I Got Too Many Dang Babies!

thx for the tips, Jo. I don't breed mine back but Peachy's had problems with her two litters, being too big and some of them have started to starve. This time, the girls had their litters 2 weeks (or so) apart, instead of just a couple of days. Since it worked before w/only a day between them, I thought I'd try to put them on Peek again. She accepted them and started taking care of them, but that meant I weaned her litter at just over 3 weeks, (I know...a little soon..) but I wanted to save these other babies. I don't have a need for pinks, but rather 20 gram'ers or bigger.


Anyway, grafting the five onto Peek (again) meant that she's been steadily nursing for about seven weeks, and with the heat, even w/the kitten food and all she can drink and eat, she's lost some weight. I was just wondering how to help her more.

Peekaboo is such an AWESOME mommy, that this last litter, I kept five of the six females of her latest litter, to be a breeding colony instead of a pet mischief. They're all named and handled regularly and will be (sort-of) pets, but I'm going to put them in tubs or cages out in the garage as a 1.2 instead of in the bedrooms w/the other pet rats. I'm hoping her daughters will be such good mothering mommies, like Peekaboo. :)

I know Becky recommended a bit of raw chicken heart to me to help keep my breeder females in top form right after they deliver larger litters so you might want to try that. Even if the females get a bit thin from a lot of nursing they will bounce right back with rest and lots of good food. Don't worry about weaning at just past 3 weeks, lots of folks wean then anyways. I usually wean around 4 weeks myself but have weaned at 3 weeks if the mother rat seemed to want to be rid of her litter at that point.

If this current litter is old enough you might want to try removing them for a couple of hour long breaks during the day so she can rest and eat in peace and quiet. I'm trying that with Alita and her big litter as I've noticed even when she does try to get something to eat or drink she's generally dragging 5 or 6 leeches stuck to her teats along. Now that they are fuzzies and it's warm here anyways I figure they can go to baby rattie daycare (aka small seperate tub) for two one hour sessions a day and let poor Momma Rat get a break. That's when I give Alita her special treats to encourage her to eat when they are away from her.