>>>>can I do this without going to bigger cages? my setup is a wire cage over a cat litterpan.
>>>>
>>>>I bought medium rats. How long until breeding age?
>>>>
>>>>How young can a rat breed at?
>>>>
>>>>what is the gestation period?
>>>>
>>>>and do rats really smell less than mice?
>>
>>
>>Your cage size will be ok, depending. I don't know what size pan you have. I don't use pans I still am in the stone age and spoil my rats with cages.
>>
>>Medium rats will likely take a few weeks to settle in and then begin breeding. I am thinking that they are 5-8 weeks and will start soon for you.
>>Gestation is the same as mice....21 days.
>>And yes, rats smell less and less offensive than mice. They are more social and easier to deal with all around if you ask me.
>>Good luck
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>>Sonya
I think you will like rats. Personally, I am only have mediocre success at breeding rodents (had some problems both with mice and rats). However, when it does work right, rats are better than mice.
The problems I have had are: 1. mice got sick and skinny and I had to feed them all off and start over. The new colonies are doing okay currently. I am hoping that they will continue to stay well and not catch that skinny disease where they get a hunch back and look emaciated.
2. The rats: a). one female had to be put down for complications in labor. All the babies were dead. b). Recently another female took about four weeks (post term delivery) to give birth. She gave birth to four still borns and seven live ones. She still looks large and I am thinking that there are more still borns in the belly. She may become infected/septic in a few weeks. If she starts to look sick, I will put her down to stop the suffering. Hopefully, by then, the babies will be weaned. (anyone ever wean @ two to three weeks?. I hope they will make it).
Anyone else have such bad luck with rodents? It kinda bumps me out to be encountered with so many problems. 
In any case, when things work right, I believe that rats are better than mice. I am new to breeding and I am still working the kinks out. I have only been breeding for about 3 to four months.
Here is a pic of size comparison I took a while ago. It is a one week old rat (8 days old) vs. a one month old mouse. As you can see, rats are soooo much more nutritious. You get to feeding size much sooner!
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Longtang. I like snakes and rats.
