Male Rat....

[sleddergirl]

This is my male rat, Remus. He is 1.5 yrs old. Only been with me for a short while, but I hope to get some babies when my female gets a little bigger. She is only 3 mths old..........

Did someone say previously that females will mate over 200g ? Just wondering as my female is 198.4 g.

Thanks .....

Sue

[mykee]

As far as rats go, he looks nice. Females will breed over 200g, I would throw them together and see what happens, if she's not ready, she'll tell him all right.

[sleddergirl]

I tried a few times, just letting them around the room together. I have only ever had rats breed that were the same size, so I would just leave them in the cage together, but there is such a size difference that it makes me nervous to put them together unsupervised. She just acts like a nut around him, she runs and bounces off his side and then waits for him to chase her. Its quite funny actually.

Anyway, thanks for the response Mykee.

Sue

[HumphreyBoagart]

Leave 'em together. That jumping around is part of their mating "ritual".

[sleddergirl]

Ok, I'd like opinions on this. The rat book I have says, if they mate you should separate them on the 16th day, as the male may cannibilise (sp) the young if left together.

What are your experiences with this?

Thanks
Sue

[greenman1867]

So far my male has not done anything like that. I think the mothers would tune him in pretty good if he tried. Just make sure they have unlimited food and water.

[peterm15]

isnt the average lifespan of a rat 22 months.. or did i hear rong.. seeing as yours is about 18, would it soon be too old to breed

[sapphire_moon]

the rat book you have is probably an outdated pet rat book

if you want continuous litters just leave him in there, rats make great parents, and it is more than likely he will help take care of the babies as well.

HOWEVER, if you do NOT want continuous litters, after the female starts getting fat, or after she delivers, take the male out IMMEDIATLY, the female will go into heat within 12 hours after giving birth...

As for pregnant female care, just up the protiene, give her eggs, chicken/chicken bones, etc..etc...or make sure she has a good quality lab block (like mazuri), or a high proteine dog food.

as for the size diff, don't worry, if she don't want to mate, she will let him know.

She could also be playing with him, as rats are VERY social and should be kept in atleast pairs (if you don't want breedings same sex pairs).

[sleddergirl]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by sapphire_moon
[B]the rat book you have is probably an outdated pet rat book


Its the latest edition of Barrons but I left it at work so I can't check the date.

Thanks for the other ideas.

[sleddergirl]

Originally posted by peterm15
isnt the average lifespan of a rat 22 months.. or did i hear rong.. seeing as yours is about 18, would it soon be too old to breed


Its an approximate age, from what the previous owner could remember. I'm not expecting much but anythings possible.

[HumphreyBoagart]

In my experience...
the male will only cannibalize the babies if he knows they are not his, but the female will cannibalize them first if she thinks they are in danger. They WILL be his babies so you shouldn't have any problems. Just leave 'em together, and they'll be fine. The male will "hop" on her again the second she leaves the nest. This is their most fertile time.

[Jayson]

Male rats rarely ever canabalize the young. Far more often it is the female that cannibalizes. She will cannibalize if the young are not healthy, If food and water for her are not always available or if she is stressed out.
I have bred litteraly thousands and thousands of rats and i have yet to personally wittness a male rat eating the young (his or otherwise)
I have found that alot of available info for rats that are written by rat fanciers are highly opinionated and much of the information is incorrect.

[sleddergirl]

Thanks for all the repsonses.:)


Sue

[sapphire_moon]

barrons sucks :) lol even for pet rats!

if you want a great book get Debbie "the rat lady" Ducommun rat book "Rats" and there is another one called "rat health care booklet 10th edition" you can get it shipped to canada.

It is called the "rat bible" by many PET rat owners.

you can get it through here---> http://www.ratfanclub.org/books.html

now remember though, it is for PET rats, not breeders. I would get info from the people here for breeder rats. But if you are still interested I have her rat health care book, and it's great! lol

[Tango-n-Toads]

Rats will and can breed when they are as young as 5 weeks old, though it is not recommended. 3 months is a safe age for them. Since your male is already 18 months old there's a chance that he will be infertile.

Put them together and watch them. It only takes 1 time... there is no reason to have to keep them together at all. The male being in with her can stress her out and sometimes the female will eat her own babies if she is too stressed.. or she can neglect them. The male can also eat the babies and as soon as the female gives birth she can get pregnant again... but that is dangerous and very stressful when she is nursing.

Though I only keep rats as pets.... so I don't know anything about the "normal" lives of feeders and the way they are bred....

:(

[sapphire_moon]

if you are breeding rats for feeders, put the male with the females (though it is true that he may be infertile as old as he is), and leave him. Rats are great parents, and they will all take care of the babies (unless there are serious personality clashs).

tango, usually the whole point of breeding rats is to keep getting babies, one after the other. The females usually don't live past 6-8 litters anyways.

And don't worry, as far as I know everyone on this site humanely kills the food source. ;)

[kpugh]

Just a point of interest - I used to raise rats on a commercial level - and we had the odd male producing at close to 3 years of age...

[sleddergirl]

Originally posted by kpugh
Just a point of interest - I used to raise rats on a commercial level - and we had the odd male producing at close to 3 years of age...


Well we should see soon, they've been in together for a bit now and she is feeling pretty full in the belly..............maybe he is a stud after all.......lol;)

[sleddergirl]

LOL, my old rat came through.......:D He is now the proud poppa of 15 wriggling pinkies................

[Asian Jon]

Woohoo! Congrats. Tis a good feeling.

[greenman1867]

Old Dog! How old was that female anyways? Did you card her at the door?

LOL Grats on the litter, theres no stopping you (err him) now!

Shawn

[Shad0w]

Hahahah Congrats :)

Im waiting patiently ... my rats should be dropping litters any day now... we on day 17 since the male mated with the females.

[sleddergirl]

Originally posted by greenman1867
Old Dog! How old was that female anyways? Did you card her at the door?

LOL Grats on the litter, theres no stopping you (err him) now!

Shawn

LOL, she is about 5 mths now. She dropped a pile of 'em though......:D

Sue

[sleddergirl]

Originally posted by Shad0w
Hahahah Congrats :)

Im waiting patiently ... my rats should be dropping litters any day now... we on day 17 since the male mated with the females.

Won't be long now...............good luck

[sleddergirl]

Originally posted by sleddergirl
LOL, my old rat came through.......:D He is now the proud poppa of 15 wriggling pinkies................


K, ya forget all that, I just went up and one of them ate the babies...........just dunno if it was mum or dad..............:confused:

[morph]

It was mom I have never ever had a male eat the babies and I have had alot of babies here just leave them together and if she does it again she probably always will and you may as well get a new female.

Scott

[sleddergirl]

Originally posted by morph
It was mom I have never ever had a male eat the babies and I have had alot of babies here just leave them together and if she does it again she probably always will and you may as well get a new female.

Scott

Thanks for the advice. Its just so odd, she seems like she's protecting the one that is left..................damn rats....:(

[sapphire_moon]

sorry, if she is a first time mother you probably made her nervous. I say if she doesn't do good with the next couple of litters either get rid of her or retire her to "pet"