2 litters in one tub bad idea?

Hey guys and gals i have a week old litter and one that showed up today. My concern is they have all be put into one giant pile lol. My question, is it ok for them to be like this being there are tiny pinks in next to fuzzies? Will the pinks be suffocated or not be able to reach food over the older ones? http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/02/10/vagyhe9u.jpg


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Generally when you have such a difference in size between the babies and regardless of the rodent, yes it will be an issue, the larger baby will be fed whereas the smaller ones won't be as lucky, which tend to translate in losses.

u can try but I would split them up

yikes, will it be ok to put them by themselves with babies or should i keep at least one extra adult female with momma ( for social reasons or nanny help)?

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Originally Posted by MonkeyShuttle

yikes, will it be ok to put them by themselves with babies or should i keep at least one extra adult female with momma ( for social reasons or nanny help)?

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Moms will do better on their own they will be busy nursing so there is no need for another female with them, the only way I would consider having another female is if that female had a litter of the same size too.

Putting a female with a litter with one that does not have one is never a good idea either. ;)

with that settles that then. thanks Deb!

im close to having this same issue. i started my colony with 1 male 2 females. one of the females dropped her first litter of 10 on the 18th and i expect the second female to drop any day. they are in a pretty big tub and ive provided 2 bowls for them. should i try to move them to separate bowls if they give birth in same bowl?

cage view
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/320...0/812/t20a.jpg
first litter :)

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/320...0/812/t20a.jpg

I don't really have any issues with different age litters on top of one another. I feel like splitting them up could cause more problems than leaving them together, because ASFs have weird social structures.

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Originally Posted by grrmisfit

im close to having this same issue. i started my colony with 1 male 2 females. one of the females dropped her first litter of 10 on the 18th and i expect the second female to drop any day. they are in a pretty big tub and ive provided 2 bowls for them. should i try to move them to separate bowls if they give birth in same bowl?

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They'll probably separate them into both bowls no matter what. Most moms split the nest into 2 smaller nests if the strain is high on her body. So they might mix the 2 litters up, but they'll probably use both bowls. :)

We do ASFs in 1.3 groups and dont have many loses of pinks, aside from stillborns. The mothers will seperate the larger young usually and they take turns nursing. You do have to be wary though to wean them off at the appropriate age. The offspring of the mother needs to be weaned out before she drops another litter. Having two litters in the same cage from a single mother is too much and messes up the balance of females to offspring.