Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I purchased a 1.3 rat colony on june 5th which turned out to be a 3.1 lol , anyway i returned the males an exchanged them for females. Noticed one of the females appeared to be pretty fat but thought nothing of it since i had never seen a gravid rat. Well i went in to do some cage matenance(sry cant spell) and found that the fat female was indeed pregnant at time of purchase and had delivered sometime between last night and this morning. There are 12 pinks all of which appear to be alive an feeding. All of the other rats were keeping there distance scattered about the cage. Now ive only had this colony about 8 or 9 days so should i separate the female and her litter from the others?
-----
Jaye- " When you try of all your forces to make your own way, you will help some of others and will be helped by others. As long as you do not make your own way, you cannot help anybody, and nobody can help you. " (Shunryu Suzuki)

A male will usually kill pups he didn't sire. The poor mom is working overtime protecting her litter. It is always best to seperate a nursing mom and her litter.

Jeremy

>>I purchased a 1.3 rat colony on june 5th which turned out to be a 3.1 lol , anyway i returned the males an exchanged them for females. Noticed one of the females appeared to be pretty fat but thought nothing of it since i had never seen a gravid rat. Well i went in to do some cage matenance(sry cant spell) and found that the fat female was indeed pregnant at time of purchase and had delivered sometime between last night and this morning. There are 12 pinks all of which appear to be alive an feeding. All of the other rats were keeping there distance scattered about the cage. Now ive only had this colony about 8 or 9 days so should i separate the female and her litter from the others?

Are they fighting? I mean is she actively attacking the others or are they just keeping their distance. Unless there is a ton of fussing I would leave them alone. Unless your plan is to have moms by themselves all the time. Getting her back into the group later will be more of a hassle. If they were not fighting for the 8 or 9 days they were together and she didn't attack them just previous to giving birth, again, I would leave them alone.
The idea that a male will kill pups that aren't his is, IMHO, a myth. I have never had a male do it. I think it is just something that happens now and then, just as any aggressive male can be overzealous, but not something that is a given. If you are totally worried about the boy then do what you are comfortable with. I have 2 males and 6 groups of girls now and I just rotate them through. Usually I either leave him in through birthing or I move him back in when babies are 2 or 3 weeks old depending on the break I want to give the moms. The males, like many human males, seem only vaguely aware that the pups are there.
-----
Sonya

Haven't we warned you about tampering with the structure of a chaotic system?
Mrs. Neutron

Welll so far so good, there hasnt been any fighting and everyone is just keeping their distance. She doesnt even seem to mind me touching her or them. The only problem i see is the male keeps trying to mount her whenever she moves away to eat or drink and she keeps fighting him off but hes relentless in his efforts. Other than that besides the occasional curiosity of the others going over and sniffing the pinks then quickly running away i dont see a problem.
-----
Jaye- " When you try of all your forces to make your own way, you will help some of others and will be helped by others. As long as you do not make your own way, you cannot help anybody, and nobody can help you. " (Shunryu Suzuki)

d
-----
Jaye- " When you try of all your forces to make your own way, you will help some of others and will be helped by others. As long as you do not make your own way, you cannot help anybody, and nobody can help you. " (Shunryu Suzuki)