Exteroceptive factors, sexual maturation and reproduction in the female rat

Keeping a sexually mature male with a weanling female rat advanced neither the time of vaginal opening nor that of 1st oestrus. In 2 of 3 experiments females kept singly after weanling reached sexual maturity significantly earlier than did grouped females. The reproductive performance of females mated at 1st oestrus was not significantly different from that of older primiparae. 26 rats gave birth to an average of 9.3 young at 59.5 days of age, and 22 of them reared 96% of the young to weaning.