Rat breeding?

[damzookeeper]

Hi, I have a 1.2 group of rats and I believe both females are pregnant. I think on is actually giving birth now. I have left the male in with them, is this alright. I know it's acceptable with mice so I figured the same goes with rats. The male seems a little frantic every time I hear the 2 females make noise (they are in their hide and I belive one is giving birth and the other is just in there with her.) Should I remove him or just leave them be. Do the females sometimes make squeeking noises when they are delivering or is the other female possibly bothering her?
Any help would be appriciated. I wanted to get on sooner to ask but didn't have time. I just noticed how big they were 2 days ago, compaired to the male.
These will be my first rat babies. Should I leave them keep this litter or can I pull them. This will be their first, I don't want them distroying any future litters before I can pull them and I heard that they sometimes do this, I'm not sure how true it is though since my mice never did this.
Thanks in advance. You can post here or pm me.
Sincerely, Deb.
P.s. these three rats are my pets btw, but their babies will be feeders.

[bighillreptiles]

the noise you heer is probly the babys thay are quit noisy .I leev my males with the famly all the time with no problems

[damzookeeper]

No, it was actually the females fighting, it was louder than the babies. I know this now because she must have been having them or getting ready to, she is in there alone now, she kicked the other female out of the hide and I can see at least 5 babies in there when I look in from the side through the glass. They have one of those round log hides that is open on both ends but they completely covered one end with aspen. lol. This was my first clue as to them getting ready to give birth. THey get huge fast! I noticed a little round belly a few days ago but they seemed to get ready to nearly explode in the last couple days. lol. Thanks for the help. I left the male in there and told my daughter not to disturb them. :)

[Brent Strande]

Be cautious... even the most docile "pet" rat will most likely bite when your hand is in there near her babies!

[damzookeeper]

Originally posted by Brent Strande
Be cautious... even the most docile "pet" rat will most likely bite when your hand is in there near her babies!

THanks. I'll definately keep that in mind. :)

[David Kwok]

I usually seperate my female rats into seperate bins to give birth and raise thier young. I have seen ppl breed their rats in groups, one male to multiple females, but it hasn't worked for me consistently. I have seen babies been stepped all over by other rats to death and occasionally I've seen two or more females fighting over the pinkies effectively ripping them apart to the point of no return.

Hope this helps

David

[Linds]

Rats are actually far better parents than mice, and you shouldn't have any problems leaving the male in. I leave all my colonies intact. It becomes inefficient to remove them, as you want the females to be reimpregnated after giving birth, instead of waiting until she weans her babies.

Originally posted by Brent Strande
Be cautious... even the most docile "pet" rat will most likely bite when your hand is in there near her babies!

All my feeders readily allow their babies to be taken or moved around by me without nipping. I've had the occassional female give a little nip if I was rooting around too long, but it isn't hard enough to even pay attention to. None of my females were biters, but occassionally some females will get very protective, but I woudln't necessarily believe it to be common.

[damzookeeper]

THanks Linds. I think my girls are going to be just great. My first female had her babies yesterday and my second had hers today early afternoon. I have their water dish inside the cage because there is no way of giving them a sipper. I've been in there several times to give them clean water and food. I also always give them treats by hand and they still came out to get there treats without getting protective. Umah came out for a few minutes around 4 (she is the one that just had her babies today) for some kisses and petting and she was her usual sweet self. :)
Thanks everyone for the help. I guess I'm a little more nervous with my rats than my mice because I'm more attached to them. lol.

Originally posted by Linds
Rats are actually far better parents than mice, and you shouldn't have any problems leaving the male in. I leave all my colonies intact. It becomes inefficient to remove them, as you want the females to be reimpregnated after giving birth, instead of waiting until she weans her babies.



All my feeders readily allow their babies to be taken or moved around by me without nipping. I've had the occassional female give a little nip if I was rooting around too long, but it isn't hard enough to even pay attention to. None of my females were biters, but occassionally some females will get very protective, but I woudln't necessarily believe it to be common.

[smallball]

I am trying to breed my rats right now, they have been together in a cage for 5 weeks now and I have not noticed a thing. How long does it take for her to get pregnant and have babies?
As well how many should I be expecting?

Thanks.

[Jayson]

smallball
Female rats come into heat about every 6 days and it takes about three weeks for her to give birth.
Make sure that you have a male and a female, and make sure they are old enough to have babies. I have read that they can reproduce at 6 weeks but i have never seen this before. I usually start breeding them at about 12-15 weeks.
Also i find the older males are much better for breeding.
If i dont see babies within 6 weeks, i feed the off (this rarly happens)

[damzookeeper]

holy cow, 12-15 weeks! lol, I waited till my guys were 5 months to put them together. I wanted to make sure my girls were ready. They are about 6 months now and they both had litters of about 10. Nice big fat babies too. :) I don't think that is a bad number for their first litter? They had them separate but now they have them all together and both moms are watching over them. Dad has been kicked out of the hide for the time being. lol. He has been sleeping in their little hide. Too cute. :)
Here is a picture of my two girls in the little hide my male is now sleeping in at night. They are so funny!! I don't know why I didn't have rats before. lol

http://www.reptilerascals.com/rat2004-09-04ingrid.jpg