# How do you breed?



## yorke (Mar 17, 2017)

I want to breed in cycles of every 4-5 months so don't want to rotate females with a male having litters all the time.
I have set up larger cages to home the different generations of females from each line, and smaller cages for the males. The males came from the same cage but a day or two after bringing them home they were fighting so were separated.

Would you breed by keeping the male and female together for a few days and then return her to the colony (which could eventually be 3-8 females p/cage) where she will give birth, or should I rather place her in a separate cage with maybe only one other female until the pups are weaned?
Years ago I used to mate all the females in a cage at once and let them raise pups together, but I now want to breed with specific goals so need pedigrees and know which pups are from which litter.


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## Lilly (Nov 21, 2015)

With your goal in mind I would leave female with the buck for around 2 weeks or until you can tell she's pregnant and then put her in her own bin. Whether you use a nanny in with her is up to you but it does bring in risks, something you'd have to try and see if you prefer it to just mum and babies on their own


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