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Being great pets, rats were introduced to the world from the Southeast Asian islands, Central Asia, India, and China. Being active, curious, and loving, they " re also very intelligent. Although they have poor eye sight, they move along walls finding their way with their whiskers and unusually long tail that's often as long as their body. With a heavy fondness for sweets, a rat's sense of taste is similar to humans. Playing is an important role in procreation, they have a very acute sense of smell.
Responding quickly to loud piercing sounds, rats are near death to low pitch and low volume noise. Coming in a variety of colors, there are four varieties of rat: dumbo, hairless, standard and tailless. With a broad palette for food, they can and will eat virtually anything. They enjoy eating fruits such as apples, bananas, and strawberries.
However, you should only give theses as treats. Rats love such fresh vegetables as broccoli, carrots, and shelled peas. The rat's fur keeps it warm and dry and it's tail helps it keep its balance as it move around its environment. All theses traits together help them survive in the world. Living in pairs and colonies, they can be friendly and playful. Rats like to play with small blocks of wood, smooth twigs, tubes of cardboard, ramps, ladders, and rope or twine that they will climb.
Rats like to climb. Rats go into puberty at two months of age. They become fertile at three months of age. Once a female rat is capable of bearing young she enters estrus, every four or five days. During the estrus cycle female rats are receptive to male's advances for about twelve to twenty-four hours. Her mating behavior is controlled by fluctuations in sex hormone levels in their body.
When a female rat is receptive to the male, she will arch her back and present her hindquarters to him and permit him to mount. The gestation period of a rat is twenty-one to twenty-three days. During this time that rats carry their young in the womb. When the female rat reaches day sixteen, she needs to be isolated from other rats.
In the prenatal cage, the female will build a nest of bedding material, where she will give birth. The mother to be begins licking her vulva at the time of labor. At that time there will be a clear vaginal discharge. The delivery takes about an hour and a half. The size of the litter ranges generally from six to twelve pups. The weight of each pup will be roughly. 2 ounces (6 grams) at birth period.
They sometimes have the appearance of little purple grapes. Hairless, blind and death at birth, the pups are completely dependent on their mother for warmth and food. They lack even the ability to use their bowels and to urinate on their own. The pup needs to be stimulated by the mother licking its anus and genital area. No matter the temptation do not handle or disturb the new born pups. Disturbing the nest may cause the mother to neglect or kill the pups.
Make certain that the nursery cage is away from any drafts, sunlight, changes in humidity, near heat vents, or radiators. Keep it away from windows. The cage must be kept between 70 - 80 F (21 - 26 C). The humidity from 40 %- 70 %. Never use heat lamps nor any other extreme source of heat.
That will make the cage temperature rise or fall dramatically, overheating, if not burning the rats. If the nursery is in a room with a lower than recommended temperature, heat must be provided. Thus, a heating pad on a low setting, or a hot water bottle, be clothes pinned to the side of the cage. Cover the cage partly to keep it warm. Orphaned pups may be reserved to another nursing female, near the same age. Frequently rats in the wild, will raise the pups together in a colony.
Observe the foster mother to be sure she's not over burdened by the pups and eating and drinking properly. Cold pups may be turned away by their mother, because she may decide they are dead. Near ten days of age, the pups bodies should have hair, the ears and eyes will have opened. Weaning of the pups happens as early as twenty-one days.
Weighing about 1. 5 ounces (45 grams) at this age, males being slightly heavier than the females. In the process of weaning the pups, they start eating the same diet as the mother. By five weeks of age, weaning is complete. Some females when handled may bite, when the pups are still young, or if the pups seemed threatened.
This may happen even with gentle, tame females, when mothering a litter. Always approach any mother with respect and caution. Instinctively, the mother will protect her pups. Estrus begins again around forty-eight hours after birthing. During the cycle the female can be bred again. But the strain of that puts an enormous stress on her body, because she must care for the babies, support her own tissues and organs.
Also while gestating another litter she will produce insufficient milk to nurse her pups. Several weeks after weaning, you may breed her again if you decide to. This time will allow her to recover her strength. Nursing and pregnant need the same diet of other females: proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals. But, they need two to three times as much to eat.
Also, more water is needed during milk production. Certainly give pregnant and nursing rats fresh well balance food at all times. Under optimum conditions of husbandry, female rats can breed monthly. Realistically, because of inadequate food, shelter, and climate in the wild stunt reproductive ability. Generally wild females, litter from three to seven times per a year.
From three to ten months of age they " re the most fertile. From then on the breeding chances and the number of pups per a litter decline. Females eventually produce fewer ova in their ovaries and the hormones that induce estrus. Around age fifteen months this occurs. This cycle of life is called menopause.
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Research essay sample on Months Of Age Twenty One
