So I'm looking to start up my own rat colony for my growing collection of Boas. I've been looking at all the care and everything and I had a thought. If rat pups are around the same age, you can have another nursing mother adopt them. With this in mind, you could get a female to a cool down period or even back to breeding during the time she would normally be nursing. Has anyone else done this before? I'm curious if this is an idea that might actually work. I'd like to have a steady supply, especially as I start breeding, but I don't want to have to house 8+ females to do so, at least not right away.
I want to be clear, I'm not saying this is a good idea, I've never raised rats before. But I was thinking it's a possibility. I imagine it would cause extra strain to the nursing female, so maybe only do so in instances with small litters, or only for a short period of time, or staggered duration, some sort of variation. Alright, so if you guys could offer you're experience, theories, and/or successes that would be great