# Multimammate



## brian (Oct 22, 2005)

Here goes right are these rats or mice as some sites call them rats and some call them mice.

And when breeding do the males smell like mice do or don't thay as I have bred mice in the past but the males do cause a smell

At the moment iv been breeding rats and the males don't smell or don't seem to smell

I wouldent mind a group or few of them but not if thay are guna smell
any advice thanks....Brian


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## Amalthea (Oct 2, 2007)

They're closer realted to rats  And I don't notice any smel at all with them. Nothing even remotely close to the smell of fancy mice.


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## Herpquest (Jul 18, 2008)

Praomys Natalensis/African Soft Furred Rats/Multimmate Rats - these are a small rodent species, originating from Africa, more closely related to rats than mice. 
If housed correctly, they produce less of a smell than rats and mice - more of a 'peppery' smell. If you remove the 'wet' corner regulsrly, the odour from them is minimal.


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## BenjaminBoaz (Jan 6, 2006)

Don't smell much at all. I find that litters take a long time to grow and when in groups of 1:5 don't produce as much as the same number of mice would. I would set up small groups and more of them. 1:2 or 1:3 no bigger - think you will produce more this way. If you keep mice try putting vanillia essence in the water- they won't smell so bad - or clean out every wk before they get dirty. 
Mm also take months to get to full size - although they are larger that ex large mice which can be good replacement for weaned rat size foods but cost more to feed. 
I keep two groups of 1:5 and have had bigger groups but don't produe well enough like this. Other thing to do would be tokeep a few males in tubs and introduce a few females then at end of week if they not pregnant place them with next male. Likethe guy at rat barn does with rats. Have a look at you tube.


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## xXFooFooLaFluffXx (Aug 4, 2007)

animalstorey said:


> Don't smell much at all. I find that litters take a long time to grow and when in groups of 1:5 don't produce as much as the same number of mice would. I would set up small groups and more of them. 1:2 or 1:3 no bigger - think you will produce more this way. If you keep mice try putting vanillia essence in the water- they won't smell so bad - or clean out every wk before they get dirty.
> Mm also take months to get to full size - although they are larger that ex large mice which can be good replacement for weaned rat size foods but cost more to feed.
> I keep two groups of 1:5 and have had bigger groups but don't produe well enough like this. Other thing to do would be tokeep a few males in tubs and introduce a few females then at end of week if they not pregnant place them with next male. Likethe guy at rat barn does with rats. Have a look at you tube.


 
see ive had different, with ours we kept them in bigger groups and they bred like buggery!!!


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## brian (Oct 22, 2005)

Thankyou all for the advice.....:2thumb:


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## BenjaminBoaz (Jan 6, 2006)

Maybe it's the way you keep them? This is
What I have found when kept in tubs. Maybe you have a better gorup for some reason. I wish my two groups would
Have all the females drop litters rather than the odd one here and there. What food do you use?


xXFooFooLaFluffXx said:


> see ive had different, with ours we kept them in bigger groups and they bred like buggery!!!


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## Amalthea (Oct 2, 2007)

My group breeds really well, too... I've got 5 females and one male at the moment.


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## ditta (Sep 18, 2006)

we had two groups on the go, both had males and females and all or most of the females gave birth, the first few litters they ate but after that we ended up with 50 or so........they were fed a mixed rat diet, vegatables ie carrots and such and the whole group would help with litters,we started off with an group of 5 and one of 7 and as i said we ended up with around 50


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## richingram (May 11, 2008)

hi i keep my multis in 12 female 3 male society's they all live in 4 ft Viv's
at the moment i have five different groups. have split into various colour forms
i have found that the agouta of near natural colour form are the most aggressive where as the fawn red eyed are easy to work with male or female, you don't get bitten even if they have young


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## jack_rep (Sep 11, 2008)

If anyone has these for sale and can deliver to/lives in sheffield drop me a PM. :flrt:


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## BenjaminBoaz (Jan 6, 2006)

Done see I'm doing anything different. I have females that help to look after each others babies just they not prolific breeding like my mice and rats. A long time ago I did have a large group but male was being a pain and female were killing babies etc even though they had lots
Of room and food. I just wish all females would drop a litter of ten each or more. 50 babies evey time would be wicked. Have 14 babies at mo. Did have 20 others but they now sold. Just my groups of 1:5 mice produce more quickly I think. Mm are very slow growing. worth having though.


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## Mischievous_Mark (Mar 16, 2008)

Mine stink more than my fancy mice, but i think that may be down to the cage they are currently in.


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## x Sarah x (Nov 16, 2007)

They smell less, but like with anything, the more you have in a cage the more smell they produce...

I have one colony of 1:5 who use their water bowl as a toilet, its really quite unpleasant when i have to change it everyday, its smells like human poo.

I can't use water bottles as they chew through them, unless its on the outside of the cage but i use glass tanks so bowls it is.

I had 4 colonies at one point with a ratio of 1:5 in each tank and i removed in excess of 50-70 babies per month...

They seem to have a high time at around 6 months old where they will produce non stop for a few months then slow down.

I now only have 2 breeding colonies as my freezer is overloaded with multi's as well as the mice and rats, now i probably remove only about 20-30 babies per month from colonies 1:7 and 1:5 but they getting on now so have slowed down considerably.

You need chew proof cages, no wood, no plastic and strong mesh, mine are in glass tanks with mesh lids which they enjoy hanging from but needs to be strong or they will chew through it as we found out when our neighbours ended up with 6 in their loft... we had a thick plastic cage too with a colony in but over time they chewed through the bottom but we managed to rehome in time. I found they do ok in RUB's with a cutout in the lid replaced with a wire meshing.

You also have to make sure you provide plenty of food and water, and if possible protien, as lack of any of these for one night and you'll find half as many babies or half an adult missing by morning. The males usually the sacrifice and you'll find him headless, and multi's once adult and breeding are virtually impossible to introduce a new adult to, so you either put a baby in and wait 3 months for it to mature, or like we did, just cull the whole colony (even tho yes it was my fault, i was ill and missed one nights feeding) a non breeding colony is useless to me.

I've got plenty available if anyone can collect from Stoke-On-trent, check out my thread in classifieds


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## BenjaminBoaz (Jan 6, 2006)

I keepthem in plastic rubs as there is no edges they don't chew. To stop them eating the water bottle make a sleeve for the bottle out of some 1cm hole mesh. Stops the problem simple. Mine have never produced that many in that ratio. I believe they just mine don't/ won't. Is that 50 between one group or between all four groups ? Just 20 female making 50 - 70 babies isn't very high.


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