Rat Husbandry questions.

[saximus]

Since there's a couple of seemingly experienced people in here I just wanted to ask have any of you found bite marks on your babies? I noticed three of my weaners have quite a deep gash on the back of their necks. It looks too big/deep to be from the other babies so I'm guessing it's from one of the other adults (I don't separate my females as I was told it helps to keep them warm if you keep all the mothers together). Do you think this would be more likely from the male or just one of the females being a bitch? I might try removing the male when my next litter is born and see if it helps but in the meantime I figured I'd see if you guys had seen it before.

 

[beeman]

Since there's a couple of seemingly experienced people in here I just wanted to ask have any of you found bite marks on your babies? I noticed three of my weaners have quite a deep gash on the back of their necks. It looks too big/deep to be from the other babies so I'm guessing it's from one of the other adults (I don't separate my females as I was told it helps to keep them warm if you keep all the mothers together). Do you think this would be more likely from the male or just one of the females being a bitch? I might try removing the male when my next litter is born and see if it helps but in the meantime I figured I'd see if you guys had seen it before.

You will see this sort of thing from time to time, Its usually the females fighting over the pups and as they are shifting pups they each will grab a little to hard.

 

[Wild~Touch]

Rats are excellent mothers, in fact extreme in some cases.

Watch for the dominant mummas they take ALL the babies the other mums milk dries up and the dominant mumma cannot feed all the babies successfully.

You end up with a heap of scrawny rat pups.

 

[ingie]

Yeah I would say that they were doing tug-o-war with the babies because if they were wanting to intentionally hurt them they would prob just eat them or parts of them instead of biting.

 

[saximus]

...if they were wanting to intentionally hurt them they would prob just eat them or parts of them instead of biting.

Yeah that's what confused me. I've had babies "disappear" shortly after being born before (that mother is now resting peacefully in the freezer) but never seen this. Thanks for the info guys and girls

 

[jham66]

I'm having pretty average breeding results at the moment. Usually only get 6 kittens from each mother, one mother (not sure which) only had 3. The reason I don't know which it was is that two gave birth within two days, both the same colour parents, and then they proceeded to do exactly as was suggested above. They fought over the kittens, to and fro-ing them to the point where the kittens were all scratched up. I euthenized the litter and will have to watch more carefully next time.

 

[ingie]

That sucks jham66. If you are having consistently small litters it could be a diet thing. Some babies can be reabsorbed during pregnancy for various reasons. When I changed the diet of my rats, they started producing bigger litters with faster growing healthier babies. There are a lot of different diets that give the same result, but I feed Biomare pellets (horse food), dog biscuits (for meat based protein), and bird seed. They also get a lot of food scraps and fresh fruit and veggies from the markets. While I admit that I love my rats as much as my reptiles so I spoil them, the results are worth it. Food works out less than $1/kg and I would have to spend soooo much more buying frozen rodents

 

[jham66]

I am feeding Laucke mills rat and mouse pellets, occasionally I mix in some dry dog food and they get veggies with their dinner at least once a week (most times twice and sometimes more). They all look heathy, except I seem to get the odd male that gets resp. problems, he still does his job but wheezes a bit at times. I've just gotten two litters of six again.... but it is actually enough to cover my needs. It would be nice to down size and still produce the same though.

 

[beeman]

I am feeding Laucke mills rat and mouse pellets, occasionally I mix in some dry dog food and they get veggies with their dinner at least once a week (most times twice and sometimes more). They all look heathy, except I seem to get the odd male that gets resp. problems, he still does his job but wheezes a bit at times. I've just gotten two litters of six again.... but it is actually enough to cover my needs. It would be nice to down size and still produce the same though.

Mate if your rats were down here in our production unit they would have been
culled LONG ago.
The feed you are using is a complete ration as far as rodent production goes so its not a feed issue it more a strain/bloodline issue!

 

[Wild~Touch]

Could be old rats too....I would replace Mr.Wheezer immediatley with a younger more virile model. How old are the girls ?

