Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello All,

I have been breeding rats for about 2.5 months now. I have a question about how many rats pups a mom can handle. I recently had a Female rat give me 16 babies. Can see handle this many or should I cull some. I usually get about 12-14 rats per litter and sometimes some will die (runts I think), but this one is exceptionally huge. Anyways, any advice would greatly be appreciated. Do you guys let your females keep all there babies no matter what the size of the litter or do you cull some?

HOOPY

They can handle them just fine! They can have up to 20 of the little buggers, and raise them all. However, they can be a bit slower to raise a larger litter than a smaller one. If you have a need for different sized rats, just cull some when they reach the appropriate sizes.