I shall have ALL the babies!

That's awesome and cracked me up! Love her color. One of my females dropped her first litter last night and I'm a nervous wreck, lol! Thanks for the pic and the laugh and good luck to her and you as well! :gj:

Lol that's cute!

Thats pretty funny actually. Just be careful with this as not all of the babies will get the milk they need. The stronger babies will push the weaker ones out. Its always a good idea to separate the females just before they have their litters. Just saying, I'm sure you know what you are doing.

i have a rat that does that with every litter. if she has ANY babies regardless of age she will steal all of the other females babies.

That is too cute!!

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Originally Posted by twistedtails

Thats pretty funny actually. Just be careful with this as not all of the babies will get the milk they need. The stronger babies will push the weaker ones out. Its always a good idea to separate the females just before they have their litters. Just saying, I'm sure you know what you are doing.

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After the initial 'new mom' antics, she's gotten better about switching off with the other mom. I have been keeping an eye one them, most of the time when both moms are nursing one will have most of the older litter, and the other will take the younger. Due to space constraints I keep my females in perma-pairs. For breeding I'll have either 1.2 or 1.4, but once one of the perma-pair "pears out", where they're obviously going to give birth in the next couple days, I'll move them into their own cage. I haven't had any real problems - worst I had was for some reason only one of a pair ended up pregnant, and I think the non-pregnant girl ate a couple babies, but the 5 remaining are big and healthy, and the non-preg girl actually helps mother them now, so I doubt it'll happen again.

Just had to add a pic I took today. I swear, Hera really is the funniest rat I've ever had.
http://i721.photobucket.com/albums/w...ck/HeraWut.jpg

Cute pic. Quick question tho, I have tried to put 2 moms together in same aquarium 50gal, and they always eat the other ones babies...I know the male does this, but wasn't aware of the females doing this to each other.

Last litter I had, it was 5 weeks and the babies were still nursing from the mother and trying to eat or eating a little of the food out of the food dish. I left the babies in there thinking that maybe they still needed the mom and weren't weaned yet. Next day, all the babies were eaten by the mother. Only half the bodies remained. It was brutal.

Any ideas???? :confused::tears:

I usually start keeping the females together way before they're ready to breed, it seems to help if they've bonded. Usually, if it's not fighting over the babies, moms will only eat the babies if they're lacking something in their diet. I only feed lab blocks and I haven't had any problems, but if thats what you're feeding, then maybe try supplementing their diet. My best guess would be that they want more protein, so a little hard-boiled egg, or even diet cat food (in small amounts. Its really high in protein) might help. If they continue to eat their babies, of their cage-mate's babies, feed them off, and try getting a hold of some more docile rats.

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Originally Posted by LotusCorvus

I usually start keeping the females together way before they're ready to breed, it seems to help if they've bonded. Usually, if it's not fighting over the babies, moms will only eat the babies if they're lacking something in their diet. I only feed lab blocks and I haven't had any problems, but if thats what you're feeding, then maybe try supplementing their diet. My best guess would be that they want more protein, so a little hard-boiled egg, or even diet cat food (in small amounts. Its really high in protein) might help. If they continue to eat their babies, of their cage-mate's babies, feed them off, and try getting a hold of some more docile rats.

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I usually get 4 females to 1 male. When they get pregnant I put 2 in each aquarium and keep the male separate. So they have bonded before time. I have tried lab blocks, but they are not only expensive at PetCo/PetSmart, but they also only eat a little of it, then put the block down, and grab another, then put it down, and since they don't eat it all, I notice that if I don't refill their dish that they refuse to eat. So, I have to throw out the 1/2 eaten blocks and put new in. It was such a waste of money for me. So, as soon as they get pregnant I start feeding them hard-boiled or scrambled eggs, also apple cores, almonds, and a good variety of food. I have talked to other rodent breeders and they told me to go get puppy chow or another good protein dog food small enough bites for them to eat. That is what I am using now.