The Rat Lovers Club! ~MODS PLEASE LOCK!

[rachaelandrats]

But if there's no breeders there, your friend must have originally breed from a pet shop line.

A year old is too old.

You should read all of this. This person has kept rats for many years and has a lot of experience.
http://www.ratz.co.uk/breeding.html

"Breeding age - Does will generally not be bred from under 4 months old, and ideally should be bred from before 8 months old, particularly if you are considering a second litter as well. There are some people who believe that pelvic fusion can occur after about 8 months, but while I know this can happen in guinea pigs, I have never heard or seen any evidence in rats to support this and this is probably nothing more than a myth spread by internet websites. Personally I would not allow a doe to have her first litter over about 10 months old with my ideal preference being 5-6 months old."

[Centri]

But if there's no breeders there, your friend must have originally breed from a pet shop line.

A year old is too old.

You should read all of this. This person has kept rats for many years and has a lot of experience.
http://www.ratz.co.uk/breeding.html

"Breeding age - Does will generally not be bred from under 4 months old, and ideally should be bred from before 8 months old, particularly if you are considering a second litter as well. There are some people who believe that pelvic fusion can occur after about 8 months, but while I know this can happen in guinea pigs, I have never heard or seen any evidence in rats to support this and this is probably nothing more than a myth spread by internet websites. Personally I would not allow a doe to have her first litter over about 10 months old with my ideal preference being 5-6 months old."

I think it is better to wait until the doe has stopped growing, and is a bit more mature. 7-9 months of age is a good age for a doe to have a litter. Pelvic fusion rarely happen before 1 year of age, does that are 10-11 months old can usually have a litter without any problems even if it is their first (and only) one. I know people in other countries breed younger does. Especially males are usually younger when bred in countries like UK and USA. In Sweden it is not recommended to breed from a buck younger than 1 year old, but the older the better. That way you have time to see any health issues that might show up as the buck ages, like tumours, and avoid breeding from "bad" bucks.

[Kiliann]

Okay.
I'll keep that in mind- I don't think I'll breed them twice. Just once!
Then, no more. As soon as I an get the money for another cage.

[rachaelandrats]

I know it sounds like I'm going on and on, but breeding your rats IS selfish. I was exactly the same with my first 2 boys - Gus and Toby - I really wanted to breed them so I had a part of them left, I hated the thought of them being gone and having nothing left of them. I was going to breed them to my girl Honey. She was about 6 or 7 months old at the time, them a bit older. I decided not to because I realised that WAS selfish. I was breeding them because *I* wanted a part of them. Have you thought about your girls? What if things go wrong? I've just been following a thread on another forum with someone who took in 3 rescue girls. They are all about a year old, one a bit younger. They came to her pregnant.

One of the girls had babies and they all had megacolon. All of them died before they even reached 6 weeks old. This was from an apparently healthy mum. Megacolon IS very painful for them, and this rat lover had to get baby rats put to sleep to stop them suffering, just babies?

One of the girls had 3 babies, all stillborn.
Ratties are so smart and the mum is now pretty depressed. She's just given birth to her litter and they've all been dead. She was trying to clean them and look after them.

One of the girls had just 1 baby boy, who's tiny, but okay.

These girls were rescues, originally from a pet shop like your friends rats obviously were.
They all *seemed* healthy - they still do.
But is that worth risking just so that WE can have babies. What if it goes wrong and you have to rush one of your girls to the emergency vet? What if one of your girls doesn't make it, or the babies don't? Is it worth it?

I know you'll probably just ignore my post, but it is not worth risking it for your sake.

[rachaelandrats]

Also... my so called healthy girl Honey went on to get a severe ear infection and was on long term medicine, then she developed terrible bumblefoot, had 3 inoperable huge tumours.

Gus died of a brain tumour, and Toby of a stroke.

None of these health problems were obvious at the right 'breeding age'.

[MoonfallTheFox]

I second Rachael.

My rats all appear healthy to the naked eye, or did when they were breeding age. The only one who remained that way was Romeo, my two and a half year old rex buck.

My little doe, even spayed, got a zymbal's gland tumor. She started getting chronic URIs and we were never able to cure them. The URIs didn't show up until she was a year and a half old- past breeding age. She is dying, and if I wasn't prepared to put her down, she would have a horrible death ahead of her. Right now, thankfully, she is (all things considered) doing very well. But had you seen her a few months ago you would have thought she was great breeding stock- cute, friendly, apperantly very healthy. She's not. She never was.

My young boys are ADORABLE. But I can tell that Louis is going to be URI prone, as well as his brother, and Louis is quite large. He could loose some weight. I know they will have a lot of problems (rescue boys, probably from a BYB. Surrendered to humane society because of too many animals at six weeks old.) The whole colony came down with URIs this week and are on antibiotics. Romeo was last to catch it, as usual. His health is exemplary. The worst thing he's ever had wrong was a cyst, and a few small abscesses. He has never been first to fall ill and only catches things after others have it. His illnesses are never serious.

The young boys sound bad. My doe always sounds dreadful.


You should not breed your rats. I will say again, if you like baby animals, help foster a rescue litter. You can enjoy babies, but without creating more needy rats. If you just want more rats, rescue some! The space that would be filled by the litter you would needlessly be making could be offered to animals who are already alive and who need homes and loving families. A true rat lover will rescue, not breed, because those who are already on this planet are the ones in immediate need.

[TheForumFairy]

theres so much death on this thread T.T

[Wᴏʟғᴀᴛᴏɴɪx]

I have no rats...my mom got rid of them :'(

[rachaelandrats]

I second Rachael.

My rats all appear healthy to the naked eye, or did when they were breeding age. The only one who remained that way was Romeo, my two and a half year old rex buck.

My little doe, even spayed, got a zymbal's gland tumor. She started getting chronic URIs and we were never able to cure them. The URIs didn't show up until she was a year and a half old- past breeding age. She is dying, and if I wasn't prepared to put her down, she would have a horrible death ahead of her. Right now, thankfully, she is (all things considered) doing very well. But had you seen her a few months ago you would have thought she was great breeding stock- cute, friendly, apperantly very healthy. She's not. She never was.

My young boys are ADORABLE. But I can tell that Louis is going to be URI prone, as well as his brother, and Louis is quite large. He could loose some weight. I know they will have a lot of problems (rescue boys, probably from a BYB. Surrendered to humane society because of too many animals at six weeks old.) The whole colony came down with URIs this week and are on antibiotics. Romeo was last to catch it, as usual. His health is exemplary. The worst thing he's ever had wrong was a cyst, and a few small abscesses. He has never been first to fall ill and only catches things after others have it. His illnesses are never serious.

The young boys sound bad. My doe always sounds dreadful.


You should not breed your rats. I will say again, if you like baby animals, help foster a rescue litter. You can enjoy babies, but without creating more needy rats. If you just want more rats, rescue some! The space that would be filled by the litter you would needlessly be making could be offered to animals who are already alive and who need homes and loving families. A true rat lover will rescue, not breed, because those who are already on this planet are the ones in immediate need.

Well said. =)

[MoonfallTheFox]

I want to throw one more thing out there- just because Romeo is healthy does not mean he doesn't carry nasty recessive genes that could be disastrous in babies.

Thanks, Rachael.

So, I have a problem. I went to the pet store today to buy some food for my snake (frozen!). Looked at the small animals. Saw a trio of four week old baby rats going for snake food. I fell in love with a TINY black berkshire, who has high white markings and an incredibly sweet face. WANT.