# how do i breed rats



## philipniceguy (Mar 31, 2008)

i have got myself 4 females and 2 males i have them in trios at the moment similer to my mice which are in groups of 1 male 4 females, but i was told unlike mice you can just place the male in the cage with females for few days then move it to another group of females so basicly i would only need one male living alone and when needed placing it with 1 of the groups of females can this be done safely? as mice they fight if you put a male in a older group of females. what do you all think?


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## LoveForLizards (Apr 20, 2008)

You have a PM. : victory:


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## Crownan (Jan 6, 2007)

LoveForLizards said:


> You have a PM. : victory:


That doesn't help anyone else who might be interested....


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## LoveForLizards (Apr 20, 2008)

Crownan said:


> That doesn't help anyone else who might be interested....


I will go back over it then as there is some things that need edditing as it was taken from my caresheet, ok?


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## LoveForLizards (Apr 20, 2008)

Breeding:
In one way rat breeding is relatively easy, in another way its not. However after you've setup and got the system going it is pretty easy. There is a few ways different people do things, so firstly I will talk about the way *most* labs/mill breeders do it. The aim at a mill breeder/lab is to have as many litters out of a doe as possible before she dies or goes infertile, so males will be left with females all the time. This means that immature babies will be taken away from the mother mouse so she can give birth to another litter. Whilst some have great sucess with this I do not agree that this is a good system. For one the mother gets no rest and therefore can easily be worn down and be forced not to care for young and also 3 weeks is only just enough to be fully out of the nest and getting the taste for dry foods, let alone living away from "home" and having to eat dry food. For these reasons it is best to leave the male with the females until they are gravid, then take the young out at 4 weeks old and allow the female 5-7 days of rest and allow her to "restore" then put her back with the male and repeat. This gives her a nice rest in between litters and allows kits to mature properly before being taken away from the mother, studys suggest that the reason alot of people find they have abnormally small rats is because they are not allowed to mature before being taken from the mother and not growing properly. Obviously if you are breeding for pinkies or fuzzys this is irrelevant as you can take out the rats when they are at the right stage (pinkies 1-3 days old, fuzzies 5-7 days old) and leave the male with the female as she will have a good rest between litters. But as for the actual mating its all up to the rats!, just make sure they have plenty of food, water and space. You may find rats that just wont mate, are infertile or who will kill and eat they're partners however they arn't all common occurences. Rats after 1 year of age are often infertile and ar fed off as feeders. Rats after 5 week old can impregnate and get pregnant and they will mate with family members so you should seperate mother and babies at a maximum of 5 weeks.

Okies?


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## philipniceguy (Mar 31, 2008)

cheers for that can you just take the male out and put him back after the 7 days with no fighting or is there ways to stop it eg cleaning it out first so smells like non of the rats?


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## LoveForLizards (Apr 20, 2008)

philipniceguy said:


> cheers for that can you just take the male out and put him back after the 7 days with no fighting or is there ways to stop it eg cleaning it out first so smells like non of the rats?


They will usually be excepted, but if not you can dilute some vanilla essence and spray it around the cage with clean bedding.


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## whitewolf (Jul 18, 2008)

ratties need company of there own kind and will get depressed if you leave them on there own unless they are rat agressive which is a whole new story
the female you have in the group of males will most likely be pregnant you should take her out before the kits are born if not the bucks could kill the kits also a doe goes into season straight after she has kits so is likely to get pregnant again which without time to rest in between will stress the doe and may kill her depending on the strain of each litter 
hope this helps if you need anymore advice pm me


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## mrhoyo (Mar 29, 2007)

i dont think they have a female in a group of males, i believe the trio is 1.2. they have 4 females and 2 males so two trios would mean they had a male with two females.


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## philipniceguy (Mar 31, 2008)

mrhoyo said:


> i dont think they have a female in a group of males, i believe the trio is 1.2. they have 4 females and 2 males so two trios would mean they had a male with two females.


Yes thats right i have two groups of 1.2. I was wondering what do people use size wise? for a group this size or would you have larger groups of 1.4 or something if so what size, type of cage would you use?


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