# Breeding Questions?



## ReptileMan27 (May 25, 2006)

I have decided to breed rats and have some questions. I have 2 females and need to get a male. I recently bought them and thought they were a pair but it turns out they are both females . So I talked to the pet store and they said they would take one of the females back and find it a good home. I was planning on cleaning the cage out and putting the new male rat and the female in at the same time so its a new home to the both of them, is that the best idea or should I just put the male in with the female?. My other question is, I have heard that when the female is clearly pregnent that I should remove the male because the male will kill the babys, is that true or is it okay to leave them together?. I have bred mice in the past and always left the male in with the babys without problems but not sure about rats. Any help is greatly appreciated


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## allyb (Jun 5, 2006)

hi,

well i would recamend that u do some reading up

this site is great as is this http://health.ratzrus.co.uk/breeding.htm


put the male in with the fem is fine but as soon as u see her getting fat remove the male as the male will kill them.

normaly a doe only shows signs she pregenet (unless u weigh her)
a week before she is due to drop.
does come in to season every 6 days
i would advise 2 months if not longer rest between litters 

if u have any more problems or question feel free to PM me
and i`ll give u my email addy.

good luck

ally


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## SugarLovesRats (Jul 27, 2006)

First off if you bought the rats at any petshop you should absolutely not be breeding them!! Please do lots of reading and research and give this decision some SERIOUS thought! Breeding is not something to just jump into it is a very serious endevour. Lots of things can go wrong! Trust me I have seen some terrible things in my day. If you are dead set on breeding, the rats you breed need to have atleast a third generation pedigree and should be vet checked first. If the rats are from a good breeder they will mentor you and "show you the ropes".


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## rattyloving (Jul 3, 2006)

I totally agree with SugarLovesRats. But I get the impression you are breeding to feed your reptiles?

Do not just plonk them in a cage together unless the doe is in heat otherwise they will fight. Use the link Allyb posted to find out more info. Remove the male once they have mated successfully. 

If you are not breeding to feed other animals then do not breed pet shop rats!! Also I'd recommend gaining much more experience before even contemplating the idea of breeding. 

The same rat should not be breed from more than twice unless the litters were exceptional. If you are breeding to feeed reptiles I still say not more than 2 litters per rat, once the rat is at least 4 months old. 

But please if this is not to feed reptiles, do not breed at all!


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## SugarLovesRats (Jul 27, 2006)

Well I guess I feel a little differently about that too Rattyloving. I do not believe in live feeding and breeding to produce feeders. I think it's cruel. Believe it or not I love snakes and other reptiles, which is one of the reasons I don't believe in it. It can be very dangerous for the reptile as well. rats can put up a pretty good fight. Anyway I think you should check out miceonice.com, you can order frozen rats from them. It's actually not that diffucult to switch a snake from live to frozen. I think I posted this somewhere else but anyway, I'd be happy to give you a few tips!


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## allyb (Jun 5, 2006)

hi,

i don`t belive in breeding to feed repS either .
i have 3 snakes that eat pinkies and ratlings(which i buy from pet shop)
i don`t have the heart to do that ,some thing u go to all that trouble to get to then feed to a snake etc.

if u feed LIVE food (which is against the law here.UK)
then there have been many cases of the rat coming out better than snake.
plus as it is fed LIVE prey it is more likely to bite YOU.

so i would be very careful if were u.

thats if u ARE going to use them as feeders.
if not listen to _SugarLovesRats and rattyloving bout getting 3 gen pedgree rat and start from there.

lets face it the pet shops are over run with rats now so its good to have a scout round the area see if there is many people with rats if not great but if there is u might be a bit stuck with all the babys.

either way good luck

ally_


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## SugarLovesRats (Jul 27, 2006)

good point ally, I didn't think to mention that. if you are going to breed pet rats, it's a good idea to already have a waiting list. You could advertise your breeding pair, and see who's interested. Which is why it's also a good idea to research genetics, then you have a good idea of what the babies will look like.


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## allyb (Jun 5, 2006)

hi,
yeah i checked the area first i already had my rats with pedgree just for me.
didn`t think bout breeding till bout a year ago.
i posted flyers for a rat lovers club with very little response.
i took the ones i had then(sadly 2 have passed on since then)round some school just waiting out side the kids came running up and wanted to hold and play with mine (some parenets weren`t pleased.lol.) some peranets loved it
and as i found out there wasn`t many (if i remeber rightly bout 5 rats in my village not includeing my 6)
i now have people comeing for rats from down south .
once build up a rep then u can breed more.
at the start i was breeding 1 litter every 4 month or so.
and don`t breed for money or for feeders i do it for the varity and for the love of the animal i strongly belive every one should at least have 1 rat in there life.lol


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## SugarLovesRats (Jul 27, 2006)

sounds like your making the world a better place for ratties! lol I love to hear stories like that. Good work.


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## allyb (Jun 5, 2006)

hi,
yeah i`am nicknamed "rat girl" in my home town or "the one with the zoo" lol

i don`t like it when people judge things with out trying them or seeing them for them selves.

don`t like it when i say i have rats etc they go "URRRRRGGHHH RATS THEY CARRY THE PLAGE , AND ARE DRITY"

shows how much they know

lol


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## rattyloving (Jul 3, 2006)

Oh btw I don't advocate live feeding either its just I would rather see rats cared for and bred properly than the kind of rats that pet stores have pre killed, which will have come from rodent farms in the most awful conditions imaginable.


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## ratwings (Sep 3, 2006)

I dont believe in 'breeding to feed' either... we seem to have alot of people on this forum who plan to breed rats to feed them to snakes.  Us rat lover dont like to hear that stuff. Like SugarLovesRats said, breeding is a serious and risky thing.


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## iravendarknessi (Nov 7, 2006)

Okay, I know this is old, but I feel like I should say something. Don't get me wrong, I love rats - my first rat I adopted in order to save him from being snake food. However, as a snake owner as well, I do understand the need to breed feeders. I think it is extremely rude to post it here on a forum for people who keep them as pets, which is why I came here in the first place, to find people who like rats as much as I do. However, for a large scale herp breeder, one's snakes have to eat and the more snakes you have the more they eat. They have to get their snake's food somewhere. Even if they don't feed live, someone has to breed those rats and freeze them so they can buy them frozen. And when you have several hundred snakes to feed, trying to buy food for that many (frozen or alive) is expensive beyond belief. It is sort of sticking your head in the sand to think that nobody should breed rats as feeders. I don't particularly like the way some of them ask questions about how to get the most babies in the shortest amount of time, but most breeders are not like that. I answer questions on the herp forum I belong to about taking care of their feeders because they do care. They are animal lovers too and don't want to treat the rats badly even if they are "just feeders".
And in defense of myself, I don't breed my rats or my gerbils. I have two of the same sex of each, all in their own tanks, and I feed my snake on frozen because I couldn't bear to have to kill a rattie to feed it and feeding live is extremely dangerous to your snake (plus I don't particularly want to see the snake sqeezing the life out of an adorable little rattie that I had to take care of and by some miracle avoid becoming attached to before I fed it to said snake).


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