2007-03-21 19:47:09 · 3 answers · asked by toadstoolcouch 2 in Pets ➔ Other - Pets
Starting at 5 to 6 weeks of age, female pet rats (called a doe) go into heat every 4 to 5 days and can stay in heat for 12 to 24 hours. The first time and everytime after that, when a female rat has reached puberty, she will perform the estrus dance whether or not there is a male rat present.
In the Rat Fancy we have named this heat cycle the "Estrus Dance". Female rats will "freeze" in place and adopt the lordosis (arched back) position in readiness to mate. If she is not ready, teasing, or being coy, when she is touched on the bum by your hand, or a male rat mounts her, she will hop,hop,hop away and freeze again. Some girls really get into this dance with a quick vibration of the ears.
Not all females will be this demonstrative during a heat cycle. Some girls never show that they are in heat.
Since hormones are dictating their moods, at this time I've had girls that have been very hyper, some get testy and nippy, and others are their normal, sweet selves.
More on rat puberty and heat cycles:
http://search.yahoo.com/search?search=rat+puberty+and+heat+cycles&ei=UTF-8&fr=ks-ans&ico-yahoo-search-value=http%3A%2F%2Frds.yahoo.com%2F_ylt%3DAqFmYLsucJ9Ju1A_wytuo5cazKIX%2FSIG%3D111gjvvgj%2F*-http%3A%2F%2Fsearch.yahoo.com%2Fsearch&ico-wikipedia-search-value=http%3A%2F%2Frds.yahoo.com%2F_ylt%3DAjrR1DDgyctRMOV346dKZz4azKIX%2FSIG%3D11ia1qo58%2F**http%253a%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FSpecial%253aSearch&p=rat+puberty+and+heat+cycles
spazrats
"my life has gone to the rats"
2007-03-24 20:38:41 · answer #1 · answered by spazrats 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The first answer is so wrong its funny.
Female rats first go into heat at around 5 weeks old and will get pregnant from their brothers if not seperated from them. They then come into heat every 3-5 days.
They dont have puberty in the same way as us, but some rats go through a "teen" phase when they are about 5-6 months old. I find that this is the age that the pecking order in the group gets established and the boss is decided. My girls always got more territorial during their teens.
Gestation for rats is around 21 days, not 8-10 days.
2007-03-23 08:38:19 · answer #2 · answered by kiffie 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
She is ready for breeding between 65 and 110 days (2 mo-3 1/2 mo). I just bred my daughter's rats and she was about 2 1/2 months old at the time. She will deliver in aboout 8-10 days. Sadly, all but one of her babies are meant for snake food, but he needs to eat too.
2007-03-21 20:03:02 · answer #3 · answered by wolfinator25840 5 · 0⤊ 2⤋