How Often Do Rats Have Young?
WouterRats are wonderful mothers, but sometimes the females can have problems when they have young. These problems can stem from the pain associated with a difficult birth or from an environment that disturbs the mother. Sometimes they are also caused by a poor diet. In such cases, you can remove the babies or attempt to induce labor.
Rats become sexually mature at around six to ten weeks old. They can have as many as fourteen pups, but a typical litter is seven. Female rats continue to breed until they reach 18 to 24 months old. The newborn rats have no fur and are blind, but grow rapidly. After a gestation period of 21 to 23 days, female rats give birth to around seven baby rats. The number of babies depends on the external factors affecting the fertility.
Rats can breed throughout the year. Their breeding season peaks in early September. Then, the rats start to seek shelter indoors. Rats will also mate for more than five hundred times per day. Rats can also have more than one litter a year. The breeding season of rats depends on the weather and the availability of outdoor food sources.
Rats can multiply exponentially, spawning up to 15,000 offspring in a year if conditions are ideal. However, as the population grows, breeding slows dramatically. Hence, it is important to control rat populations before they get out of control.
