Rats

[Wizwise2000]

I've had my rats (colony of 1.5) for a month now and have not seen any babies, they were all together in the pet store as well as together here. This normal?

Thanks everyone!
Shane

[sapphire_moon]

It took my 1.1 starter pair almost 2.5 months to even "get it on" lol. So about 3.5 months to even see babies.

The females go into season every 5 days or so.

[Auskan]

Sometimes it does just take them awhile. I have a brother/sister that were together from birth on, but she was 12 weeks old by the time she delivered her first litter. Given that they are sexually mature at 5 weeks, it still took her 4 weeks to get pregnant, which could have had to do with late maturity and/or being the first time for both, they weren't quite sure what to do. The male got another female pregnant as well and she delivered about a week earlier.

[mykee]

I would thin that colony down to 1.2 or 1.3, I think 1.5 are too many females. I stick with colonies of 1.2 and constantly have 2 sets of babies in there, and on good days, 3 different sets.

[Auskan]

Oh, I hadn't noticed that Mykee. Just curious Wizwise2000 - you only have one snake. Why so many rats and mice? Both can have litters ranging up to 15 or so, so if you have 5 female rats and they have an average of 10, even after one litter each, you will have 50 offspring. Are you equipped to deal with that many rats?

[Wizwise2000]

Thanks, I will thin it down to 1.3 and 1.2.
Yes I will be building a rack as soon as I move next month, and I will be able to deal with large quantities of mice and rats.

Thanks!
Shane