Usually one male per two females works for me...or if you want to be more safe one male per female and then you can rotate after they have raised their pups. Depending on how large your tanks are I would go with one male per two females and leave a tank empty to put the pups in once they are old enough (I wait until about 4 1/2-5 weeks) to seperate. You can also use the empty tank to place a female to give her some rest between birthing/breeding.
On a side note...I really need to post some pictures...lol....still have not done that....
I have three 10g tanks, and 1 29g I thought I'd split in two with a divider. But from what you are saying I might just use 3 tanks to breed, and the 29 for pups.
Remove pups as needed and, put them in the 29 grow the pups into eating size there. This way the pairs in the breeding tank would be free to do the nasty again.
That sounds good to me. I dont let the pups get too big, I get them until they are about 100-150 grams in weight and then place them into the CO2 chamber. That way its about the right portion for my bird to eat...sometimes she'll only have half of a rat and other days she will have a whole rat. Just remember to make sure they are completly weened from the mother, at about 4 1/2 weeks. Make sure not to put in a male with an already pregnant female or he will kill the babies since they are not his own. Keep the same male with the same females...if you want to switch them make sure that the females are done with giving birth and are not pregnant and then you can switch....and if you have the space always give one female a break to recop. from birthing.
I think its a waste to have more then one stud. He will get very proficient at making sure your females are pregnant. Just keep him seperate and put whatever female/s you want knocked up in with him for 2 weeks then seperate them to have their litters. If you have a female give birth with a male present he will immediately mount her and she will have no rest inbetween litters. Females can go into heat as early as within an hour of giving birth.
Falco from what you are saying It could possibly take up to 6 weeks to get all (assuming 3 breeding females)females pregnant, wouldn't it be more proficient to have a male with each female?,Instead of rotating the same male every two weeks?
I said female/s. You could put all of them in together at the same time. But considering you're gonna give your female rest(which produces stronger pups) then puttin in one at a time will give you pups of different ages all the time. I do it that way for a few reasons.
1) So my females can rest
2) I breed two females at a time so that they have litters near the same age, this way if one female only has 4 pups and the other has more then 8 i can switch pups around to even out the litters which makes larger pups.
3) I sell my pups to ppl for feeders to pay for my dog food and pine bedding, these ppl generally need pinky to fuzzie sized rats, rotating makes sure i always have stock. I also sell newly weened pups to the pet store for instore credit to pay for other pet needs.
If you dont care about the females then house them with males year round, they will always be pregnant and nursing and their lifespan will significantly reduce as well as the size and quality of each litter. A lot of breeders do this simply because they are raising feeders. Its your call really. Although a 10 gallon tank is way to small for a female with a litter laet alone a male and 2 females.
My eventual goal would be to do like Meagan is, producing some decent sized feeders, fuzzies wouldn't be all that valuable to a fat Redtail other than tidbits I would think. I might look into those containers you've got into your rack, I've already got the wire mesh, and some scrap wood.
Yeah you could easily do what Meagan does by growing them out like her. Mine are grown to about 40g then dispatched, I'd rather deal with the small ones over keeping them until they are large, just my preference.
I keep my females in a 10 gallon tank until they are starting to open their eyes...at about 2 1/2 weeks or so. I have done what Falco has done and created a larger set-up to place them into with the mesh on top. I used an old drawer system, covered that in mesh and made the tops with mesh so that way if (for some reason) they chew out, they have no place to go. I am getting ready to dispatch the rats that I have and my two females are not pregnant at the moment due to my stud having to be used as bait to lure my red-tail down from a tree a few months back. But Falco has a very nice set-up from what I have seen, he has been breeding a lot longer than I have...his advice is more valuable than my own....
I wouldnt say that at all. You know plenty about obviously as you have produced young. I was just offering up some advice from my experiences. There is not really a wrong way to this. I do it my way because of the reasons i stated. You simply breed to grow out and feed, i have other influences on my breeding style. One thing I do think though, is that my cages could be used in any breeding method which is why i made them how: they are, so if i ever wanna change how i breed i can.
True true...and I understand the way you breed due to you selling them to others as well as pet stores. That is a great idea though the pet store that I go to already has a breeding stock so that they can seel their own out...but that just means more food for my bird...lol....
I wish mine were like that...lol....well on some good news I got three new studs...one is massive so I am going to use all three and ween them out until I have two good ones that will produce some nice size pups...