Breeding Rats.

[Grimleo]

I'm thinking about breeding my own rats and producing a few litters of ratlings but I wanted to make this thread and make sure I knew what I was getting myself into.

I know there has to be a lot more to it than "put a female and male together and you will have babies." I'd like to keep my babies healthy. I have two female pet rats that I care for so I am only going to have to have them produce a few litters if I can.

Could anyone give me the "basics" of rat breeding? If not, maybe I can have a few questions answered. For instance should I keep males and females separate until I want a pregnant female, and then separate them after I know the females pregnant? Or can they all be housed together all the time? Is there a certain amount of time I should wait after each litter to give the females time to rest?

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

[infernalis]

I just left them all together, nature finds a way ;)

The population exploded quickly...

No need to separate them, once the get used to living together, the colony will function as a community.

[Jenn_06]

i just started to breed i got my male and females last month, i took my male out because there something wrong with him and i did not want him to breed with my girls but as i found out later it was too late, both girls had there litter on the 12th one had 14 but 3 was stillborn and the other 18 but 2 days later one passed on.(my sav was happy with that lol)

i dont have a big cage to keep everyone in so i put them in there own tubs until i get my rat rack made.

i seen many people keep there males in with the females and babies you just have to have room for them, ill do that when i breed them again.

you keep the babies with mom for 4 weeks or the beginning of the 5th week after that ill give the girls 2 week break so she can get back to normal

[Nafun]

My wife handles the rodent breeding, but basically what I understand from her...

you set up breeder colonies of 1 male and like half a dozen females. pull the babies when they're weaned (4-5 weeks).

Rats are prone to respiratory infections, so make sure they have plenty of ventilation.

If you get cannibalization, remove the cannibal and replace with another.

Once they reach sexual maturity, males can mate til they die. Females eventually become barren (and, around here, become snake food) and will need to be replaced.

To prevent cannibalization, make sure they're getting enough protein. Supplement them with dry dog food (with no red dye).

The biggest problem we've had with rat breeding has been cannibalization. Sometimes, you get a female that just seems to like eating babies. If you leave them in the colony you risk all litters, not just hers, so we always chuck cannibals into the feeder tank.

We've never had a problem with males. Give a male rat undisputed reign over a handful of females and he's happy as anything. Have never had a problem with males killing their own young.

[Grimleo]

Thanks for the advice everyone. That helps a lot. :)

Hey Wayne how did your rats find a way out? Were they able to chew through hard plastic?

The only problem I'm having is finding a male. No shop I've been to likes to carry males.

[Jenn_06]

i had a hard time to find females no one sold them anywhere so i had to drive a hour to a pet store that did.

[infernalis]

Hey Wayne how did your rats find a way out? Were they able to chew through hard plastic?.


My rats are kept in 55 gallon aquariums, I caught one and found out how.

They jump up and grab the bars with their hands and do a massive "chin up" while squeezing through the top.

http://www.reptard.info/aa/ratcage.jpg

[Grimleo]

I'm sure I just have to wait for a store to carry some males. That and make sure I make escape proof cages, lol

[Reptile_Reptile]

thats why rats are recommended a mesh top cause they are like bats and can squeeze thry something thats smaller then their heads. i've had pet rats escape on me with only a 3/4 of an inch of space to make it thru and they were adults

[Nafun]

We keep our rats in steralite tubs with hardware cloth "windows" cut in the top (and held in with duct tape).

We've had no trouble with them chewing the plastic, or the tape. We've been breeding rats for about 6 months and have had no escapes that weren't due to to someone forgetting to put a lid back on.

[Grimleo]

Sounds good :) thanks guys. I think as long as I keep them entertained they won't chew through anything, lol.

[Reptile_Reptile]

chewing isnt really a problem when your male is only really thinking about sex and your females are dealing with pups. just remember that a continuously bred male gets almost as big as a neutered male its crazy

[candyraver69]

For food breeding purposes I'd put one male with multiple females, maybe 1:4 pull the babies at 5 weeks and place in gender specific grow out tubs. Depending on your size and quantity needs you might want to modify that a bit based on your needs, or do multiple groups. you can always add or take away a female.

If you do the tub thing, you may consider doing the hardware cloth on the side instead of the top so you can stack them. I make a big hole/window, overlap with hardware cloth by about 2 squares, drill a couple small holes at each corner and middle of each side of the window and zip tie the hardware cloth on. For water bottles drill a hole to fit the metal tube through, use velcro tape to velco the bottle on the outside. Adult rats won't escape from 1/4" cloth but babies will so you should go with the 1/8" cloth.

I'd go with the biggest tub you can find for the breeding one because it will have a few adults and TONS of babies pinkie to weanling age. walmart has 105qt sterilite 4 for 46$ online. There are some great vids on youtube about rodent breeding racks if that's easier for you, automatic watering systems, food hoppers, and other things that make it easier to care for large quantities. If you are going that route I'd just rotate the male through different breeding females tubs, a week with each female should work, and you can use smaller more uniform sized tubs since you will be housing only one female and litter per tub rather than several.

sexual maturity as early as 5 weeks, best to let them get 4-6 months for first litter though
estrus cycle 4-5 days, estrus within hours of pregnancy
gestation 21-24 days
weaned anywhere from 3-5 weeks

Also to keep your litter size and baby size decent I'd rotate new females in frequently, they start having small litters and small babies after so many litters.

Depending on how large scale you are going you might consider buying Harlan blocks for food. It costs me about $55 per 33lb bag from coldbloods. Roughly 1 lb per month per rat, the food stays good for about 6 months if kept sealed/refrigerated/frozen Coldbloods.com (http://www.coldbloods.com/) If you go with seed/grain mix try to get it from a feed store rather than pet store, it's cheaper and fresher.

[Grimleo]

Very good info, thanks! :D

I've got it all good and figured out now. I just need to find myself a male ratty.