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Does Size Matter?

texastailfeathers

texastailfeathers

New member
Ok, this is a reeeeeally dorky rat question...I have bred lots of animals, but never rodents.

I bought a very small hooded (black head, white body with black spots...hooded, right?) rat for my foster BP a few weeks ago and he wouldn't eat her, so she became a future breeder. My husband picked up a mate for her last week that is more than twice her size. I *think* I already know the answer to this question since it *should* be like every other animal, but here goes...

Will a big rat and a small rat breed okay? What if the smaller one is the female? And finally, will the babies be 50/50 large and small, or will there also be some mediums?
 
Size differences may be due to age

Your small female is probably just young. When she has a few more weeks growing time she should get bigger. She will never get as big as a male rat though, the boys get a good 1/3 bigger than the females. If she feels the male is too big she may not mate with him. I have had young females reject the advances of males much bigger than them until they have grown a bit.

Hope this helps!
 
texastailfeathers said:
I bought a very small hooded (black head, white body with black spots...hooded, right?) rat for my foster BP a few weeks ago and he wouldn't eat her, so she became a future breeder. My husband picked up a mate for her last week that is more than twice her size. I *think* I already know the answer to this question since it *should* be like every other animal, but here goes...
Click to expand...
Yes, that's a black-hooded, and males are usually much larger than females. They are also lazier :)
 
It's good to let the females grow enough so they are at least 250g-300g before breeding them. I usually try to wait until they are at least 3-4 months old.

My adult males are all around 500g
 
We bought the female as a "small rat". Is there such a thing as a small hooded rat, or are the small ones just immature?

I don't know a thing about rats. I just know they smell much better than mice.
 
texastailfeathers said:
We bought the female as a "small rat". Is there such a thing as a small hooded rat, or are the small ones just immature?
Click to expand...
Just immature. Most petshops sell them as either small, medium or large, mostly because that's how buyers think of feeders.
 
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