ASF Pinkies questions..

Hey Guys!

So my pregnant ASF that I have been bombarding the forum with questions about finally dropped the pinky bomb and I have a whole slew of questions for you guys.

1. I am assuming she started birthing within the last couple of hours.. she is still pretty fat though so I'm not sure if she has more to pop out or not so I haven't tried touching them.. How long should I wait before I get in there and change up the bedding/ get rid of any dead babies? I don't want to move them too early and mom and dad are being very protective..

2. How long before the babies are strong enough to be handled for moving/ changing the substrate. The bedding hasn't been changed in a few days, so I want to get it as clean in there as possible now.

3.. Now that mom is going to be nursing is there anything that I should be including with her food.. are there any special dietary needs for nursing Natal Rats?

Is there anything else you guys can suggest to help me, help them grow and healthy :) LOL

I'll post pictures in the morning.

Cheers!
Chris.

I would leave them be for awhile and just change the toilet corner. I've found with ours for the first week or so they don't seem to much like us in there for anything.

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I am a breeder of ASF's. I have around 1000 at any one time under my care. A total of 110 different tubs with breeders,weanlings and subadults. I can not afford to do room service at their convenience. When is cleaning day everybody gets a sanitized tub with new aspen and newspaper no matter at what stage of the game they are in. For the breeder's babies I tear up newspaper to try to simulate the old nest they had built and gently put the babies there. Best is to feed Harlan or Mazuri lab block in combination with millet and any grains I also use carrots as a once a week treat. There is a FB group called African Soft Furred Rats Breeders Circle lots of info on that group.

I usually just change bedding on my normal schedule whether or not there are pinks. It doesn't hurt to move them as long as you are gentle.
If a mom just gave birth, I'll give a day to recover if she dropped her litter on cleaning day.

You can give your mama Ensure to give her a nice boost in energy. It's a nice treat for them as well.