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Post by animalsgetrevenge on Jan 22, 2009 14:44:03 GMT -5
I wish my mice and rats would reproduce quicker... I'm bored with all this waiting! Heheh I'm so impatient!
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Post by bigsis7 on Jan 22, 2009 16:15:56 GMT -5
We want pictures!! Haha! Maybe you should talk to them and tell them you want more baby rats and mice lol! It might work! Mice usually don't have a problem having babies...Maybe your's are just stubborn.
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Post by harrisi on Jan 22, 2009 16:38:35 GMT -5
I wish my mice and rats would reproduce quicker... I'm bored with all this waiting! Heheh I'm so impatient! How long have you had the colony's together ? If the males stay with the females (wich I dont agree with) you should have kits/pups every 3 weeks or so with both the rats and the mice, if you are only keeping the males with the females for mating then make sure the females are visibly pregnant (and not fat ) before taking the male out. You will be able to control the breedings better then and its up to you to maintain it. If you have had them a while (over 10 weeks) then I would look at pulling the males from the breeding program and getting new ones from a good breeder.
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Post by animalsgetrevenge on Jan 22, 2009 17:00:23 GMT -5
They aren't having a problem... I'm just greedy! Two of my original mamas are ballooning up again. I just don't want to wait the 3 weeks for gestation, then 6 or so weeks before they mature and make a good meal...! Haha. I just went in to check on the ratties. The babies that were pink (6) are now turning white and cream like their mommy. The other three are white and black. 3 of the white and creams have curly whiskers! So I'm confused about rat genetics work. Mom is a dumbo with cream and tan. There are two possibilities for dad, a dumbo white and grey male, and a solid dark brown rex/curly male. Some babies could be from one male and some from the other, correct? I thought that they were all from the grey and white male, but now that I see they some have rex traits too, I don't know. Also, how young can I sex them? At this point none of them are showing nipples, and all have strange genitalia... if I had to guess, 1 out of 9 would be female, which is a bummer because I planned on keeping 3 females for breeding. Here are three baby pictures. My camera isn't great at closeups and I didn't want to piss mama off. Here is mama when she was a baby: And here are the two possible dads when they were babies. He dark brown rats was really tiny and sick when I got him, and he looked half naked. He is gorgeous now, which a thick coat, curly whiskers, and a hundred different shades of brown in his fur.
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Post by animalsgetrevenge on Jan 23, 2009 23:52:02 GMT -5
Tomorrow I'm meeting a guy to do some rodent trading. I think I will be trading some of my weaned male mice for a male mouse (new blood) and a weaned male rat. I might be trading for weaned female rats instead because I only have one female rat pup from my first litter... I'm tired and rambling.
My plan was to have my three RAT cages like this: 1: 2 of my current adult females and 1 one my current adult males. 2: My 1 current rat mama and her 1 female rat daughter, along with a new male rat 3: two new females and one of my current adult male rat.
But that means I need even more rats from that guy... I hope he can help me out! I will see tomorrow I guess.
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Post by animalsgetrevenge on Jan 24, 2009 17:05:48 GMT -5
Great News! I met the man with the rodents a few hours ago and was able to make some trades. I was looking for 2 females rats, one male rat, and one male mouse. He gave me one young male rat (2 months?) and two full grown female rats, one of which is HUGELY pregnant!!! SCORE! He thought he had male mice but wasn't able to find any, so he ended up giving me three albino female mice, two of which are also HUGE and pregnant! So I should have two mouse litters and one rat litter coming in the next few days... AWESOME! YES!
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Post by bigsis7 on Jan 24, 2009 19:39:52 GMT -5
Awesome!! Let us know how big the litters are!!
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Post by animalsgetrevenge on Jan 24, 2009 19:55:41 GMT -5
I can't stop checking on them... I'm in there about every 30 minutes to see if any of them have exploded with babies... haha horrible visual, but affective! One mouse mama and the pregnant rat mama have been working on building their nest for a few hours!
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Post by animalsgetrevenge on Jan 25, 2009 13:43:02 GMT -5
Last night I got to watch one mama mouse giving birth. She has had about 7 babies as far as I can tell, but I think she ate some. The rat also gave birth and had about 11! SCORE! I am so excited to be breeding. I always thought being an animal breeder (dogs, exotic/rare cats, etc.) would be the perfect job for me, but since I feel so strongly about pet overpopulation and adoption, my morals won't let me. Now I have a reason to breed small animals without having to worry about them needing homes... gross and strange, I know. I just love watching the process of a pregnant animal through birth and watching the babies grow and develop.
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Post by animalsgetrevenge on Jan 25, 2009 16:48:18 GMT -5
Well... the new mama rat killed every single baby she had I caught her eating them, so I removed what was left... about 6 dead/partial babies... and fed them to the ferrets. It must have just been too much for the mama. The day before she gave birth she was taken from her cage mates, took a car ride, and was brought to a new home. On top of that, she is pretty young and small. Poor baby mama. At least I know she is fertile, but hopefully she doesn't do this with her next litter
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Post by harrisi on Jan 25, 2009 16:55:59 GMT -5
I am so excited to be breeding. I always thought being an animal breeder (dogs, exotic/rare cats, etc.) would be the perfect job for me, but since I feel so strongly about pet overpopulation and adoption, my morals won't let me. Now I have a reason to breed small animals without having to worry about them needing homes... gross and strange, I know. I just love watching the process of a pregnant animal through birth and watching the babies grow and develop. I think exactly the same way Shame the rattie killed her pups. I doubt she will kill them next time, fingers crossed!
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Post by bigsis7 on Jan 25, 2009 19:20:01 GMT -5
Oh dear. I've heard of mothers doing that before. They don't feel it's safe for the babies in a brand new enviroment, so they do the only thing they think will "protect" them. Eat them. It's sad, but they don't know any better. Anyways congrats on the litter of 11!
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Post by animalsgetrevenge on Feb 4, 2009 9:58:21 GMT -5
I can no longer breed rats, it's too hard for me since I used to keep them as pets. I am going to breed LOTS and LOTS of mice to make up for it. It makes me really sad because the rats that I have won't be able to be pets, they are WAY too skiddish. I don't have the heart to kill them myself and it would be too dangerous for my ferrets. I will probably put them on craigslist.com for feeders or ask my breeding friend if she wants them. Any other ideas? With the babies, I plan on keeping the 3 or 4 that I'd like to keep, and only keep them for pets, not breeders. They are all set up in a pimped out cage right now, happy as clams.
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Post by harrisi on Feb 4, 2009 11:19:39 GMT -5
Sorry to hear its not working out for ya hun, but I wouldn't give up on them being pets. You would be surprised how many people keep rats and don't bother about handling them, and look at it this way - if they are skittish then they wont want handling so wont be bothered. And you will probably get "fluffy" rat keepers (AKA ignorant owners) that will take them as pets as you advertised them for feeders. If you want them as feeders though, see if there is anybody that will "exchange" or kill them for you. Most breeders (As long as the rats are from good lines, are they from petstores?) will exchange X amount of frozen rats for X amount of new breeders, or they might kill them for you for a small fee, also check out reptile shops.
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Post by bigsis7 on Feb 4, 2009 11:39:47 GMT -5
Well if you're coming to VA anytime soon....lol! I'm sorry it didn't work out. At least you tried!!! Even when rats are skittish it is possible to make them social again. It just takes some trust training. I've done it three times before :-) and I know many other people who have taken feeder rats and they became amazing pets. I'm not sure if you want as many rats as you have as pets though, so I would try to find them homes as pets or feeders. Good luck!!
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