Happy Humpy Rats

[MrsSnakes4me2]

Hi all

We have just purchased a male & female rat to breed for obvious reasons (hungry pythons.....just in case it wasnt obvious). Anyhoo, they are being happy ratatoulies and like to 'wrestle' alot.......I mean really alot . (If only my husband was a......)

Anyhow

This is my first time breeding so I would appreciate any tips on thr care and upbringing of my happy rat family.

....and don't tell my hubby bout the rat comment thingy

Cheers,
Toni

[Chris1]

hahaha,...!!

he'd be a happy humpy hubby!!

umm,..i think they do it themselves!
i just couldnt kill em.

[MrsSnakes4me2]

LOL Good one Chris. I'll put that one on my christmas list.......

Yeah I'm assume they have no propbs doin the deed and stuff but not sure if I have to separate once the pinky's arrive or if they prefer warmth or breezes or both.

Will face the 'k' thing when we get to it. I guess its a matter of 'have to' or pay someone else a fortune to do it for you .

[Helikaon]

you shouldn't need to do any separating. just let them do there thing, obviously give the mum something to make a nest and give her lots of food. the only reason i separate my females is because i don't want them getting pregnant straight away.

[Jay]

Dont touch the babies at least until late fuzzy stage (around 10 days i think it is ) otherwise the mothers have a tendency to proceed to eat the bubs. During cleaning scoop up a chunk of the bedding beneath them so 1. you dont touch the bubs and 2. theres enough of the old smell that the mother goes to them again no prob. Beyond that rats a re pretty good, gestation around 3 weeks then 4 weeks till they're usually starting to eat solid food, 2 weeks after that they're fully weaned. Males can be kept with mum and bubs without him eating them, just need to be moved when their weaned, and he will mate with mum while shes nursing, so can have another litters immediately one after another.

[Helikaon]

ive never had a mother kill her babies from me touching them, as i pick them up the day they are born and move them and mother into smaller cages.

[Helikaon]

but yeah what i do is i rip the mum and babies out put them in lab cages, at 4 weeks i wean them they can be weaned earlier but i like to give them that extra week, so yes at 4 weeks they get taken out and put into a larger weaning cage, i then give the mother a few days to eat up before going back into the breeder cages. the weaner's then stay in the weaner cages until they are about 120 grams and then go into the grower cage. and all is well

[MrsSnakes4me2]

Thankyou all very much for the tips.

Helikaon, do you separate your 'growers' into male & female cages? Otherwise they would all be into each other at 6 weeks wouldnt they?

They have a little house and the female eats constantly it seems. Could it be that she is pregnant already or is that a standard appetite for rats. The male seems to sleep more than he eats.

I have a standard rat food mix of pellets, seeds and some kind of chaff mixture. Do you recommend giving them raw vegies or fruit as well?

[rebeccalg]

I have all of my rats in a little rabbit hutch in the backyard. They all live quite happily together in a big familly. Rats are actualy one of the few animals that don't mind if you touch their babies. So don't worry about scent transfer.
Four weeks after the babies are born you can ween them. I keep the weened babies in a seperate enclosure for a few weeks, the mum will be pregnant again almost as soon as the babies have been taken away. When the new babies are born and weened I put the older litter back in the cage. The females of the first litter come into season between 6-8 weeks of age, so your collection should multiply rather rapidly.
One of my two remaining original babies has just had a litter two days after the mother had her third litter. The other original baby is also pregnant.
Rats make great mothers and I was amazed to discover yesterday that both mothers take turns at feeding all the babies!
My biggest tip is rotate the babies! They wont ween themselves and it will slow down your preproduction rate if you dont take the babies out. But its ok to have a big happy family of rats all living together.

[Helikaon]

Originally Posted by MrsSnakes4me2

Thankyou all very much for the tips.

Helikaon, do you separate your 'growers' into male & female cages? Otherwise they would all be into each other at 6 weeks wouldnt they?

They have a little house and the female eats constantly it seems. Could it be that she is pregnant already or is that a standard appetite for rats. The male seems to sleep more than he eats.

I have a standard rat food mix of pellets, seeds and some kind of chaff mixture. Do you recommend giving them raw vegies or fruit as well?

in the grower cage i currently just chuck both sexes in as i will be keeping most of the females for breeding anyway bu my young ones do not get pregnant at the common 6 week age they actually grow quite large before getting pregnant. i am not a fan of that seed and chaff mixture as it does not do their teeth any good and is a major cause of tooth problems in rabbits guinea pigs and rats. yes fresh fruit and veggies is good. yeah the males are pretty lazy, though with lots of stimulus they will become more active. the other method mentioned about in a hutch works well as well, i just find this way it allows me to have more control over my rats and so i can give the mothers breaks between pregnancies as they can pop out new babies before the old babies have even been weaned properly. but yeah its really not hard.

[rebeccalg]

Rats will eat anything. They love meat as well as veg, and tinned tuna is great for pregnant mothers. So buy a few cans of cat food to add to their regular diet. I also throw in the leg of lamb bone, and chicken bones. They go nuts over bones!