mouse my rat

Question
i bought mouse at a pet store about 7 months ago and i decided to breed her with a male i read in a book not to breed over eight months because it can cause problems i do not know how old she really  is and shes the love of my life well she is going to have babys and day know am i setting myself up for heartache.

Answer
Hi Virginia

She should be fine...dont worry.
The myth is that the pelvis fuses if the rodent has not had babies prior to 8 months but this applies to guinea pigs, not rats.
However, always know that there is a chance that anything could go wrong regardless of age and health status.

There is alot to prepare for when you have a  pregnant rat, from planning on homes for the new pups and having plenty of cages to move the males into as young as 5 weeks old because rats get pregnant very young so you will need to have the males away from the females as young as 5 weeks to prevent pregnancy.

Most rat enthusiasts pretty much frown on breeding rats unless you have good reason. There are so many rats already out there that are homeless and unless you plan on keeping every single pup she has, you will just be adding to the over populated rat community where many end up euthanized because they cannot be placed in homes or else as snake food, which makes me shudder to even think about!

The only real reason to breed rats is to produce a healhier breed of rats. To do this means to know the history of their ancestors and know all about the linage so you know if your breeding healthy rats or rats that carry genes that contribute to illnesses or aggression issues etc...

Handling the rats from birth on is the only way to get the rats to be friendly and social and spending alot of time with them so they are desirable to adopt out to good homes is very imporatant, and rats can have up to 18 pups, so thats alot of pups to feed, socialize and house because you may be stuck wth them for the duraton of their lives.

You also should increase her protein a bit and hopefully she has had a good diet low in fats and proteins, with high quality animal protein.

Do you have a vet (an exotic vet) for your rat?