Early Bloomers???

[Catibrie]

The babies will be 3 weeks old as of tomorrow, but when we had them out to play about 10mins ago, my husband realized that the boys testicles have dropped somewhat already. We can easily tell if they are boys or girls. Are they early bloomers (and should we separate them?) or is this the natural progression of things?

 

[user 78]

Male rats [all rodents, really] are very easy to tell if they're male/female from an early age. I always suggest separating by 4-4.5weeks, others say 4.5-5 weeks.

As an aside, I'm always dumbfounded by how many people that have oops litters say they had the rat for well over 2 weeks and never knew they had gotten a male/female with their other choice. Just for this reason.

 

[Dahlas]

My babies were early bloomers as well.....the boys were very well endowed...almost from day 1
I didn't seperate my boys from the girls until the first day of the fifth week.....

Here is my little boy Jacob at 25 days....

Here is his sister at the same age.....

pretty easy to tell apart..

 

[rat.charmer]

Yeah it still baffles me how people can't tell males and females apart. Rats have huge testicles, esp if you compare body mass to testicular mass. Human men should be envious. I separated my males from the girls at the end of the 4th week.

Also, Dahlas - those photos make it look like a mug shot hehehe "Who chewed through the hammock yesterday? WHO!"

 

[Dahlas]

 

[Catibrie]

Ok thanks. I was just concerned that maybe they were maturing faster than they should and that we needed to be careful not to have oops litters with their sisters or mama.

 

[PiedPiper]

Also, Dahlas - those photos make it look like a mug shot hehehe "Who chewed through the hammock yesterday? WHO!"

:laugh4: :laugh4: :laugh4: :laugh4: I'm only laughing my head off because that scenario plays itself out in my house almost daily!

 

[SQ]

any baby pics?

 

[SQ]

Are these your babies?
viewtopic.php?f=27&p=91124#p91124

Have you been able to line up any good homes?

Any cute pics?

 

[user 78]

Testicles expand and contract according to the weather around them. It doesn't mean more or less sperm. It's just a way for them to regulate body temperature.

 

[Catibrie]

Yes we've found homes for 8 of the babies so far. We had a couple inquirys but so far no one else suitable has stepped up.