Handbreeding part 2

June 15, 2011 Handbreeding part 2

Well, as promised, we return to our girl tonight.

Around 10:30pm when my weighing alarm went off, Del looked like she was in the first stages of going into heat. She was jumpier than usual, her vaginal opening looked a bit more open and swollen than usual, and her nipples were very pink. I took her daily weight and put her back in her cage.

By 11pm she was in full blown heat.

You can see how much more open her vaginal opening is now than it was this afternoon.  She was also hopping forward when her rump was tickled, and then vibrating her ears when she landed. I noted next to her date for the day in my notebook that she was in heat, and paired. It was time to put these crazy kids together in the honeymoon suite!

"Come here often?"

There was a lot of exploring the tub on Puck’s part, some shoving of bedding, getting a drink, and a little checking out of the new lady friend. He wasn’t nearly as interested as I’d hoped, but Del was only just starting her heat, so it was possible that she just wasn’t that interesting yet. I generally wait around until I can observe a mating, but after a half an hour, I got bored and went downstairs to let them “cook” a little.

At about 11:45 I went back upstairs and observed a quick mating. There’s a reason that Puck’s breeders refer to this act as “the bangs” – it is over and done in a HURRY. (Side note: if you think you can let your boy and girl rats play together and get between them quick enough, you are wrong!) Usually you just hear a thumping, and then see the boy on his haunches cleaning himself off.

Picking up Del to check her out, I observed the elusive vaginal plug. In my experience, it usually takes more time to form a plug, so I guess Puck was VERY busy when I went downstairs! A plug is formed from hardened waxy secretions from a male’s secondary sex glands, and makes sure the little swimmers stay where they need to stay! In my experience, visualization of the plug always indicates a successful mating, so I’m hopeful we’ll be seeing babies in 21-23 days!

Now I turn off the lights and leave them together for the night. Next to today’s date and weight, I note “in heat, paired, obs. breeding, plug” in my notebook.

Then I go downstairs to my copy of Breeder’s Assistant and add the two of them in the Mating section, noting the time of the observed mating and the initial breeding weight in the “notes” section to help me keep track of things. According to Breeder’s Assistant, Del should be due on July 6 – though considering the lateness of the breeding, July 7 would be an equally valid due date.

Tags: handbreeding, rats: breeding

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