You really don't need respiratory problems in your rat colony

 

[garthy]

I'm having pretty average breeding results at the moment. Usually only get 6 kittens from each mother, one mother (not sure which) only had 3. The reason I don't know which it was is that two gave birth within two days, both the same colour parents, and then they proceeded to do exactly as was suggested above. They fought over the kittens, to and fro-ing them to the point where the kittens were all scratched up. I euthenized the litter and will have to watch more carefully next time.

Mine are going the other way, I'm feeding working horse mix and cracked corn, with kitchen scraps (veges etc) each day. I have just had one mum raise 17 babies and 3 others raise 16. I have also just had two more litters of 16 born and one of 13. I have a pregnant female that looks so big I have no idea how many she will have. I separate my females in individual cells when they look close to birthing. It has proven to be very successful. I already have 1 small freezer full of snake food and am starting to fill a larger chest freezer.

 

[jham66]

They are all young models. I culled off my old male 2 months ago. The whole lot are only just 5 months old now. I think I will have to watch Sandee's post's and see if I can get a couple of females off her ;-) I will get rid off Mr Wheezer still. He is just a bit precious, on day three of the new substrate (breeder's choice) his nose starts running....

 

[-Katana-]

They are all young models. I culled off my old male 2 months ago. The whole lot are only just 5 months old now. I think I will have to watch Sandee's post's and see if I can get a couple of females off her ;-) I will get rid off Mr Wheezer still. He is just a bit precious, on day three of the new substrate (breeder's choice) his nose starts running....

Dunno about that..I'm thinkin' I might have to sweet talk some females off Garthy!:lol:

 

[garthy]

Dunno about that..I'm thinkin' I might have to sweet talk some females off Garthy!:lol:

start talking

 

[ingie]

Dunno about that..I'm thinkin' I might have to sweet talk some females off Garthy!:lol:

Yeah me too!!!!

Cracked corn - Do they actually eat that? I heard corn is fantastic for keeping rats nice and plump through the birthing/raising process but I always assumed the hard stuff wasn't particularly edible unless you are a bird..... I would love to be able to do cracked though for when I can't afford fresh

 

[-Katana-]

Yeah me too!!!!

Cracked corn - Do they actually eat that? I heard corn is fantastic for keeping rats nice and plump through the birthing/raising process but I always assumed the hard stuff wasn't particularly edible unless you are a bird..... I would love to be able to do cracked though for when I can't afford fresh

Ingie, I feed mine frozen kernels..in a lot of ways frozen has a higher nutritional value because it's snap frozen while it's fresh and hasn't been sitting around on a supermarket shelf for an age.
Mine love their frozen corn and peas.

 

[garthy]

So does anyone know if you can gas rats with bi-carb and vinegar? I've made a pathetic attempt at a gassing chamber and ended up with vinegary rats.

 

[-Katana-]

Sorry I can't help..I soda stream mine....mmm....fizzy!:lol:

 

[garthy]

Yeah me too!!!!

Cracked corn - Do they actually eat that? I heard corn is fantastic for keeping rats nice and plump through the birthing/raising process but I always assumed the hard stuff wasn't particularly edible unless you are a bird..... I would love to be able to do cracked though for when I can't afford fresh

I actually think it helps with their teeth too. I find they will often pick the corn out 1st.

 

[saximus]

So does anyone know if you can gas rats with bi-carb and vinegar? I've made a pathetic attempt at a gassing chamber and ended up with vinegary rats.

Yeah you can. I used to do it before I got my soda stream. I don't have time to go into details right now but I can later if you want. Basically I used a separate bag with the bicarb and vinegar and had a hose running into the container with the rats. That way only the gas goes through to them and you don't end up getting the liquid all over them. However, it's pretty messy and you actually need a fair bit of vinegar to do any more than a couple of rats. So I'd suggest just saving up and getting a soda stream...