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How long till my rats start reproducing?

v00kimba00v

v00kimba00v

New member
Since we're now up to 5 boas, we thought it was time to start breeding our own rats. We've had the 1.2 group for about a month now. The girls have been wiggling their ears and he's been chasing after them. This has been going on abt every 5 days since we've had them, no sign of bulging bellies. and other than one of the females rejecting him for about 10 days earlier in the month (false pregnancy?), there's been no signs. How long does it usually take for them to start producing?
 
Females come into heat every few days, so I'm sure at least one of the females is pregnant by now. Gestation is 3 weeks, and lots of times it's not until the last few days that she is obviously pregnant. You can sometimes tell they're a little bulgier when they stand up against the sides of the cage.

If the cage is not big enough, food is not quality, or if they are in a stressful area (too much activity, wrong temps, etc.) they may not get pregnant. Can you describe your set-up?
 
Thanks for responding.

the cage calculators say their cage could house 5-7 adults (checked 3 or 4 calculators). They're on Harlan Teklad for food, with treats of regular cheerios and uncooked pasta. And they're in our office, which is the lowest traffic area of our house and stays the most pleasant temp wise.

It's possible that one or both are pregnant and just isn't showing any symptoms yet. Do they continue to be receptive to the males advances even when they are pregnant? Because that could explain alot. I just assumed that they wouldn't be.
 
if they are new colony, might take some time before they start breeding.. i think rats take longer than mice. our rats took 2 months in a new colony before they started to give us pups.

we actually tried an experiment with 4 colonies of rats. we split them into 2 groups to get a more accurate result.

Males are left in the colony. 1:3 females.

group 1: fed with mazuri rodent breeder only.

group 2: mazuri rodent breeder + bread

group 2 bred faster and more consistant in contrast to group 1.
Colony 1) 4 litters in 9 months
Colony 2) 3- 5 litters in 9 months (females were pregnant before we started)
each litter size about 9-15.

group 1 only had litters 2 -3 times for both colony in the 9 months. each litter size about 7-10

both groups, the females were from the same litter and the males were from the same litter but both genders were from different litter so no inbreeding.

did the experiment for about 9 months before i gave them all bread because i was running out of rats.

the bread is actually a trick by my bf's father who used to live in a kampong ( in the olden days in asia) and he told us tt they used to feed bread to rats to make them breed faster so that they can sell rats to the police for money. (then, our country's police would pay ppl to catch rats) lol..
 
Actually they both gave birth last week... 14 for one, 15 for the other. Both mom's are doing good. The poor male doesn't know what to do, neither girl wants anything to do with him.

we give ours pasta and cheerios for treats in addition to their lab blocks. I remember reading something about bread not being good for them, but I cant remember why.
 
I currently have a 1.1 pair, & she has given me three litters so far. She has given birth almost exactly 1 month after her last litter. That's about when I'm pulling the babies, so it has worked out well.
although I recently moved into a new house, & the laundryroom, where I keep them, gets really warm when it's in the 70's or higher, so I may have to put my feeder project off until I can buy a house where the temps are better.
 
bread is not good if im not wrong, its because of the yeast that is inside the bread, causes the male to be less fertile. however, if the bread is stale or homemade, you wont have this problem. the bread that we have in our country, there are some brands that do not have this.. this is the cheaper type of bread tt i used in the experiment.. i should have stated clearly..

kinda forgot to include tt.. :p
 
We started to bulk breed the rats here since we have switched most of our sub-adults to rat pinkies. I put 1.3 or 1.4 rats in a concrete tub.(rack system) It seems a little cramped but the "objective" is to not allow the female a chance to fight off the male. (Often you will see male and female wrestle before mating) We have seperate bins(x-large cat litter bins) to place mothers in when they start showing that they are pregnant. We use to keep the males and females together in a 1.2 colony but we had a male eat a couple of litters just because it brings the females back into cycle. Once the mother has the litter, We cull what we need when they reach the right size. I then give her a day or two on her own, to eat and recover from the stress of having to feed so many. Then she will go back in with her group, which at the time could be just the male. Rats are different than mice, as they are a social animals, so re-introductions are often smooth and without conflict. We feed our rats a mix of pig food, seed and fruits and veggies. We also offer a cattle cube or two for them to chew and eat on. This cube is real high in protein and fat,for those nursing mothers, but it is not a substitute for the mix.

Most rats are "around"(give or take a week or two) 3 months of age before they start breeding.
 
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