# Why my rats won't mate? Please help!



## Herr Aftherion (Jul 19, 2016)

Greetings! 
This is quite a big problem.
I have two rats, both in the right age to reproduce, which I keep together ever since the male was small enough to live without mother, but they refuse to mate. Why? 

EDIT: Also, what do I do to get them mating?


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## Grotesque (Mar 19, 2014)

Sorry, but we don't discuss intentional breeding on this forum. Try going to a snake forum where people farm rats for food. You might be able to get help there.


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## Asteria (Jul 6, 2016)

This forum is pro adoption, we don't discuss deliberate breeding. If you really are after more pet rats, I hope you choose to adopt an already existing rat instead of bringing more into the world.


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## moonkissed (Dec 26, 2011)

Please separate them asap and do not try to mate them.

Breeding should never ever be done without knowledge, thought and care and for a good purpose like bettering the lines/animals.

Males should not be bred until after 7 months of age to make sure they do not have any hormonal aggression signs, up to 10 months can be even better.
Females need to be bred between 6-10 months only and if they are over 300g.

No rats should ever be bred if you do not know their history or have their pedigrees. You could be breeding all sorts of bad things from aggression to serious health issues and dooming the babies to a horrible life.
One should also never breed with first doing research into all the details of breeding- mating, pregnancy, baby development and ofcourse have a basic understanding of genetics.

IMO please separate your rats and do not try to breed them.
Instead if you wish to someday breed start studying, I'd suggest a year or two usually. Learn all you can with genetics and such. 
Find a local breeder(s) to make friends with and get good stock from them.

If you really want to be serious and breed and care about the animals...do it right or not at all.


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## Herr Aftherion (Jul 19, 2016)

Grotesque said:


> Sorry, but we don't discuss intentional breeding on this forum. Try going to a snake forum where people farm rats for food. You might be able to get help there.


What the-? Just what's wrong with you??? I love my ratties and I do not intend to give away any of their descendants. It's a completely responsible decision of mine!


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## Herr Aftherion (Jul 19, 2016)

Asteria said:


> This forum is pro adoption, we don't discuss deliberate breeding. If you really are after more pet rats, I hope you choose to adopt an already existing rat instead of bringing more into the world.


In my country ''already existing rat'' costs a whole lot money, which I cannot afford. All the descendants of my rats will stay and no one will be given away, so I don't see what's wrong with breeding them.


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## Herr Aftherion (Jul 19, 2016)

moonkissed said:


> Please separate them asap and do not try to mate them.
> 
> Breeding should never ever be done without knowledge, thought and care and for a good purpose like bettering the lines/animals.
> 
> ...


I did all the research I could, and judging by that information they should be mating, but they don't. That is why I ask for help here. 
There ARE no ratbreeders in where I live. Rats themselves are very rare pets, let alone ratbreeders!


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## ChipperJo (Jul 14, 2016)

Although you are going to keep the rats, we still do not discuss deliberate breeding on here. We discuss the rescuing and caring of rats. Even though you want to breed and say you have good reasons, advice will not be given on here because of this community being pro-adoption. Thank you and if you really are invested in this, try this link: http://www.nfrs.org/articlesbreeding.html which will give you breeding information. Please consider being a rescue instead of a breeder, although you are in a secluded area. That's what travel is for!


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## ChipperJo (Jul 14, 2016)

Herr Aftherion said:


> What the-? Just what's wrong with you??? I love my ratties and I do not intend to give away any of their descendants. It's a completely responsible decision of mine!


Also, Grotesque was just stating the facts and offering an alternative. Nothing is wrong with that.


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## Herr Aftherion (Jul 19, 2016)

Alright, but can you tell me what's the reason behind this ridiculous rule here? What's wrong with mating?


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## ChipperJo (Jul 14, 2016)

It's not a horrible thing to breed but just think about the fact that you are creating more rats while there are other rats already alive, who need a home to live and need to be taken care of. That is why this community is pro-adoption. We believe that instead of making more rats who already have caring homes, give the rats who are alone and deserted homes.


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## buzzwizz619 (May 31, 2015)

> but can you tell me what's the reason behind this ridiculous rule here? What's wrong with mating?


 Its simple, why breed or buy while shelter rats die?

every litter of rats that is intentional bred stops roughly 12 existing rat needing rescuing getting a home.


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## moonkissed (Dec 26, 2011)

Herr Aftherion said:


> Alright, but can you tell me what's the reason behind this ridiculous rule here? What's wrong with mating?


