Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi,
As you know I've been breeding rats. you've seen the pics. But anywayz is it normal for a rat the give birth to 2 babie..I've never seen thishappen. All my othere rats give birth to 8 babies...So is this common?

thank you
-----
Anthony

1.0 Ball Python
0.1 Columbian red-tail
1.0 Pastel Columbian red-tail
My Email MY photo gallery MY PHOTO GALLERY

I've never had just 2, but I have a small litter of 7. I just switched my rodent food to Harlan Teklad #2018, so my yeilds should go up. I average 15 in a litter.
-----
Greg Holland
G&M HERPS
www.imageevent.com/gmherps
gmherps@sbcglobal.net

Is it her first litter? I've never had this happen to me, someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm under the impression that sometimes a mother's first litter tends to be small, and the sizes will increase. I'd say keep her and watch the next few litters she has. If she turns out to keep giving you 2 or 3 pinks I'd say feed her off and get a new girl. Dave
-----
"i have a mortal wound!"
"where? where does it hurt?"
"oh, pretty much around the big bloody spot"
"come inside. ill get the neosporin. da na na na na - NEO! ba na na na na na na - SPORIN! blee nee nee......."

Rats may sometimes give birth to very small litters, for no apparent reason. I've seen singleton, twin and triplet births several times in my colony over the past few years. They're not common, but they happen more frequently than most people think they do.

Just because a dozen, or thereabout, pups is the average, doesn't rule out numerous exceptions. We get plenty of posts crowing about the exceptional huge littters -- 20, or thereabout -- but very few whining about the exceptional small litters.

A few months ago, there was a post by someone about how one of his young females was lactating and nursing, even though she'd never been pregnant. Guess what! That rat wasn't lactating without having been pregnant, she was lactating because she'd birthed a litter so small that he'd not noticed the pregnancy. Because she birthed at the same time (within a day or so) as a cagemate that had been hugely pregnant, he truly believed that his "virgin" rat was lactating in response to the prescence of the other rat's babies. That just doesn't happen.

Believe me or not, as you choose, but the fact is, very small litters do sometimes happen. I think that they're many times overlooked because the majority of breeders keep their mommas communally. If each rat was placed in a separate birthing cage (as most of mine are) they'd be noticed far more frequently. Sometimes, a rat may be thought to be infertile, when she's actually birthing very small litters regularly, but the babies are getting lost in the crowd.
-----
tricia

I have a female rat who has only produced small litters so far. Her first litter she produced only 5 babies and her second and current litter, she has 4. Needless to day I am not happy with the small numbers but will give her one more chance, especially now she is much bigger than she was when she had her first litter. My male is quite large too so that may have a factor in the small litters. I may replace the males with younger males later on if things don't improve.

Sometimes small litters are normal. Variable conditions such as when during the female is in HEAT she is bred, stress factors, is she housed with other females and maybe they are swaping out pups?, over production, are you feeding fresh vegetables and fruits as treats with regular meals?, does she have access to wheel for exercize? is cold water available at all times for hydration? and are your rats in a tank, lab box, or multiple level cage? I wouldn't count her out of production yet.

I use three level coated wire cages with exercise wheel, ladders, hammocks, rope, multiple nesting boxes, and shreded paper as substrate with tissue paper for nesting material is they chose it . Food is: "5L42 Rodent Breeder Diet" manufactured by PMI International LLC, Vita Hamster, and fresh vegetables & fruits (green pepper, broccoli with stems, apples, bananas, grapes, tomatos,Romaine, Red Leaf, corn) and cooked Chicken. Treats are Cheez-it crackers, whole wheat bread, Seasame sticks, and unfrosted Oatmeal cookies. Breeding groups are 1.3 and 1.4 per multi-level coated wire cages. All my rats have been chosen form different bloodlines as pups and raised together. Average litter per female is 13 with occasional 3 to 6 pup litters. Considering they produce about every two months. Everyone sets up their colonies differnt with various results. Best to keep record and not rush on decisions.