Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a newly aquired colony of rats and 2 of the females appear pregnant. If they are pregnant from a male other than then one that is in with them now, do I need to move them before they give birth?
One of the females is very large with a pronounced waddle and has lost most of the hair around her nipples. Should birth be coming soon for her?? This will be my first litter and I just want to make sure that I get it right. Any tips on first litters would be greatly appreciated.

On a side note, I would just like to express my appreciation and gratitude to the thousands of American servicemen and women who have given there lives over the years, to preserve our rights and freedoms as Americans. Without their great sacrifice, our hobbies would not be posssible at all, and I may very not even be here, Thank you to you all you will not be forgotten.

CAPTIVE BRED REPTILES

Dont even worry about seperating them. They all "get along" I never seperate befoe the give birth. I even catch my males sleeping on their backs with babies on their stomachs sleeping.
Also, you will see the mom "steal" babies from the other moms. So in the end all of the babies are never with the origional mother if their is more than one mom. And a good thing about rats is if you have a mom die in another bin you can put her babies in with another mother and she will take them, which is unlike mice or gerbils which would eat/killl them or neglect them in which case they die from starvation/neglect.

Its pretty easy, once you get a nice established colony going its all gravy, just sit back and collect you rodents.

PS----- Feed off as quickly as you can because somewhere down the road you may have a surplus of rodents of such a degree that you will have to find a way to get rid of them. I usally sell my surplus to a local reptile shop.

Good Luck........Mike (email me is you have any other questions.)

...Q #1: NO
Q #2: YES