Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I know it's been posted before and I did a search but couldn't find it. What is the safe breeding age for rats?
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Anna

The Zoo
Corns
1.0 Snow - Cornelius
1.1 Ghost(pastel) - Eek & Boo
1.1 Amel - Parker & Scarlet
0.1 Hypo - Nikko
0.1 Anery - Missy
0.1 Hypo Motley - Cordelia aka Cordy
Boas
0.1 Columbian (BCC) - Bella
Lizards
1.0 Leopard Gecko - Leo
Rats
0.1 Dumbo Agouti - Moon
1.0 Silvered Black - Pluto
1.0 Powder Blue - Corner
Plus the breeders
Cats
1.1 Siamese - Blue & Fiona
0.1 Gray DMS - Druscilla aka Dru
Horses
1.0 Thourghbred (Hunter/Jumper) - Morgan's Majesty aka Cody

>>I know it's been posted before and I did a search but couldn't find it. What is the safe breeding age for rats?

I personally like to hold them off til the girls are 10-12wks. Some of mine don't put on much size til then. Some just leave them in with a male and they take when they take.....which is often around 5-7 wks. I see smaller first litters, less milk and the mom doesn't grow as well or as big ultimately with this. Other folks don't seem to have that trouble.
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Sonya

Failure is not an option. It comes bundled with the software.

Does anyone ever add female adult rats into a colony rather than leaving daughters in with the parents? I have a female at 12 weeks who should be big enough to start and I am trying to decide if I want to add her to a colony or start a new one. There are no babies in the colony but one mother should give birth by next weekend. I am having a serious rat breeding strike right now and this is the only pregnant mother I have out of 4 females so I don't want to freak her out.
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Anna

The Zoo
Corns
1.0 Snow - Cornelius
1.1 Ghost(pastel) - Eek & Boo
1.1 Amel - Parker & Scarlet
0.1 Hypo - Nikko
0.1 Anery - Missy
0.1 Hypo Motley - Cordelia aka Cordy
Boas
0.1 Columbian (BCC) - Bella
Lizards
1.0 Leopard Gecko - Leo
Rats
0.1 Dumbo Agouti - Moon
1.0 Silvered Black - Pluto
1.0 Powder Blue - Corner
Plus the breeders
Cats
1.1 Siamese - Blue & Fiona
0.1 Gray DMS - Druscilla aka Dru
Horses
1.0 Thourghbred (Hunter/Jumper) - Morgan's Majesty aka Cody

>>Does anyone ever add female adult rats into a colony rather than leaving daughters in with the parents? I have a female at 12 weeks who should be big enough to start and I am trying to decide if I want to add her to a colony or start a new one. There are no babies in the colony but one mother should give birth by next weekend. I am having a serious rat breeding strike right now and this is the only pregnant mother I have out of 4 females so I don't want to freak her out.
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With rats, yeah, I shift things around now and then. Just watch that there aren't any differences of opinion. With rats it is more an individual liking thing than a 'new guy' thing. With a mom more than a week away you should be okay. Sooner might be a tweek.
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Sonya

Haven't we warned you about tampering with the structure of a chaotic system?
Mrs. Newtron

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Anna

The Zoo
Corns
1.0 Snow - Cornelius
1.1 Ghost(pastel) - Eek & Boo
1.1 Amel - Parker & Scarlet
0.1 Hypo - Nikko
0.1 Anery - Missy
0.1 Hypo Motley - Cordelia aka Cordy
Boas
0.1 Columbian (BCC) - Bella
Lizards
1.0 Leopard Gecko - Leo
Rats
0.1 Dumbo Agouti - Moon
1.0 Silvered Black - Pluto
1.0 Powder Blue - Corner
Plus the breeders
Cats
1.1 Siamese - Blue & Fiona
0.1 Gray DMS - Druscilla aka Dru
Horses
1.0 Thourghbred (Hunter/Jumper) - Morgan's Majesty aka Cody

I would remove the pregnant female and place the 12 week old in there with the rest. They may fight a little to establish dominance within the group, but they'll sort it out. The important part is to figure out why reproduction has stopped.

Denver Tom

I didn't read your post until this morning and I had already put the younger female in with the colony. There have been some small tussles to establish dominance. Fortunately, none of them have been with the pregnant female. She actually seems to be the most tolerent and I have seen those two sleeping together already. I will watch out for problems and if I see anything I will remove the pregnant female immediately.

As far as the breeding strike goes I think I inadvertenly caused it by moving my two breeding colonies to my kids room while we were having some work done on the nice quiet bathroom they normally inhabit. I think spending two days in with my boys may have stressed them enough to interupt the normal flow of things. I also think two of my girls may be getting old enough to retire anyway which is why I am introducing the younger girl. I am trying now to just leave them alone and give them some quiet time. Hopefully, next month will be better.
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Anna

The Zoo
Corns
1.0 Snow - Cornelius
1.1 Ghost(pastel) - Eek & Boo
1.1 Amel - Parker & Scarlet
0.1 Hypo - Nikko
0.1 Anery - Missy
0.1 Hypo Motley - Cordelia aka Cordy
Boas
0.1 Columbian (BCC) - Bella
Lizards
1.0 Leopard Gecko - Leo
Rats
0.1 Dumbo Agouti - Moon
1.0 Silvered Black - Pluto
1.0 Powder Blue - Corner
Plus the breeders
Cats
1.1 Siamese - Blue & Fiona
0.1 Gray DMS - Druscilla aka Dru
Horses
1.0 Thourghbred (Hunter/Jumper) - Morgan's Majesty aka Cody

I am one of the people that leaves the female in and she takes when she takes. I have noticed that she'll have smaller babies at first, but the numbers are fine. She'll grow to the same size as the females that I didn't do this with. I have noticed no health issues for the female or the babies. However, I do not leave the whole litter in with any females. Babies are being removed at various stages. Just my observations.

Denver Tom

>>I am one of the people that leaves the female in and she takes when she takes. I have noticed that she'll have smaller babies at first, but the numbers are fine. She'll grow to the same size as the females that I didn't do this with. I have noticed no health issues for the female or the babies. However, I do not leave the whole litter in with any females. Babies are being removed at various stages. Just my observations.
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>>Denver Tom

Oh yeah, I should have said that if you are pulling a fair amount of the pups young...(first two weeks) then the younger moms can deal. My thing is I want them to get to 40-50grams as fast as possible, as that is what my main target size is. I don't have enough that eats smaller. So I would rather leave the girls unbred a bit longer. Works for me.
I know, everyone does it a bit different. Just curious, do you give your girls a break now and then and take out the male or do you just let them stay breeding? Also, how many litters do you get before retiring the moms?
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Sonya

Haven't we warned you about tampering with the structure of a chaotic system?
Mrs. Neutron