How Old Do They Have To Be?

Question

How old do rats have to be to breed? Do rats fight when you put them in with the other s*x?

Answer 1

Rats reach sexual maturity at about five weeks of age. I'm assuming you are looking to breed? Do you have a good mentor? Are they healthy breeder stock whose genetic/health history you know at least three generations back?

Or are you just looking to slap two pet store rats together and make babies? Please don't breed irresponsibly, there are enough homeless rats out there without more poorly bred ones being added to the problem.

Edit: Regardless of whether they are from a breeder you clearly have not done enough research to breed if you have to ask these questions. I'm assuming the breeder is okay with you breeding the rats and that the breeder you bought from was a reputable breeder and not a backyard/unethical breeder.

Answer 2

Female rats can reach sexual maturity at the age of 4 weeks but for the most part its 6 weeks. Male rats dont sexually mature until 8 weeks of age. Males and females normally will not fight amongst each other unless the male wants to mate and the female is not in the mood. I have usually in my experience seen the same s*x fight and this is usually over dominance. Once the pecking order has been established they wont fight. But this is not always the case. Sometimes you can get 2 rats of the same s*x that never get along. But for the most part most rats can live out there live harmoniously.

Answer 3

pretty much once they have weaned, though best to wait til they are at least 3 months if you choose to breed, girls on heat every five days or so, they will chase the boys, be prepared to split them, a water sprayer is a good way to do it without having to touch them mid scrap, but i'm no expert so check a few websites

Answer 4

Well, rats are ABLE to breed as early as 4 weeks sometimes, but it's usually best to wait until both rats are adults, at least 4 or 5 months old. You have to make sure that the female is full grown so that her body can handle the pregnancy, and you have to make sure that the male isn't going to develop aggression.

Any two rats can fight with each other. They are all different.

If you had a proper mentor, you would not be here asking these questions.

What does it say on your rat's pedigrees about genetic problems? Why do you want to breed them?

Please read this article. It does not sound like you are ready to breed rats:

http://drac.20m.com/breeding.html