Super male!

Some of my females are great communal mothers and some play tug of war with them. When I know a female is very pregnant (ready to pop)I isolate her so she can be alone and stress free with the babies and I have less problems. I pamper my rats and try to make their lives as comfy as possible. I have much better success that way!

What's your average litter size, Jake?

What size enclosure are you using for three adult female rats and their offspring (which could be 10 to 15 or so per female)?

Just my .02 cents: I don't think I've ever done more than 1 male to 3 maybe 4 females. I also do not seperate my pregnant females and have great success with the females sharing the work. Different things work for different people, and for me isolating females from their groups doesn't seem necessary nor does it make them very happy.

Again this is just my experience over the years raising mice, rats, and now african rats. Take any and all advice and go with what works for you.

I use cement tubs in a large rack. I let my males stay with the females.

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Originally Posted by frankykeno

What size enclosure are you using for three adult female rats and their offspring (which could be 10 to 15 or so per female)?

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I keep the females in the 28" by 19" tubs. My average litter varies. I have some females that give me huge litters and some that give me small litters but are very good moms so I keep em around anyways. Over all they average 11 babies as of this last month but most of the babies are frozen off by 1-2 week old now.

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Originally Posted by Pork Chops N' Corn Bread

I keep the females in the 28" by 19" tubs. My average litter varies. I have some females that give me huge litters and some that give me small litters but are very good moms so I keep em around anyways. Over all they average 11 babies as of this last month but most of the babies are frozen off by 1-2 week old now.

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How are you euthanizing them for freezing at 1-2 weeks?

The "flick" method. I tried CO2 at that age and it didn't seem to work nearly as fast.

Hm.. I have never had success with communal mothering. One mother always would steal all of the babies and ward the other one off. This happened all of the 3, maybe 4, times I have tried it.
I like seperating the moms, especially first-timers who are going to be WAY stressed to begin with. Giving them a nice, secure and solitary tank or cage is the way I roll. I hardly think that a birthing mom needs another female poking her nose in and irritating her; I actually put newspaper around the tanks of near-birthing moms to give them some respect and solitude.
10g tanks are dirt-cheap. I use those for nursing moms. Much more cost-effective than having schkitzy new moms become evern more stressed and cannibalizing.

In the years I have breed rodents I to have observed the moving of babies from one pile to another. "Most" of the time I have at least 2 females giving birth around the same time with the third helping out. I have never observed females fighting over babies when they are moved, I have seen females feeding either group of babies when separated. Alot of times litters are left in mass. In my experience the size of the enclosure, read as how much space they, have greatly effects the situation.