Ratties??

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Does anyone here have experience breeding rats? I hope so! I am having real difficulties trying to get any of my rats to breed. My oldest sister had rats breeding out the wazoo for years but none of mine will breed. I tried two adult (one male/ one female of course) feeder rats that were at least two months old and kept them together for about two months before the male died (he was sick looking when we first got him but we thought he had just fallen in his water dish).  The female died a few weeks later by seizing (She died practically in my hands. It was super sad for me :(   ) Now I have two hand raised rats that are pet quality that are about five maybe six weeks old and I am waiting for them to breed. They might be too young but really some rats are breeding by six weeks. I am not in a big rush but I am running out of frozen feeders and since I have been trying to breed rats for five months and I haven't been getting anything, I am a little peeved. Also, I have thought about breeding gerbils but I only own two boas so I would be feeding lots of gerbils at one time. Plus, I have thought about bunnies but bunnies smell worse than rats and are really too cute to feed lol.

Any ideas why none of these rats have bred?

BTW for anyone who read my last post about a slightly aggressive BRB, she is doing much better. I am still not handling her every day but she has gotten a lot better at not trying to bite me, just looking at me like I'm food. She has had some good handling sessions and let me take her out of her feeding tub last night without trying to bite me. (I'm using a snake hook to first pick her up and then put her in my hands because I think it makes us both more comfortable)