Advice on rat breeding - needed

[fuzzywozzie84]

I'm trying to breed rats but so far my rats haven't produced any rat babies.

I started with two 6 month old females (i rehomed them), and two males (bought from a private breeder). I put one of the males in with the girls overnight - witnessed mating - and put him back with his male friend during the day, the same evening i put the same male back in the cage and saw them mating lots again. Did this for 5 days. Tips to do this came from a rat breeder online. After the 5th day i waited 4 weeks to see if they had been impregnanted, nope.

During this time i bought 4 very young girls (only 4 - 5 weeks old) and was given 5 one year old male rats.

So after it was clear the male had not done his job i decided to go about it another route. I introduced one of the one year old male rats to the girls to live with them for a bit - lots of mating on the first night then nothing. No more matings and no babies after 6 weeks. So i culled the girls and two of the more aggressive (to the other rats) males, on the basis that two completly different males had not been able to get them pregnant.

So now i'm trying again, the very young girls are now 4 months old, i have set up two of the girls with one of the males (a different male from what was used before (i currently have 5, with 4 living together) They have settled in together really well, lovely little trio but i haven't seen any mating as of yet. It's almost like he don't know what he's ment to be doing with these girls except setting up home.

Am i doing anything wrong? Is there anything else i should do? Is there anything else i can do? Maybe some romantic music or candles and a rat treat to share! Or am i just really unlucky
Any advice would be great! Or i'm gonna

[Deleted]

I would disregard those older males. Some of them lose their mojo after such a time (I'm a breeder myself, I've got a couple boys over 1 yr & they're useless with girls).

I would retain the 4 month girls, go source some younger bucks that are say 3-4 months old themselves. Set them in a cage next to the girls for a month or two, as the scent of the girls coming in & out of heat gets their hormones pumping.
The girls will be about 5-6 months old, set them up in a cage away from other rats (distractions don't help). Leave them together for 2 weeks, no separating. Female rats come into heat many, many times & not all those times will they get pregnant, as the males need to get them right when they're in estrus.
After 2 weeks, remove both & set female up in a nursery tub. Give it another 4 weeks. Females can give birth between 19-24 days after a successful mating (I had one girl go for a full 30, very concerning), & her being with him for 14 days will give you a wide time frame for her to give birth, so she may give birth sooner or later than the 4 week mark.
If it hasn't worked, try it again, with the same or a different male or female. If it's cold, some females won't cycle & won't get pregnant as their bodies tell them there is no point to it.

Good luck.

[Deleted]

I might add they will not conceive if ressources are slim. Be sure your females are on a high quality diet before mating as well.

[fuzzywozzie84]

I have culled the older males as advised, and i have two boys who are 5 months old.

The rats are on a complete rat nugget, shop bought, they have this in their bowl all the time and they are given extra bits to supplement the diet.

The weather here has been lovely, nice and warm but not too hot. So don't think that is the problem.

But maybe just maybe the first two girls might be pregnant. Can't be sure, don't know how to do ratty pregnancy tests (other than waiting) but their shape has changed, they are just a tiny little bit round on the tummy. Fingers cross! We'll see in a few weeks!

[fuzzywozzie84]

Well maybe we'll see earlier! Badger and Pepsi (two girls who were in the "no action" cage above mentioned) are pregnant, Badger had a round white tennis ball instead of a tummy and Pepsi is just a little smaller but still round. I have separated the girls into birthing dens because they have been with Loki (the boy) for three weeks now, so they could drop any day now.

[fuzzywozzie84]

Yesterday (Thursday) evening Badger had her litter, don't know how many yet as they are hidden away but so far she appears to be an attentive mother, not leaving them for very long, except to grab a bit of food and then returning to the box with it.

[Sherry]

Congrats!!! It seems to have worked out well

[fuzzywozzie84]

Monday evening Pepsi had her litter too. Now i just have to wait for them to grow up a bit.

Thinking about varying the ages of the whole prey!
I plan to cull the males at 5 weeks, to prevent any problems and I'm going to let the females grow to be 10 weeks (60+ days) - which is considered a fully grown rat on rodentpro. The males would be a large small rat and i would consider them to be adolescent meal. Will the females count as an adult meal?