Do you place nursing females together or separate them?

I have read many things on the topic of separating nursing and expectant mothers. Some say that it is better for the stress of the mother and babies to give them their own enclosure. Others say that you just get all the females in a group pregnant at the same time and leave them together.

What do you do? Have you had any negative effects on the babies because of it? Do the babies have to be the same age?

I have been separating the expectant mothers into their own 10 gallon tank but I have been considering putting some mothers together. Right now I have 3 litters 2 days old. 1 - 1week old, 1 litter eyes just opened and 1 that should be weened soon. That is 6 separate tanks plus 3 grow out tanks and one lonely male.

Can I put two females in one 10 gallon tank? I do have some larger tanks but I was going to keep them for grow out tanks. Also do you keep separate grow out tanks to keep the same size females or males together?

What do you do with your rats when you go out of town? How long can your set up go without you checking in on them? We will be going camping for 4 days but I am worried. I have a local teenager I know that will be checking on the rats, but with having so many litters right now I am worried something will go wrong like bad water bottles, mothers dies or whatever, while I am gone.

if they have been together. However, a ten gal is small for more than one rat mom, and for a large litter as it gets older imho. And, the more together the more water is going to be consumed which is something to consider if going out of town.

I separate my expectant moms to their own tubs but I do mostly pet rats, most people that do feeders only don't separate and do just fine.
Separating allows the moms to be stress free during their taking care of their babies and the babies don't get stolen from other moms and tend to be fatter and better fed in my experience.
Conversely the moms have litters further apart so you need more moms to produce the same amount of babies if you separate the females from their group.

4 days isn't a really long time but someone will need to feed and make sure they have water during your time away.
As long as your "teenager" makes sure they have water and food there shouldn't be any issue.

I would look into building an inexpensive rack so your rats don't get sick in tanks...

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Originally Posted by snakesRkewl

I separate my expectant moms to their own tubs but I do mostly pet rats, most people that do feeders only don't separate and do just fine.
Separating allows the moms to be stress free during their taking care of their babies and the babies don't get stolen from other moms and tend to be fatter and better fed in my experience.
Conversely the moms have litters further apart so you need more moms to produce the same amount of babies if you separate the females from their group.

4 days isn't a really long time but someone will need to feed and make sure they have water during your time away.
As long as your "teenager" makes sure they have water and food there shouldn't be any issue.

I would look into building an inexpensive rack so your rats don't get sick in tanks...

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Why are racks preferred to tanks? I just built a shelf for my tanks. I have them turned on their side and I made sliding mesh doors, with food holders. I like the tanks because I can see inside without disturbing them and I really like my set up because I can feed and water without opening the tanks.

I put 2 nursing moms per 10g tank, so far so good.

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Originally Posted by MoshBalls

Why are racks preferred to tanks? I just built a shelf for my tanks. I have them turned on their side and I made sliding mesh doors, with food holders. I like the tanks because I can see inside without disturbing them and I really like my set up because I can feed and water without opening the tanks.

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Most find that a rack system is easier for cleaning, space etc., and they use a gravity fed watering system which is great.

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Why are racks preferred to tanks?

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Tanks don't have good ventilation and for that fact they are not very good for keeping rats in.
Rats have a weak respiratory system, asf's and mice do fine in glass tanks, rats not so much.
I used tanks for preggo moms when I first started breeding, wire cages for groups and tanks for moms, what a chore...
And constantly having females getting red runny noses :(

Racks are just easier and not that much more expensive than setting up 10 gallon tanks and buying wire cages and shelving and....
IMO racks are well worth the small cost to build even for a small colony.

I started out with tanks and it gets to be a chore to have to water and feed every day or two a rack keeps food for several days to a week and auto h2o is good for almost a week. I leave my moms together I have learned though that if you seperate them and give them the rest in between litters that your rats are better able to recoup.Here is a pic takes up less space and is easier to get to them all.

http://i1132.photobucket.com/albums/...l/100_3491.jpg

when im around and know im getting litters ready to pop out i do seperate them only due to the fact that most moms tend to be a little to loving and want to steal the other litter from the other mom and possible fighting might ensue, but i have forgotten at times and find that 2 moms are nursing the litters together without a problem...eventually one mome gets all the males and the other all females when its time to seperate them. As for watering well i use a watering system which i fill each week and i can actually leave for a week without a problem:snake: