Reptile & Amphibian Forums

just wondering if anyone can give me tips as to how the whold breeding of rats works....i have 3 balls and buying them is getting to expensive...so what's the best way of going about this? thanks for any input

LOL the breeding part is easy. Put a male with several females and they will all wind up pregnant in no time. Once you have gravid, is that a term to use with rats?, females, you can either seperate them and put them in their own enclosure to wait for the young'ns, or leave the male in until the babys are born. Shortly after the birth the rats will breed again so technically you can have new litters every 28-30 days if you want. There are a couple companies that sell breeder racks for rodents. Look into that or you can use maybe 40-50 gallon tanks to keep the sexes seperate, and smaller ones to house the young ones if you like. The problem is, initially you'll have to continue buying feeders until your young get large enough to use as feeders. Good luck with it. Oh, and be prepared to clean tanks at least once a week

Quig

I used the above as a great resource. The tips, hints and advice has allowed me to feed all 27 snakes and have some rodents to sell, too. I have 3 colonies of rats and 2 for mice. New pups every month is about normal. Have enough going to get the size you need, when you need it.