Please can someone clarify some things for me?

greenman1867 · 01-16-05, 08:32 AM

Okay, I am getting mixed messages and I am hoping for some help.

1. Keeping your male with your females is NOT hard on them due to all the uhhhh, baby making activities? Or will the female tell the male to "get lost" when she has had enough?

2. Do rats NEED to have other rat company? And if so assuming I should seperate my males from my females after they have done their romancing, can I keep males together or will they fight?

Anyways thanks for any advice

Signed, Ball of Confusion

C.ADAMANTEUS · 01-16-05, 08:43 AM

Hey there "confusion"
I keep rats for breeding, and they ALL pretty much get along in a community, (unless males are competing for the females), they will establish there pecking order themselves.
A mother rat will protect her young until a certain age, even against other females, so its a good thing to seperate "moms" when they are close to doing there thing. Moms will also protect there young against YOU so be cautious

Good luck.........Rick

greenman1867 · 01-16-05, 09:23 AM

Okay thanks, I was concerned about the males wearing the females out, so to speak.

Thanks again for the clarification

Shawn

jay_scir · 01-16-05, 09:55 AM

Hi there. I keep all my females together when they have their babies. they actually start keeping all the babies in one corner and start like a community feeding corner. All the females that had babies will feed all the babies they can. I only keep one male in the cage at a time so i don't have to hear the males fighting all the time. Good luck!

C.ADAMANTEUS · 01-16-05, 12:14 PM

hey,
never tried a community of mothers before.
interesting to find out it works like that.

Rick

Mark · 01-16-05, 07:04 PM

Hey,

Ok here how i do it.

I run my bins 1 male and 3-7 females. I never remove the male as it is not needed and slows down production. Having the male in with the female does wear them out faster as the females have more babies in a shorter peroid of time. All you do is rotate the females around when they burn out. How you run it depends on if your breeders are pets or just breeders. I cull ansd freeze my breeders when production drops enough.

Also i've never had problems in my grow out bins with mixed sexes.

i also have one lone pet male and he seems to be fine.

Mark

sapphire_moon · 01-17-05, 03:58 PM

yes rats need to have other rat company (when they are pets).

Lone males are better intro'd to 2 baby boys (2 so they younger one doesn't always bother the older one to play, and so the younger one won't feel so threatened and dominated, the older bigger male will usually become alpha instantly with a bit of scuffling anyways)

These are my 3 pet boys (brothers). The one standing up is Zion, the blue one is Neptune and the black one measuring himself against the sharpie is Enigma....

(PET) rats are usually happiest when in groups, and the only time they should be alone is when they refuse to be housed with other rats (yes can happen, they will attack any rats they are housed with no matter how long you take on intro's)......

As for breeding for food, leave A male in there (unless you have a HUGE cage and a LARGE harem (like 10) then only one male to a group of females) at all times, he WON'T eat the babies (usually) and the mothers will usually take care of all the babies, no matter whose they are. There might be a few tug-o-war fights with the babies though.

And yes, eventually the female will tell him to "get lost" lol. The (or a) female will probably be the "alpha" rat of the cage, they tend to beat up the male (in my expierence), though it is quite funny to see a almost 1lb rat flipped by a tiny female that starts to power groom him while he lays there and squeaks! lol

This is just my opinions, everyone has different ways of setting up their breeding rats, whatever works for you is usually best

C.ADAMANTEUS · 01-17-05, 06:13 PM

Hey all
You guys must have tamer rats then ive been able to get...LOL
My Momma Rat some time back tore a new female up when I put her in the cage. blood everywhere in the cage, 6-7 deep bites. maybe cus it was a stranger, maybe I just had one mean mother rat?? But I just started putting the moms in there own cage to prevent it.
I have been thinking, (since reading what jay scir wrote above)
Of actually trying the "community mothering" thing, cus it would sure make for alot of extra room if it works.

Rick

sapphire_moon · 01-17-05, 08:07 PM

It was probably because she had babies, and was protecting them, wait till they are pregnant, no babies, and intro them all to a CLEAN cage (that means scrubbing it down with vinegar water or dawn soap), fresh bedding, ANY item in the cage should be CLEAN as well so the old female will not associate it as "HERS" , then put them all in there, and wait, they will have to establish who is alpha......

And of course I do, those are my babies, They give kisses, cuddle, love to play in my hair, and probably eats better than I do!!

C.ADAMANTEUS · 01-17-05, 08:18 PM

Hey, thanks for the advice, will try soon since I still got two for sure that are preg.

Rick

sapphire_moon · 01-17-05, 08:25 PM

goodluck! remember to wash everything well (it might help to put a bit of vanilla down by the BASE of the tail, it helps with male rats, so maybe it will with females? never hurts to try.) Also another thing is give them something to snack on that they can't just take and run, like some baby food or vanilla pudding, put it on a plate in the middle of the cage. And don't forget to wash any igloo's or toys in the cage (if you have any) and the water bottle (she drinks from it, so her scent it on it)

again goodluck!

C.ADAMANTEUS · 01-18-05, 05:59 AM

hey saphire moon
thanks again. I clean the cages all the time with vinegar and water just cus the smell builds up if you dont. as far as toys go?? I dont have any PET rats. My rats dont usually last that long. I dont have a large set up, just try to keep enough on hand to keep my baby, and my patients well fed without costing me a fortune in rats.
when, (or if) I ever get a big enough place start breeding My Albino BCC, then I might increase my rat population. For now though, My two balls can eat the juveniles (usually 2 each every other week), and AURORA usually three large every other week. that keeps the population down to size, but leaves a couple for future lil ones.
Will try the "pudding" thing though.

Rick

sapphire_moon · 01-18-05, 01:30 PM

3 large every other week (Don't know the size of the snake) why not one large once a week?

I wasn't sure, some people put paper towel tubes in there, and stuff like that. I was just saying if it's something washable, wash it. lol, if it's tossable, toss it! and get something fresh!

Goodluck (I got the pudding idea from some people at a pet rat site, they said put the rats in the tub, take a spoon full of pudding, and fling! they will be so busy grooming themselves and hopefully each other, that by the time they are done, they will be the best of friends. lol)

C.ADAMANTEUS · 01-18-05, 08:19 PM

shes 7ft 5yrs old BCC (avatar), and I just like to give her a chance to pooh between feedings, (usally about 10 days), and a few more she'll start looking for food. As for three, I guess they arent VERY large cuz they never get that big. but three just start to make a lump, and I try for no lump.
I've heard many opinions like mine, and many like yours, and many others as well. It just works for me, with her, and most of the balls I get are to be adopted out any way.
Rick

C.ADAMANTEUS · 01-18-05, 08:21 PM

shoulda read the rest

FLING huh? I have to try that out!