ASF Mom Fosters Rat Pups

[JohnNJ]

I picked up four rat pups at a show to try with a BP. He didn't show interest.

I have an ASF mom that's alone with 5 of her fuzzy babies so I gave her the rat pups. She took them in and is feeding them. The rat pups (eyes not yet open) are easily 2+ times the size of the fuzzies and they all hang out together in a pile. The fuzzies have their eyes open and are walking around while the rat pups look like baby seals.

I had heard of rats fostering ASF's but not the reverse. Anyone else try this? What happens when the rat pups get as big as the ASF mom?

[musicalKeyes]

I haven't done ASFs with rats, but I've had a mouse foster five baby dwarf hamsters with her own when someone at the petstore I work at accidentally sold their mother. Mouse mom didn't seem to mind at all.
Good luck with them, hope it works out!

[snakesRkewl]

lol, good luck with that and do let us know how it turns out
I've always got regular rat moms to do the job but it'd be interesting to hear how it goes in the end

[Rhasputin]

How many rats?
The ASF mother will probably not be able to produce enough milk for more than 1 or 2 baby rats.

[JohnNJ]

There are four rat pups in with that group. I felt better about trying it with that group because the male is gone.

I will try moving one of the rat pups to another group with more females later and see what happens. If it works I can move the others to one pup per female ASF.

[JohnNJ]

I moved the rat pups around to different tubs, one per group, and they were accepted by the ASF's. They have all lost body mass since Sunday. As was mentioned, the ASF's may not produce enough milk for the rat pups, so I'll give it a few days. If they don't start to bulk up I'll just have to feed them off.

[JohnNJ]

Two of the four pups are left.

I found one dead and half eaten. I could not find any trace of the other. I'm not sure if they died on their own or were killed. The other two are still alive but not what I would call thriving. One actually gained some weight so that's the one that may make it through.

This concern may sound odd since they were purchased as feeders but I like animals and don't want to see any suffer even if they are destined to be food.

[JohnNJ]

Another one down. One more left.

[JohnNJ]

Last one died yesterday. Oh well, I tried.

[snakesRkewl]

Thanks for the info, I was pretty sure of the out come but one never knows till they try now do they