Rats! want to breed a male dumbo and a female hairless rat?

I want to breed my male and female rats. The male is a dumbo, and the female is a hairless. They are still too young, so this is the tentative plan.


Firstly, is there any danger in having the two mate? I know that hairless rats are slightly more fragile than normal rats.


Second, any general advice about breeding would be fantastic. I've owned several rats, but never bred before.


Third, Any idea what the babies might look like?Rats! want to breed a male dumbo and a female hairless rat?
There are enough quality rat breeders out there that you should really find one to mentor you. I suggest starting with a rat club local to you and going from there. You don't mention where you got your rats. Pet stores, substandard breeders and rescues are NOT places to get rats to breed. You need to KNOW the genetic history of the rats you are breeding. (Of course their health and temperament should be excellent as well.) Since you are asking ';what will the babies look like'; you are not breeding the right rats. http://ratfanclub.org/breeding.html Then what are you going to do with up to 20 rats? Go to petfinder.com, enter in the zip code you live in, select small and furry and then type in rat. You will get a HUGE list back to you. Then go to craigslist, and look up rat and rats in the pet section.





There are many things that can go wrong in breeding. We've experienced breeders in our club that have had to rush females to the hospital for c-sections. Are you prepared to deal with that? One person quit breeding her females because she lost several in delivery over a very short period of time, including one of her heart rats.





There are fatal genetic traits that can be passed on. Reputable breeders keep track of all of the offspring and are able to use punnet squares to anticipate what will appear in future pairings. http://www.13moonsrattery.com/RatVarieti鈥?/a>





http://ratguide.com/health/digestive/meg鈥?/a> is one of the fatal genetic traits.





You will find people on here will give you advice on all the things to do for the rats. I'm not going to. Because to me, this is NOT the venue to be asking this type of question.





If you love the animals, it would be best to start by finding a REPUTABLE breeder, gain a mentor and do it the right way. Throwing rats of opposite genders together to breed is NOT the appropriate way to breed pet rats (or any animal for that matter). That just makes you a back yard breeder...and an inferior one at that.Rats! want to breed a male dumbo and a female hairless rat?
Hairless does are often unable to nurse their babies %26amp; frequently have an undeveloped maternal instinct, so the babies may not survive. Also, there is always a risk of injury or worse associated with pregnancy and bearing young. This is 1 reason we've never bred any of our rats.





I know very little about genetics but have seen litters who had parents with different fur types or colors, as well as dumbos mated to top eared rats %26amp; it looks like you could have any number of possibilites. From what I've seen, if a litter has 1 hairless parent the pups are predominantly furred.
You really shouldn't try to breed your first litter with a hairless female. They are hard to breed, have problems lactating and tend to eat their healthy babies.





Here is a link to General breeding info and ethics:


http://ratfanclub.org/breeding.html (read this first)


http://ratfanclub.org/repro.html (reproduction specifics)


I'm not going to lecture about why you shouldn't breed and add to the overpopulation of unwanted homeless rats, but please REALLY consider the responsibility you are taking on before letting the male anywhere near your female! If you do have a litter make sure you take out the male pups by 5 weeks or mom and all the sisters will be pregnant!





Looks are impossible to guess, you may get all hairless, hairless dumbos, no hairless, double rex or patchwork (will get random patches of hair that is always falling out and regrowing in different spots) furry dumbos, furry standard ear, or any other combination you can possibly think of!!
Id recommend you join the forum on fancy-rats.co.uk its a great forum and theres always people offering advice, alot of people on the website know all about genetics and call tell you what type of babies to expect, what to do when the babies arrive, how to treat the mother while shes pregnant etc. Its alot more reliable than things like yahoo questions and you should definatley sign up :)
I'm not going to lecture you on rat breeding (Keep in mind if you go to a forum or rat club for help you might get some lecturing).





But do consider why it is you want to breed.





Little bits about breeding that I do know:


1. They can mate again almost IMMEDIATELY after the babies are born, so take the male out before the female gives birth. It puts too much strain on the momma to have her pregnant while nursing a litter - and can shorten her life dramatically and weaken the pups in both litters!


2. It is not hard to breed rats - put a healthy male and a female together for a couple weeks - and you will get babies.


3. Make sure you're aware of the health of both rats and parents if you can - it will help you determine any issues the pups may be prone to.


4. Try and find a nursing doe due for the same time as your litter so that you have a surrogate since hairless girls can have trouble nursing.


5. Expect a slightly smaller litter if she is young and it's her first.


6. Most importantly - make sure you have room for the litter. The boys and girls will have to be separated at 5 weeks (as they become fertile around that time and you could end up with some pregnant pups) and the boys may not get along with dad. So you may need some room for them separately. Also make sure you have room to keep some of the babies if you can't find a home for them.








And as for what they might look like...





You can pretty much bet that you will have some dumbos and some rexxes in your litter (Adorable). As for colouring - that's hard to say, but there are some great sites on rat genetics...





This one might help answer your questions!


http://www.geocities.com/phoenixashesrat鈥?/a>