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breeder rat temps

Gallagher

Gallagher

DNASnakes
The room our breeder rats are in is currently getting to be about 50... Ive heard those are decent temps for breeding. At what point is it to cold that it with bother them or affect their breeding? Temps are still dropping here should I be concerned and move them to a warmer room? Or will around low 40s be ok?
 
I think I'd be leary of lower 40's. I think it'd be detrimental to the young ones if enough bedding wasn't supplied for the mothers to make a big nest. I know when a momma gets off her nest and one or two are still latched on and get drug off. If not taken back into the nest soon, they get pretty darn cold.

Mine are in our garage which has a space heater and its staying about 50-60 in there, and so far my rats are producing big fat healthy babies like crazy.

I give mine a big handful of timothy hay and 10 kleenexes/wad of TP to make nests with after each cage cleaning. Now with all 4 of my moms having given birth and they having their own corners, I've had to add more hay twice now. Which usually is something most breeders don't do, give them things to make nests with.

Mine are in a big double decker wire cage, so they get more air movement than in a rack or aquarium. Mine were having a lot more respiratory problems in a glass aquarium.
 
I just had a litter of what looks to be 13-15 a few hours ago. But she wasn't a first-timer. I've got two first-timers that both had 8 and 10 respectively, the other older female had 11.

I guess I'm weird in that I keep a 2:4 in the cage. The males are father and son and they don't fight, aside from the minor food squabbles.

When a female comes into estrus, only one of them mates her, the other doesn't interfere. So far things have been going so well, I've just left it alone. "If it ain't broke don't fix it" sort of thing.

I'm raising up 8 of the healthiest female babies from the last litters to start up a secondary colony. I might separate the males and give them 6 females each and see how it goes.

But so far, they're keeping my older corns well fed since the mice decided to not do much and die off.
 
Greenman, I'd have to disagree. Even with my mice, I had much more success at temps in the range of 50-60. In my snake room which is 80-82, even I can't stand to be in there for more than an hour.

When it was 75+ in the garage over the summer, I had absolutely pathetic litters. Sure you may get a few more per litter, but they were smaller and a lot less healthy looking. The two older females I have were the same at that time.

Not to mention, they put off so much body heat in the pile the moms didn't want to nurse them much. The mom's were typically flopped on their sides or backs along the edges of the cage where the fan was blowing on them.

Then again, it could be the oppressive humidity that accompanies our heat here in SW Indiana.
 
Just my own observations with my little 1:2 colony. I keep them at room temp of about 72F. Of three litters I've gotten 13, 17, and 15. So mine are all over the board :shrugs:
 
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Yeah I usually keep my temps around in the 65-70 range and they have been producing quite nicely for me. Thats why I hate to mess with there temps and things now. I think Ill go ahead and pull em out of that room... seems to me that its gonna get to cold in there. They produce so well I hate to mess that up. And it is quite cold in there... they have all the bedding pushed over to one side to keeo the babies warm... there such good moms makes me hate to feed there babies off.
 
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