It is not a ridiculous rule. Too many people want to just throw their rats together with no care or knowledge. Which often results in poorly bred rats adding to all those already out there.
I am a breeder myself. Breeding is great if done right.



> I did all the research I could, and judging by that information they should be mating, but they don't. That is why I ask for help here.
> There ARE no ratbreeders in where I live. Rats themselves are very rare pets, let alone ratbreeders!


I would disagree, there is always more to research. A 5 min google search is not enough  If you would have done proper research this issue would be easily answered and you would not have needed to come and ask on a forum. You can not just make them mate. But there could be all kinds of reasons they are not all of which are so easily found & should have been known BEFORE you started to try. This is basic info you should know before hand. 

Finding a breeder to help mentor you and give you rats is important still. Find a breeder in a near by country, if yours allows rats to be imported you can go travel and pick them up or have them shipped. Or look for good feeder breeders that can still give you advice and help. 

IMO please do reconsider and split them up until you are better prepared.

Here are some groups you can join to learn and ask questions 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/ratbreeders/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/Seriousrats/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/677201415692660/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/800632106694313/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/220907934734875/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/RatBreedingDebated/


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## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

I just noticed you are from Latvia (Lettland) and yes I can believe things are very different there.

In the US there are too many unwanted rats and normally rats breed very quickly. With litters up to and over a dozen pups at a time, you can see how quickly someone can have too many rats. I fact every year people are found with over 1000 (pet) rats in their homes. Other people want to breed rats as snake food and come here looking for advise.

Intentionally breeding rats, is a very controversial topic here, where there are too many rats that need good homes already, where too many people are breeding rats for snake food and where most breeding experiments end very badly or in tragedy.

We don't want to help people to breed rats that will have no homes, or wind up fed to snakes. 

Some of our members do hobby breed rats, mostly for the purpose of raising a small number of rats as pets and some of us sometimes have accidental litters, we do help each other with accidental litters, as they do happen, but we don't help anyone who is intentionally breeding rats because that is a topic for other forums. 

Hopefully a hobby breeder might send you a link to a site for rat breeding. There you can learn a lot more about actually breeding rats, it's just we can't help you with your project here...

As to your original question, I'll address it as a "health issue", not a breeding question... With out encouraging you to breed your rats, I think it's pretty safe to say there's a chance that one of your rats has a medical condition that prevents it from producing offspring, assuming both rats are over 10 weeks old. This does happen with rats as often as it does with people. Some people can't have children either.

Again, staying on the topic of "medical advise" rather than "breeding advise", you should see a veterinarian. First to make sure your rats are healthy and second if you really do want to proceed with your breeding project, to have him on call in case things go wrong with the pregnancy, delivery or pups. 

In the 1920's when my father was a boy he bred guinea pigs in Estonia. They were a pretty exotic pet there back then... His dad was a ship's captain and brought a few back from South America... (before the days of customs regulations) In South America guinea pigs were raised as human food, not as pets. So I understand that things were and are different in different parts of the world. 

Please understand that we aren't against the ethical breeding of pet rats in parts of the world where rats are rare and exotic, as long as it's done properly; we are against the over-breeding or inbreeding of rats by people who don't know what they are doing, in our parts of the world where there are already too many unwanted rats.

And again there are web sites where experienced rat breeders gather to exchange information and help each other out, and there are personal web sites by really good breeders you might go to for help, it's just that this web site isn't the correct one for your needs. 

Otherwise, I agree with most of the other comments here. There's a lot to know about genetics and rat care before you start breeding rats. It's just like breeding any animal. I lived on a farm in Germany when I was younger, and the farmer had the benefit of 700 years of family tradition in the breeding of all sorts of animals. He knew which ones to breed and which ones not to. He knew how to care for the young and treat the sick and I even witnessed and helped him to do surgery on farm animals which he was very good and skilled at... But even back then, the average German didn't raise pigs in their back yard. Successfully raising animals means knowing what you are doing. The old farmer used to go to other farms to help younger farmers. He was kind of like a modern vet. Likewise you should find yourself an experienced breeder to work with if you really have the interest. It would be best if that breeder was local to you, but if you must find someone on line you will need to go to a site where people like that gather to share that kind of information.

Please don't think of us as rude... as a rat owner you are most welcome here and many of us would love to hear about keeping rats in Latvia. And we will be more than happy to talk about health issues, socialization issues, training questions and general rat care... We would be happy to hear your stories and share our experiences with you, but the topic of intentionally breeding rats is prohibited.

Best luck.


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