Guinea Pigs
Hamsters
Rats
Mice
Links
Tips
Weaned= 4 weeks
Babies= 6-12
Heat cycle= 4-5 days
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| Rats | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Bedding | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Guinea Pigs Hamsters Rats Mice Links Tips |
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| The kind of bedding that is best for Rats is the same as mice. Kiln dried pine, aspen, carefresh bedding, and newspaper. And never use CEDAR!!!! It's bad for the animals. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Diet | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Same as mice "A mixture of seeds or pellets, specially made for rodents is a good choice. I would use a plain kind of hamster mix. They need fresh water every day which should be given to them in a water bottle. Do not use a bowl for water. The rats will use it as a toilet and also kick bedding into it." | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cages | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| This is definately different from mice. Rats are 4-5 times larger than mice therefore they need a cage 4-5 times larger than the mice cage which is a 10 gallon tank. I recommend a guinea pig cage that you can get at almost any pet store. Make sure the bar spacing is 3/4 inch or smaller. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Breeding | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Female rats should not be bred before 65 days of age but should be bred shortly after that. If they get too old (6 months) and have not had babies and she breeds she will die giving birth unless you take her to the vet. Female rats can come back into heat 48 hours after giving birth to a litter, this is why you must remove the male before the birth. It causes lots of stress on the female to be raising a litter and be pregnant at the same time. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gestation period= around 3 weeks Weaned= 4 weeks Babies= 6-12 Heat cycle= 4-5 days |
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The female and her babies should not be disturbed for the first few days after birth, because a stressed female rat may injure or kill her pups. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Babies | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| As it says above babies are weaned at 4 weeks old. If you are keeping them you will want to separate the male babies from the females because they will breed. Just wait a week or so and then put the male (the father) in. Don't let the male babies breed with their mother. Inbreeding results in deformed animals. Not right away but if you keep inbreeding you will have problems. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||