Need some help. Worried I might lose babies

[Riv]

I have all of my pregnant females in the same nursery cage. Dont know the exacty dimensions but its a large cage meant for guinea pigs or rabbits. Yesterday my albino had 4 babies, then today I found like 6 more in her nest, and 1 in the food bowl, 3 in another nest and I saw my fawn pop out another. I was worried she might forget about the scattered ones so I placed them all in her nest. a few second afterward the albino the hairless and the mother came over to investigate me and wound up stepping all over that set of babies. I know first time mothers arent known to be the best, but I notices everyone left the other nest alone so I put it on the other side of the cage away from the food and water adjacent to the other nest. like ten minutes later I looked and there was one huge pile of babies between the two nests and the albino was sorting the babies into to groups. 1 baby had died but it didnt look like she killed her. This is my first time breeding rats, and im really not sure if I should let things run their course, or if I should move nests remove rats, give them a different substrate. (Im using newspaper and I feeld like they might be stashing a baby and unable to find it again) or what. if anyone could tell me what I should do if anything at all please let me know. I am just breeding them for my snakes, but if theyre going to be food someday they have to get that big first @_@ thanks in advance guys.

[Wicked Constrictors]

Everything sounds normal just let them be, i have rats that step all over their babies and sometimes there are babies all over the tube but the moms will get them all back in the nest and feed them.

[Riv]

Okay, so theyre not quite as fragile as I thought XD good to know. Also, the albino mother put both groups of babiesw back into her nest after she seperated them, and now has all of them. The fawn mother has just been sitting in the corner opposite of where she originally put her nest on the other side of the cage looking depressed. Will she be okay? will she try to get her babies back? Im not too worried about a scuffle, but still. Also will a mother that only dropped 4 be able to produce enough milk to feed between 12-16 babies? I mean she's feeding quite a few right now, but wouldnt her natural milk production be too low?

[satomi325]

The mothers will share duties in taking care of the babies.
Usually a dominant female will do most of the work, but the others will nurse the pups when she's taking a break or feeding away from the nest.

Sometimes two females will even sit in the same pile of babies.

As the babies get older, the duties will distribute more evenly because not all of the pups can nurse/fit under one mom.

And yes. A mother who only had 4 babies can feed 12.

As long as the mothers aren't fighting over babies, just leave them alone.
And mothers will step on babies all the time. They're hardy little things.

[Riv]

Great news.. Im really relived to hear this all sounds pretty average. I didnt want to wake up one morning and find 6 dead because the mother decided she didnt have enough nips. XD. Alright well thank you very much.

[satomi325]

Female rats have 12 nipples so they can feed large litters. So no worries

[Wicked Constrictors]

They can even take care of more then 12 i had a female give me 16 babies and all grow up nice and healthy.

[Inknsteel]

Yup, exactly what everyone has said. I have one doe who throws litters of 15 consistently. The other mama rat in that group usually has smaller litters (6-8) and they split the duties and I see them moving the babies around all the time. Nothing to worry about.

[dart]

I have maternal tubs so each female gets their babies all to themselves, but occasionally I'll get some overflow from too many producing at the same time. When that happens, I'll use a communal tub for the moms too. Don't be concerned with babies all over the place or "baby snatching". I'll have 3-4 moms snatch babies back and forth all day but they'll still get the job done. I'm sure you'll do fine, although I have noticed first time moms tend to be less skilled at taking care of babies as seasoned vets

[youbeyouibei]

They'll be just fine, I wouldn't worry about them in the least. Like has been said, the moms will split the duty and the babies will manage just fine whether with their birth mom or a wet nurse, so to speak. The only thing you might change would be the newspaper as bedding; it can get pretty nasty in a hurry as far as holding moisture/amonia from their urine. I use aspen shavings and I know several people who use kiln-dried pine shavings. Either one is fine for rearing babies, just be aware of the dust, as that can sometimes bother their breathing. If they're doing okay on the newspaper at the moment, then it might be much of an issue but for future reference, it might be sometime to consider. Regardless, congratulations on your litters and good luck with them!