Yes I have found that females stress far less and make better rat moms if the male is not present. Also first time moms I put in with a mom that is nursing so she gets the idea and you don't get any rejected pups
When you've got 10,000 people trying to do the same thing, why would you want to be number 10,001? ~ Mark Cuban
If I have an available tub I pull the mom when she looks really big. They do seem to do better on their own, but then again they seem to do pretty good at raising them in the community tub as well. The only thing I worry about is that they'll be bred again within a day of giving birth if they're still in the community tub and that doesn't give them any rest time.