Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm not sure if anyone else does this. When my females are about to give birth I place them into an enclosure with other nursing mothers. I'm not sure if this is a problem but I haven't seen any trouble so far. I'm only a newbie when it comes to breeding rats but I haven't had any eaten babies or any other problems. The only thing is it seems that the mothers take turns feeding all the rats at once. One rat will take a rest (sometimes only having a few babies nursing from them while the other female will have a pile of rats feeding off her. Does anyone see any problems with this setup? While it seems they just instinctively know how to feed them on their own, I figured they may be able to see the other mothers taking care of their babies and learn from them. Any insite on this would be appreciated. Take care, Scott.
-----
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

"In any civilized society, it is every citizen's responsibility to obey just laws.
But at the same time, it is every citizen's responsibility to disobey unjust laws."
—Martin Luther King Jr

I have never put them together if they have litters that are more than a week apart but if I have 2 or 3 moms that are ready to drop about the same time I will put them together before the babies come. I feel that its less stressful for the moms if they can share in the responsibility. I have lost more babies to moms who don't share the litter with another new mom. It seems they just get thin and eventually some of the pups die off. With two moms one can feed with the other rests and when the babies aren't feeding they both eat and sleep.

I have had them work for hours moving the babies from one nest to another as they steal the babies from each other's nest but the babies never seem to suffer from it and they never seem to quarrel about it.

Marcia

I have tried it but had a female or two in the past that would attack other moms trying to protect them. Although I can say that they haven't had a problem stealing anothers babies.

you have a whole cage that is pregnant and due within three or four days of each other (most of the time they are same day or the next) and they already know each other and share litters. It also makes using one or two boys for all the girls easier. And easier to time litters as I just shift the boys around.
-----
Sonya

is that I only keep 1.6 rats. As they become close to birth I switch to our maternity ward and as the babies are ready to be weaned I put the adult female back into the breeding enclosure and move the weaned rats into a 'grow-up tank.' I don't really want to have a seperate cage for a single male. I have one smaller tank for a single mom and her newborn babies to keep the larger, almost weaned rats from stealing the milk from the newborns. Once the newborns are large enough they go into the maternity ward and the newborn tank is prepared for more newborns. I'm still in the beginning phase of my breeding colony and am learning as I'm going along (as well as the great info here on these forums.) Also, all of these females are sisters and don't seem to have ANY problems with each other, oftentimes sharing babies (and taking turns feeding the crowd, LOL.) I know this may sound a bit complicated but it's really a small colony. I may have to switch my tactics if I allow the colony to grow larger (which will be much to my wifes dismay ). Thanks for everyones replies. I'll get a permanant system down sooner or later. Thanks for everything, Scott Sullivan.
-----
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

"In any civilized society, it is every citizen's responsibility to obey just laws.
But at the same time, it is every citizen's responsibility to disobey unjust laws."
—Martin Luther King Jr

Scott

I have a small colony also. I keep the male with the expectant moms. Once they give birth, I wait 4 or 5 days and move them to their own cage. That way they are pregnant while they nurse the litter and will give birth again in 21 to 25 days. I feed most off as fuzzies or younger, so when they are weaned, they are fed or frozen and the mom goes back with the male. I keep a card with birthdates, litter size, deaths, and a short discription of the mom on it.

I found that if the litters were more than a week apart, the older pups hogged all the milk. One mom and her litter to a 32 Qt. sterlite may seem like a waste, but the heat has been so bad here, that I think I would have lost a lot of animals if they had been crowded.

DeMak

That makes sense for you then. I wouldn't want to set him up in his own cage either unless I can't help it. Though it may be in the future as I am raising up a replacement boy. So, if one goes around with the other it will make for a crowded cage. I don't breed back to back either. I have four or five groups of girls and just shuffle him.
-----
Sonya