Rat colonies?

[Oliverian]

I was thinking, would it be possible to have a huge colony of rats in a large covered outdoor enclosure with nesting areas and everything? Not that i'm considering doing this, but do rats breed well in large groups with many females and less males? Or do you get a better yield if you just have a whole bunch of seperate little colonies? Interesting to think about, anyways.

-TammyR

[mykee]

Rats will breed if you put them together. Period. I know of people who use giant containers with maybe 4 males and 20 females and they produce loads of babies. As long as the temps are kept below 80-ish, you should have good production.

[testdrivehemi]

I prefer keeping 4 to 6 females with a single male per cage.( I keep six colonies of 6 females and 1 male)They often will have there babies in the same nest .I have tried keeping 2 males per colony but for some reason,I was loosing alot more babies due to canabalism.

[annieb_mice]

I keep mine in smaller colonies of one male to about 3 or 4 females and separate out the females when they are just about to give birth. I've found this produces LARGE litters and the babies are VERY healthy. Other breeders keep them in larger colonies.
If you keep more than one male per colony, they will usually kill the babies of the opposite male. This is just instinct to make sure their own genes are being passed along.
Take care
Annie B. <:3 )~~

[Oliverian]

Alright, thanks. So it would work, but only with one male. Got it.

-TammyR