Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i have a few young rats that look prego whats the negative affects of moms to young? at least they look prego whats the negative affect of this?

Too young females getting pregnant are at higher risks of still borns, or complications at birth. For the most part, with proper diet, really young females just have small litters and may not raise the babies well. (they may cannibalize the babies, nor fail to nurse) but this is pretty rare.

Breeding too young and having back to back litters can shorten the rat's life and she may not grow as large as she would have normally, if bred over 4 months of age.

What you can do is separate the male from the young female (s), let her have her babies, and if all goes well, give her a month break after the babies are weaned or culled before getting her pregnant again.
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PHLdyPayne

Yes I did seperate them for sure. Will have to
see what happens if they are prego. I feed my rats
mazuri 6f5m30 I think that's a good feed for them.
I'm thinking there about 2-3 months but not 100%
thanks for your post!

Yeah, that lab diet is a great diet for rats. You can also pick up a bag of large parrot fruit/nut mix (by Premier I think is the kind I have used here time to time) as a sort of treat to give a bit of variety to the lab blocks (I just add a small handful along with the blocks) which the rats love. I don't offer it every day, and it really gets them excited when they realize they are getting that mix in addition to their regular food.

I have never been happy with most 'rat diets' sold at pet stores. My rats rarely eat half the stuff those diets include...but the large parrot diet (I had bought a bag just to see if the rats will like it, as I see it contained must of what is in the rat diets, that the rats do eat but very little or none of the stuff the rats don't eat in the diets (mostly the rabbit pellets...rats are not really weed eaters like rabbits)I added some into the rat cage and they went nuts...So I tend to buy a bag whenever i see it on sale. (especially now that its hard to get it for under $20 (used to be able to get it on sale for half price, but haven't seen it on sale in a long time...though it could be due to the fact I am not in pet stores as much now as I was before...when I bought insects at the store. Now I have a much more reliable and cheaper source who delivers to my door...so I get the bulk of my insects through him.)
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PHLdyPayne

I'm gonna try the parrot food for a treat they sell
a nice bag for about 15.00 at walmart I think it's from
hartz brand I think? But any ways it's a good brand I will
try. Do you breed for snake food? Sounds Like you treat
the rats good like I do but they are snake food
at the end. Thanks again

I treat the adults a bit like pets and keeping the healthy and friendly makes for much healthier babies which are destined to feed my snakes. Currently don't really have any snakes big enough to eat retired breeders or jumbo male rats...so I don't tend to feed off adults. So I tend to keep the retired breeders around as pets but I only have on trio of rats producing food for my snakes, which is all I need. (though they are being rather too productive, as I have lots of rats in the freezer, more than I feed off before next batch of babies are to size. Guess this means I need more snakes LOL )

That and rats are intelligent and inquisitive, and much easier to handle if they are not terrified every time the cage door opens. Not to mention greatly avoids being bitten when trying to grab that live crawly to feed the ball python who refuses to eat anything other than live, no matter what.
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PHLdyPayne

That's exactly how I feel about the adult breeders! I won't ever give
them up they have a pass from the bigger snakes! I only have ball
pythons. Thanks again for your post!