breeding rats

Lrptls · 11-03-04, 05:51 PM

i just got 2 male and 2 female rats. i had them together for about a week to make sure they bred and the females should be pregnant. they are seperated now into 2 20 long tanks (females in one, males in the other) i feed them a mixture of seeds and rat cubes. i'm going to ocasionaly offer the females meat sence they need more protein. what types of meat should i give them? cooked or raw?

i was told to only breed them once a month, is that best for them?

i'v never done this before so any comments and suggestions would be great, thanks.

Brent Strande · 11-03-04, 07:31 PM

I'd ditch the second male, they stink MUCH more, and I've heard that they can fight if housed together.

Also, as far as protien, I've never heard of feeding actual meat. What I'd do is either give them whatever table scraps you've got or else you could occasionally feed a dog food with a higher protien content, or else I've heard (never tried) that catfood has a lot, if not too much, protien.

What rat cubes are you using? They may have enough protien in them already.

Jayson · 11-03-04, 08:21 PM

If you have a good rodent block you do not need to supplement with anything.
Seeds should only be given as a treat as they are high in fat. you can feed them many different food items if you like eg. fruits,veggies,breads and grains but as i said it is not a must with a good lab block.

I would get rid of one male and place the other with both females, If you wish for steady production then just leave them all together all the time, If not ? remove the male when the females start to show and reintroduce him after the babies are removed or weaned and removed or three weeks before you are ready for your next litters(if the babies are removed).
Both females can be left together all the time, you do not need to separate them when the babies come. Both females will raise both litters.
Keeping the male with the females to produce back to back litters will greatly reduce the females life, so on her third or forth litter hold back her replacements.

ydnic · 11-03-04, 08:23 PM

YOu don`t want to keep two males - especially together. They musk/spray like male cats and it gets pretty bad. Even if you clean the cage every day. I would just freeze one of the males immediately.
When I was breeding mice I had a bunch of females and would buy a male and keep him in with them for a week and then freeze him. Thats the best way to do it because then it smells less. I would recommend the same thing with the rats - but if you don`t have anything that eats rats You should just keep one.

Linds · 11-04-04, 12:30 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by ydnic
YOu don`t want to keep two males - especially together. They musk/spray like male cats and it gets pretty bad. Even if you clean the cage every day. I would just freeze one of the males immediately.
When I was breeding mice I had a bunch of females and would buy a male and keep him in with them for a week and then freeze him. Thats the best way to do it because then it smells less. I would recommend the same thing with the rats - but if you don`t have anything that eats rats You should just keep one.

You can't even compare the smell of mice to rats. Mice smell, regardless of what you do... especially if you overclean. Rats are fine. In fact, I have 4 pet rats - housed together, all male - at the foot of my bed and you will never, ever smell them. The are cleaned twice a month. I smell my snakes before I smell my rats.

Brent,
Males generally only fight if they are competing over a female, and even then that's not a rule

I have all my male pets housed together... as well as 4 raiser bins with 10-30 male rats per bin. Females tend to be more territorial than males I find, and any rat that hasn't been properly socialized with other rats may also fight.

Lrptls,
I don't feed any rodent diet, as I have been entirely unsatisfied with all varieties, their ingredients and results. The protein sources offered to my rodents are all cooked chicken (bones, cartilage, meat), beef, nuts, and seeds (as mentioned, nuts and seeds are high fat, so exercise caution with them). I also give the very occassional sprinkle of cat food (if you want them as pets as well, only feed a holistic variety).

Edit to add, I almost forgot they also love mealworms. Not all of them go nuts for superworms, but I feed those as well. Silkworms and butterworms are also appreciated a lot :flick:

justinO · 11-04-04, 05:24 PM

I agree with most, you only need one male. Get rid of the other one, or feed it if you have something that will eat that big.

A rat diet lab block will be perfectly fine, no need to go and get all that extra crap if you have a good food.

Lrptls · 11-13-04, 08:09 PM

i dont think i want to get rid of the other male, they dont smell too bad, i also have 2 pet rats who are males that live together, they only start to smell when its time to clean the cage.

i do believe i am going to change what i am feeding them, my pet rats which i have had much longer than the breeders have gained alot of weight. i dont know how much exactly but i can tell they are fatter. their diet is half seeds and half rat cubes. the rat food itself is alot of seeds with fruits and cerial looking things mixed in. i was told to use hamster food too but i'm going to not do that again because thats nothing but seeds. what i think i'll do is give them 90% rat cubes and 10% rat food. they all get treats too. different meets, vegies, crackers, pop corn and so on.

the females should be having babies in a few days, they have been really lazy and sleeping alot, any thing i should be looking for incase of a problem?