Rats giving birth!

[Charlet_2007]

lol that's how i started lol breeding for snake food then i got in to the colors pattens and all that started with 5 then ended with 70+ till our house burned down.. now i cant get them to breed for nothing.. its like they HATE me.. my kids are 4 and 2 they know that all the fuzzies are food for the snakes they love reptiles more then the fuzzies.. but my daughter named the live rabbits we did have cocoa and freckels.. but she was like WHEN ARE WE GOING TO FEED COCOA OR FRECKELS MOMMY? lol

[Loren]

I have had streaks like that with mice- where they just wont breed. It's frustrating when that happens. Thats part of why I do rats and mice- hopefully at least one of them is doing well at all times.

Talking cost- I cant even imagine paying that much for rats- I would have to rehome all my animals. I go through a dozen or two rats sometimes halfway through the week just giving some of the hungrier snakes a midweek snack! I must go through 100+ rodents a week sometimes when everyone is eating full tilt. My current rat colony is about 18 females and 6 males. My mouse colony is about 18 females and 3 males.

[NetBSD]

some updates....


the mother finally started biting, she even drew blood tonight. im hoping its just from her protecting her young but i had to clean the cage.

anyway heres some pics


6 days old





12 days old




they are all black, one has a white spot on its head. outof 8 i have 6 left and all are doing real well and growing like weeds

[Aundrea]

OMG HOW CUTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That second pic is just SO DAMN CUTE!!!!! I love the 12 day one also..

[reptile3]

Awwwwwwww soooo cute!! I too love the second picture!!! me want!!

[Charlet_2007]

at my house if it's a rat and it bites it gets fed..

[Lori P]

I learned real quick that the only way I can deal with using rats for feeders is to take the pinkies... once they get bigger I just can't whack 'em!!!! So I gather them up over the first 2-5 days for different size pinks. And I've learned to lure mommy away with treats and snatch the babies quick, lol.

[NetBSD]

well the baby rats are 5 weeks old and eyes are open and they are eating solid foods and drinking from the water bottle. think its safe to remove them from the mother?

[Charlet_2007]

yeah you can move them.. The funny thing is 5 days after she had them little buggers you could have put the male in with her and she'd be pregnant again..

[NetBSD]

yeah you can move them.. The funny thing is 5 days after she had them little buggers you could have put the male in with her and she'd be pregnant again..

thats ok, i dont wanna over work them and dont want a million rats, lol. i figure if i keep 2 females breeding and giving them a 5 week break between births i should have enough to feed my 2 BP's plus some.