Did a little experiment of my own...take the results with a grain of salt....

[atomic sagebrush]

How is baby doing Kitty???

[jen75]

yes how is baby?. great thread BTW.xxxx

[Pink Pony]

Your little girl is so beautiful Atomic, such an innocent little face

[atomic sagebrush]

Thank you!!

[Kitty0911]

Brontë is doing well. She was in the NICU for only 17 days, then she was sent home on caffeine and a monitor. She is 5 weeks old and 5lbs 8oz now. She's quite slow at gaining weight so she is getting one bottle of high calorie formula a day (I've been trying to make sure she gets more hindmilk from me at each feeding too). She is only gaining 3 ounces a week so hopefully adding in some higher calorie milk will get her up to 4-5 ounces of weekly weight gain. Other than that she is doing marvelous. Her brothers absolutely love her! I don't think she has been put down once since she's been home- her brothers are always holding her.

[atomic sagebrush]

I"m so glad she's doing ok!! Grow little girl grow!!

[Throwaway_panther]

So glad to hear Kitty! I still can't get over her name *_*

[maidentomother]

Growth and love to your new daughter! Love the name.

[Kitty0911]

Mte -- I think one of the best protocols that could be done here is to alternate the diets of female rats who had already bred when following the opposite diets!

Thank you so much for this thread Kitty, and congrats on your little one!

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I may consider doing this, but I don't solely breed them for "scientific" purposes. Their health and the pups health are extremely important to me and the people who purchase them. Breeding a rat more than once can cause some health issues in the babies. I may consider breeding each rat twice (once on LE and once on HE diet) but I really can't do it more than that without risking the pups health. When I started breeding years ago I noticed pups born to mothers who had previously gestated had a very high risk of dying in the first weeks of life. Mothers would have the usual 8 or so pups, but I'd lose half the litter by the time the pups reached 2 weeks of age. The mothers also seem to have a harder time birthing babies when they are bred multiple times. I've had a mother die during a birth after her third breeding. Since switching to breeding only once I have not lost a mother during birth since. The babies' and mothers' health is why I made sure the rats still got their usual pellets during the weeks before mating. I wanted to make sure they were still given access to the proper vitamins and minerals to establish a healthy pregnancy and produce healthy offspring. I'm sure standard rats would do fine with being breed multiple times, but my dumbo rats don't do too well with it.

[Throwaway_panther]

I may consider doing this, but I don't solely breed them for "scientific" purposes. Their health and the pups health are extremely important to me and the people who purchase them. Breeding a rat more than once can cause some health issues in the babies. I may consider breeding each rat twice (once on LE and once on HE diet) but I really can't do it more than that without risking the pups health. When I started breeding years ago I noticed pups born to mothers who had previously gestated had a very high risk of dying in the first weeks of life. Mothers would have the usual 8 or so pups, but I'd lose half the litter by the time the pups reached 2 weeks of age. The mothers also seem to have a harder time birthing babies when they are bred multiple times. I've had a mother die during a birth after her third breeding. Since switching to breeding only once I have not lost a mother during birth since. The babies' and mothers' health is why I made sure the rats still got their usual pellets during the weeks before mating. I wanted to make sure they were still given access to the proper vitamins and minerals to establish a healthy pregnancy and produce healthy offspring. I'm sure standard rats would do fine with being breed multiple times, but my dumbo rats don't do too well with it.

I didn't realize! Obviously their health is the most important thing!

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