Mew moms

[Strutter769]

Once Mama Rat has babies, should she and her litter be separated from the rest of the females?

Edit: Title should read "New Moms." They're not cats! Lol

[KORBIN5895]

I personally never did. Most people do though.

[Strutter769]

Originally Posted by KORBIN5895

I personally never did. Most people do though.

No problems with the other moms cannibalising the babies?

[Kingsnakechris]

I may be mistaken but I heard rats have less cannibalism issues.

[Strutter769]

I think we'll separate them from the rest. There can't be any harm in that.

[mykee]

The issue lies with reintroduction of the female to the colony. I have never seperated any rats during gestation or birthing because rats are very social creatures. If you have colonies that through selective breeding are non-agressive, then you should have no problems keeping the babies with the whole colony.
P.s. Mothers are more likely to eat their own babies then are their colony mates.

[Strutter769]

Ok, thanks again Mykee.

[exwizard]

The reason we separate the females right before they give birth is that we dont want them to become pregnant again while theyre still nursing their current litter. It has nothing to do with agression. Also to confirm what Chris said, cannibalism is not as much of an issue with rats as it is with mice.

[Strutter769]

Good advice, Wiz. Thanks!

[Strutter769]

Babies were born yesterday, we left them in "General Population" as suggested. Haven't counted but seems like a really good-sized litter.

[Mose]

Originally Posted by exwizard

The reason we separate the females right before they give birth is that we dont want them to become pregnant again while theyre still nursing their current litter. It has nothing to do with agression. Also to confirm what Chris said, cannibalism is not as much of an issue with rats as it is with mice.

Same here. I've never had any canibalism with rats either, but if left with males, as Wiz said they will become pregnant again immediatly which isn't good for them. I keep 2-5 females in each of 4 tubs, and rotate a single male between tubs. I leave the male in until the females are clearly pregnant, then move him to the next tub. The females care for all of the babies as if they are their own. This way the male isn't re-introduced into a tub until all of the babies from that tub have been weaned, and the females get a break.

With mice, I just leave the male in with his harem all of the time, because mice will almost always attack newcomers to the group.

[exwizard]

Originally Posted by Mose

Same here. I've never had any canibalism with rats either, but if left with males, as Wiz said they will become pregnant again immediatly which isn't good for them. I keep 2-5 females in each of 4 tubs, and rotate a single male between tubs. I leave the male in until the females are clearly pregnant, then move him to the next tub. The females care for all of the babies as if they are their own. This way the male isn't re-introduced into a tub until all of the babies from that tub have been weaned, and the females get a break.s

With mice, I just leave the male in with his harem all of the time, because mice will almost always attack newcomers to the group.

The only difference with the way we do our rats is that we have one male in each breeder tub. We rotate the.females in and out depending on their pregnancy status. At any given point in time there are three to four females on with each male. The pregos get their own tub up to three per tub. Right now our breeders total 16.63 on our way to16.90. With a 1:6 ratio, this method is very feasible.