Reptile & Amphibian Forums

say i breed rats...and i go in to get the little babies...is the mommy gonna wanna bite my head off!? can the male stay in with the babies? any other help would be good. thank ye kindly

There is a diffrence between a handled rat.. and a rat thats never had a day of human contact in its life..

I have a few rats i handled from babies... daily.. many hours of holding.. these animals are excellent mothers and their babies are always super calm. The moms even let me in while shes giving birth, she doesnt care.. im part of the "family"

with that being said.. rats that are never touched are skittish and jumpy as all hell. They DO NOT like human contact, and their babies demonstrate the same traits that the wild mothers have. They will bite from time to time, and a adult female rat bite is nothing fun let me tell you!.. them teeth can and will go straight to the bone if shes determined enough to keep you from her pups.

So as a general rule.. handle your females as much as possible before they reach breeding age. get them used to your scent, your voice.

It pays off in the long run!

And yes.. you can leave the males in.. they help raise the babies.

just for good measure.. here is a pic of some of my up and coming breeder females (above)

best of luck

dan

and ill be holding mine plenty...until they are retired. hehehehe jk. i feel like a sick minded teenager...oh wait i am. well thanks for your help.

I think your females are beautiful.
Danyelle

i just love my rats.. probably more so than my snakes! LOL

here is another pic.. of a "dumbo possum".. ive been working on this line of rats for awhile now (2 years) and they get HUGE.. males well over 1000 grams at 1 yr old.. the females are pretty big too 400-600 grams..

super cute!

He is EXACTLY what I was looking for, and couldn't find. I still don't have one like him, but I do want one. He is so handsome! I love the "high-white" marked rats. The closest thing I have to time is a lavandar blazed. Hes quite a looker.

Danyelle

Where are you located anyway? Is anyone that breeds rats located in the bay area CA? I'd really like to add some high quality blood lines to my colonies.