of my mothers. It would be a colossal waste of effort and money.



My question is, why did you keep a mother that only produced 5 kids max, and on top of that, if she was such a low volume breeder, why did you use her kids also? I am looking at the genetic line of things, assuming that you are feeding them enough protein ,calcium, and fat.



This is not a personal attack, far from it. I am just wondering why you keep these mothers if they are not producing for you. You said they were frustrating you, so shouldn't you change something?



I am just curious and bored at work, and I think that you would have a much better time if you got a new blood in there, and cull off the old. I think these guys are far more fun than mice, and I am already plotting out how im going to mess around with their genetics.



Just killin time,

Truth



P.S. I would like to reitterate that this is not maliscious in any way, shape or form.

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