Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello,

I put my male with a female on June 3rd in the late afternoon. What is basically the day she could drop babies? If anyone with experience could give me the average and the shortest and longest time for birth, I would greatly appreciate it. My daughter is driving me crazy. Also, this is the first pregnancy for the rat.

Thanks

Actual gestation is 23-24 days, anything over a week-ish more and is likely not prego and destined for snake fod.
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count (05/26/2009):
36.51 BRB
29.42 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

They don't necessarily get pregnant the minute you put them together. Perhaps there was a delay in ovulation.

Hi,

We had our first babies last night. So exciting. We are staying away from Mom and the litter. When can I go in and check on them and touch them. Thanks for your reply. We bread them on June 3rd in the afternoon, and the first one dropped either last night or this morning on June 26th. That blows me away. We use wood shavings. One of the females has taken the shaving and has built a circular great wall of China out of them. It looks amazing. I think I will take a picture and post it. The other two are fat but have not dropped babies yet.

Thanks,
Mark

Congrats!

Want to see something cool....Turn down the temp and through a handful of straw in the tub...
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Jeremy Payne
JB Reptile

1.0 Snow "Kahl"
0.2 Triple Het Moonglow "Kahl"
0.1 Orange Tail Hypo Het Leopard
0.1 Double Het "Sharp" Snow
1.0 Ghost
0.1 Possible Super Hypo
0.1 DH Ghost
1.1 "Kahl" Albino
1.0 Hypomelenistic
1.3 Pastel Hypo
0.1 Anerthrystic

1.1 Morelia Clastolepis

Hi,

What will happen with the straw...We are so nervous about bothering mom. She looks so cute. She is picking them up and licking them. When can I touch and count the babies? Some of the babies are off to the side and some are nursing. I know there is nothing I can do, but I have no idea of any signs good and bad. But when can we mess with here and them?

Thanks,
Mark

Mothers rejecting young because you touched them is an old wives tail, at least as it pertains to Rats. I've never seen one rejected. In fact Dave moves babies all teh time to keep his 12 to 1 ratio.

You can handle them now although I usually just move them around to count and that's it. My wife has picked them up but usually when they get to the crawler size or just after they open their eyes.

As for the straw if its cold enough to justify Mom's will make a nest ball similar to a bird. I've opened tubs and found moms completely covered in a woven straw nest. Not intricate but self supporting, she left a access hole on one side.
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Jeremy Payne
JB Reptile

1.0 Snow "Kahl"
0.2 Triple Het Moonglow "Kahl"
0.1 Orange Tail Hypo Het Leopard
0.1 Double Het "Sharp" Snow
1.0 Ghost
0.1 Possible Super Hypo
0.1 DH Ghost
1.1 "Kahl" Albino
1.0 Hypomelenistic
1.3 Pastel Hypo
0.1 Anerthrystic

1.1 Morelia Clastolepis

Agreed that a good mom will not reject babies just because you touched them. I know you're excited with having your first babies and all, just don't go overboard with pla=ying with them.

Probably the biggest risk is becoming attached to the feeders. Much harder to feed off a animal you've been playing and interacting with than simple livestock.

As for checking them over and counting, as soon as mom has cleaned up the litter (not all bloody and slimey) you can do a head count. On cleaning day when I'm building / adjusting my 0.2.24 raising tubs, I move the female(s) first, then count the babies as I move them over also.

When I grab groups of feeders, I never have problems returning whatever is left to whoever is available. I do keep sizes similar. For example, I'll pull several litters of pinky rats to feed my hatchlings. Not even really paying attention to exactly how many I have. I do try to make sure I pull too many (saves trips) When done feeding the leftover pinky rats go back to however many moms necessary to not go over 1/12 ratio. Yeah mom's can hand;e more but by keeping limiting the ratio to 1/12 max, my babies do well.

I do the same pull/feed/return process with larger pre-wean feeders for my larger subadult snakes. My feeding days are typically the two or three days before cleaning day so on cleaning day the colony size is at it's lowest point of the week....fewer animals to move and easier to consolodate into fewer tubs leaving open slots for birthing tubs.
-----
Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count (05/26/2009):
36.51 BRB
29.42 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

Hey,

Thanks guys for the nice help. The good news all my first time milestones will soon come to an end. I keep thinking all the firsts are over. LOL. Anyway Dave and Jeremy I have decided to build the 24 tub birthing rack. I bought my tubs and water system. I am getting the lumber tomorrow and I should have it completed next week. Do you think it is possible to keep two breeding females in a large Van Ness CP 2 tub and then separate them closer to dropping their babies? I will rotate my males in with them. That would mean 3 large rats in one tub for several weeks at a time. Then I can use my 6 cement tub rack for grow out. Any suggestions? Thank you in advance.

Regards,
Mark

One suggestion if you can use 3/4 ply over 1x material or 2x material, do it!

A. The material is 95% inerit (most likely will never warp)

B. You can yeild more from a single sheet of ply than you think. I built both my 5 bin racks from half a sheet. At $24 on sale its cheaper than buying 2x4's for $1.49 economy stud or $2.08 select stud. (I work a lumber yard)

Good Luck
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Jeremy Payne
JB Reptile

1.0 Snow "Kahl"
0.2 Triple Het Moonglow "Kahl"
0.1 Orange Tail Hypo Het Leopard
0.1 Double Het "Sharp" Snow
1.0 Ghost
0.1 Possible Super Hypo
0.1 DH Ghost
1.1 "Kahl" Albino
1.0 Hypomelenistic
1.3 Pastel Hypo
0.1 Anerthrystic

1.1 Morelia Clastolepis

Hi,

If you had some detailed pics to share it would be very helpful for the 10 thumb builder. Thanks for the suggestion.

Mark

I'll see what I can do for pics...

However cutting ply into strips equal to normal dimensional lumber is the major difference. Essentially making ply 1x4's and such.
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Jeremy Payne
JB Reptile

1.0 Snow "Kahl"
0.2 Triple Het Moonglow "Kahl"
0.1 Orange Tail Hypo Het Leopard
0.1 Double Het "Sharp" Snow
1.0 Ghost
0.1 Possible Super Hypo
0.1 DH Ghost
1.1 "Kahl" Albino
1.0 Hypomelenistic
1.3 Pastel Hypo
0.1 Anerthrystic

1.1 Morelia Clastolepis

Hi,

We had our second group of babies last night. She had about 12 babies like the first female yesterday. It is really neat to watch the moms at work. Last night the first female to drop was drinking and eating and taking a break from the litter. I can't imagine how wearing it must be to feed 12 baby rats for mom. The third female has not shown any signs of getting pregnant. We are going to keep her in the group and add a fourth female and see how she does on the next cycle. If she does not conceive on the next cycle I will have her replaced. We should be able to absorb the loss of her non litter. I have three other females that will be dropping litters in about a week in a half. Anyway, thanks again for the help.

Mark

Hi,

I counted the babies. One gave me 11 babies. The other gave me 7. The one that gave me 11 always looked bigger during the birthing period. Anyway, I hope those numbers are descent for first time moms.

Thanks,
Mark