communal female method

I have always kepy my female rats seperate, and rotated my male. Well, I would "rest" the females together, between breedings, in a large tank, and then place the male with them, and then give each girl a solo cage when she became preggo.
With one pair of my females, now, I leave them together. They have raised two litters thus far together; no baby-stealing, baby-eating, or problems. They actually raise the babies together in a big pile. The two were originally sister rats, and have never been seperated.. maybe this is why they get along good?
I have tried pairing females in the past to raise babies, and it always led to one girl stealing all of the babies. I guess it can be done though! I kinda prefer this method, because the females are able to raise their yong with a buddy who can fulfill their need for social interaction. I don't see these girls trying to "escape" like my solo females sometimes do when it seems like they need a break from their young; these females will share motherly duties and this allows each to have a break; but mostly, they're cuddled up with the babies together.

Well, i started off with only 2 females and let them raise the babies together. This worked very well. I then tried the solo option. This worked well for one of the females, she had 8 babies. It did not work so well for the other mom, she had 15. After 2 weeks the mom did not look so good, nor did the babies. So i moved both moms together and they started communal feeding with no problems. Both mom and babies are looking alot better. I think i will only be doing the communal feeding from now on.

I buddy breed all my girls. Used to keep them separate, but now I keep them in small groupings, and for all the same reasons... sharing babes, being socialable, etc.

I would swear by it. Never had a culled litter or any fights. I think the mothers get a lot out of it and that they bounce back a bit faster and seem less stressed.

The sharing of duties is the best part. Actually getting to lay down for a rest minus the teet leaches must be nice for them.

Bruce

I keep 3 girls in each tub, I have only had one problem, isolated that one girl and no more problems. Just keep plenty of food and water :)

Sister pairs or closely related pairs have been shown to share mothering duties better than pairs that are unrelated.

i keep 1.3 groups even with babies and dont have problems. i also do that with mice and my asfs (i have another trio now) they usually get along but if you just put groups together thats when they tend to have problems, well atleast in my observation. i have been told that i would have bigger litters if i pulled the females which i actually have doubts to but i might try it with the next groups i start.