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Post by fuzzymom on Dec 13, 2009 14:53:34 GMT -5
Ok, after several attempts to get good breeders and start up a colony, and having had those attempts fail miserably, I'm giving it another shot. We are about to move in February and I might have access to a shed I hope to insulate and put new doors on and use as my rodent shed. For now I'm raising up two female rats and a male, for use as future breeders. As soon as I move, I will be adding to the colony. These girls are not ready to start breeding yet. They are 9 weeks old and will not be bred until they are 16 weeks old. February 1st, they should be ready to breed as long as they have enough weight on them. Nutmeg is an agouti berkshire. Noel is a black berkshire. Creampuff (male) is amber. (I'm not sure if he is a self or berkshire. His belly is a lighter color than the top but is not white.)
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Post by Lynxie on Dec 13, 2009 17:58:09 GMT -5
I'm a rat owner (as pets not food) so if you ever have any questions about diet, enrichment, or cage options, feel free to ask. :3 Rats are my passion, so I've done a lot of research on them.
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Post by fuzzymom on Dec 14, 2009 0:59:14 GMT -5
I'll definitely ask if I have any questions. I've kept and bred rats before but I'm always learning new things about them. I have four rats total. Three are future breeders, one is a pet. Though, I plan on treating my breeders as pets. I'm actually developing an attachment to Nutmeg. I hope to hand tame her soon. I can't wait to get my first litter of ratties. They are sooo cute!
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Post by Lynxie on Dec 16, 2009 9:24:37 GMT -5
Do you keep the feeders and the pet together? If not, you might want to consider getting a same sex buddy for the pet. Rats are incredibly social animals (even more than ferrets) and can quickly become depressed if kept by themselves.
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Post by fuzzymom on Dec 16, 2009 13:09:03 GMT -5
Right now, Ben lives alone. We have tried introducing friends to him. We did the neutral territory thing and everything, but he attacked any rat we introduced to him(drew blood). He's not hand tame either. He tries to bite you every time you get close to his cage. He's around 2 years old now.
Creampuff, my breeder male will have a roommate soon. I can't get another rat until after the holidays. Nutmeg and Noel live together.
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Post by Lynxie on Dec 16, 2009 20:02:12 GMT -5
There is the rare rat that will not tolerate another around them. The best you can do is just offer them as much enrichment as possible and make them comfortable. It's a sad thing when it happens though.
My four girls love each other thankfully, and always sleep together in the giant "nesting ball" (aka a big hamster ball hanging from the side of their cage).
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Post by fuzzymom on Jan 25, 2010 17:33:27 GMT -5
We have a new little girl. She is a blue hood dumbo. Very cute and sweet as can be. She's only about 6-7 weeks old so she's got some growing up to do. Pictures to come as soon as I find my camera. (which has been missing for 2 months now)
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Post by Lynxie on Jan 25, 2010 19:30:24 GMT -5
Aww! I love blue hoods. My first rat (or rather, my fiance's old rat) was a blue hooded and she was as sweet as can be.
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Post by fuzzymom on Jan 25, 2010 19:38:06 GMT -5
- phone's camera.
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Post by fuzzymom on Feb 16, 2010 13:02:25 GMT -5
An update on the rat breeding adventure. Nutmeg is definitely pregnant and ready to pop! She is huge. I introduced Creampuff a little early but the girls had good weight on them and they are both still looking good. She looks like she will pop any day now and has been exhibiting nesting behavior. I plan to keep back a few females from this litter as future breeders. The breeding is a amber to an agouti berkshire. We shall see what kind of babies come out of this. I am also going to be adding another male to the family soon. He will be a breeder. He is a beige berkshire, bred by my sister. He's not ready to leave his mother yet but when he is, he'll be coming home with me. He has a twin brother that looks exactly like him. Adorable. Breeding Females: 2 Breeding Males: 1 Hold Back Females: 1 Hold Back Males: 1 Expecting Litters: 1 Litters Produced: 0
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Post by fuzzymom on Feb 23, 2010 12:07:48 GMT -5
Colony Update:
Nutmeg gave birth on the 19th. It was almost a complete disaster. She gave birth to 11 babies. Six were either stillborn or she crushed them. Soon after, another 3 died, so she is left with two babies, but they look good. Good milkbands and she is taking care of them well. I am going to let her raise them to weaning age and then give her a week off before putting her back in with a male.
Noel is pregnant and starting to favor the corners of her tub.
Yoshi is now 10 weeks old. Only 6 more weeks to go before I can breed her.
Bradley, the beige berk is over 4 weeks old now and is weaned from his mother. He is currently living with my sister. She has moved both Ben and Bradley in with their father, Lenny. Bradley will be coming home with me in another week or two I think.
Breeding Females: 2 Breeding Males: 1 Hold Back Females: 1 Hold Back Males: 1 Expecting Litters: 1 Litters Produced: 1
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Post by fuzzymom on Feb 25, 2010 11:38:05 GMT -5
Colony Update:
Nutmeg - I fed off one of her babies so she is left with one pinky. She is doing fine with it. I will be feeding it off once it is large enough unless it has interesting color or markings.
Noel - Getting larger. Still favoring corners but she is probably another week away from giving birth.
Yoshi - battling an RI.
Plans:
I hope to organize the animal room to allow for more tubs. If my husband lets me I will be not only adding another mouse tub but I will be putting together a rat tub for two females. This will become Group A. I plan on using a rotational breeding schedule and eventually I will add a second tub that will house another two females. This will be Group B. If I do this, I will then have 7 breeding females.
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Post by fuzzymom on Mar 3, 2010 19:02:23 GMT -5
Nutmeg - The single pup survives. He is approaching 2 weeks old and has opened his eyes. He is sexed male and is a PEW (pink eyed white or albino). I will not be keeping him and he will become snake food once he is weaned. He weighs around 25g.
Noel - Has given birth. She has around 9-10 babies. All are doing well.
Yoshi - Her RI is getting better. She is now 11 weeks old.
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Post by fuzzymom on Mar 5, 2010 14:10:57 GMT -5
Updates (I update far too often, but I can't help it. I'm a log-aholic. Maybe I should take pictures to make it more interesting.)
Nutmeg - I fed off her single pup as I needed him as a feeder. She is back in with a male but she may already be pregnant. I didn't pull the male soon enough and he was with her when she gave birth. He probably bred her right after the birth, so I guess we will see if she starts getting big in a week or two.
Noel - Doing well. I counted her litter and I believe there are 6 now. She had around 9-10 when I first counted, then she had 7 yesterday, and now she is down to 6. I really hope my disturbing them today will not cause her to kill any more. They are all plump and around 9g each. So far I have 1 hooded, 2 light, and 3 dark colored ones. They are a few days old and looking well. For some reason I keep thinking the date I wrote down as their birth date is incorrect because they just seem older. I wrote down the 3rd, but I know it has to be earlier than that because that would make them 2 days old, weighing in at 9g, which isn't right. A week old pink weighs around 9g.
Yoshi - Started sneezing again today. I added more meds to her water. Hopefully she can get over this RI soon.
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Post by goingpostal on Mar 5, 2010 18:12:35 GMT -5
What kind of tubs are you using? I'd really like to have tubs for my mice but locally all I can get are super cheap thin ones that get chewed through in days. I would like to breed rats eventually but not sure how to house them.
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