Dirty Enclosure w/babies

My trio had babies a couple days ago and I am concerned about whether or not I should try to clean their enclosure. It needs cleaning, but I'm not sure how to go about moving the babies without the parents freaking to much to get it cleaned. Should I just wait for a while? Thanks.

Red

Its not that big of a deal red. Just remove the adults first. Then move the babies to a clean holding tank. Clean the cage and put the adults back in first and then return the babies. Unless she is still having babies on cleaning day we just clean the cage. 24 hours after babies are born you can clean the cage. I just don't recommend cleaning the cage with babies that are under 24 hours old after that you are good to clean. Also if they are first time breeders you should be careful pulling adults they like to bite. after a few litters they do calm down and get with the program and don't mind at all about you cleaning there cage. They know whats going on and just deal with it.

I honestly never know when babies are born these days, but if it's cleaning day, they get cleaned.

I get a new or holding tub ready (sometimes a 12 qt tub with aspen) throw the adults in there. Then I get my bowl and scoop the babies with some of the aspen from the nest into the bowl. Rats are very tuned to scent, and I figure it keeps the little bugs from squirming away and getting fussy.

Clean the tub, fresh litter, fresh aspen.

Put in babies with their small bit of old nest aspen for scenting purposes. (Otherwise, I find the babies will wiggle out of the nest, the scent from the used aspen bits seems to keep them happy and in place)

Then I put in whatever extras, wood, paper rolls, seeds. Then replace parents and move on to next tub.

Bada bing!

I do pretty much exactly what Connie does. Parents out first, parents back in last - tends to keep you from getting nipped by them.

ha Connie and joanna do you guys ever have problems with the adults moving the babies around after you put the adults back in. We save the babies for last so that you don't have one mom start dragging all the babies around while putting the other adults back in.

Right after I sent you the pm, I decided it just had to be cleaned. We took the adults out, put the pinky pile in with the 'rents, cleaned the tubs, put the adults back in, then the pinks back in with the adults. No baby eating, so I was happy. We for sure have 2 separate litters in there, and a third on the way, so I am glad to have production going again.

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Originally Posted by snakedork

ha Connie and joanna do you guys ever have problems with the adults moving the babies around after you put the adults back in. We save the babies for last so that you don't have one mom start dragging all the babies around while putting the other adults back in.

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Yep sometimes a fussy or really dominant female will do that. I use hides for the breeder ASF's so when I return the babies (and a bit of their used litter), I put them back in the hide. Generally the adults are so busy checking out the filled food bowls they don't mess with the babies much. If you are having that issue though, as long as the female isn't biting at the baby, she won't hurt it. You can also distract her from that by offering a food type only given on cage cleaning day - a bit of greens or other fruit or veggie.

Btw, the big long boxes from capri sun drink pouches make super ASF hides. :)

You guys and gals are all awesome. Thank you so much for all the responses. You have been very helpful. Here are a couple of pics for your trouble. :) Oh, my other female(Laverne) is getting ready to have her first litter too. Man, the first(Shirley) had nine. I wonder how many Laverne will have? The male's name is... ...yup, you guessed it, Squiggy. Probably shouldn't have named them, but my wife couldn't resist. I keep telling her, they are not pets. :D

Best,
Red

Here they are in the spare tub while theirs is being cleaned.
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e1...d/100_2942.jpg
The Babies
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e1...d/100_2941.jpg

Cuties!!! got a self or two there...nice. My mommas have placed all the little guys to a corner before, right after cleaning. But I leave them and soon she puts them back in there hut. They do get better with more litters. I also use clementine boxes cut in half as a nice cheap hut.:gj:

I have mine in 10 gallon tanks. I have 3 groups - one for the breeders, one for the weaned females, one for the weaned males. So, I have 4 10 gallon tanks - I have an extra 10 gallon that I would prepare, then move the rats there, moving the adults first then the babies. I then clean the 10 gallon that they just vacated and prep it for the next set of rats and so on leaving one empty tank after I'm all done.

I'm getting pretty fast with the clean-up. By the way, the first thing I do before dumping substrate is take out all of the hides, tubes, water bottles, food hoppers, wheels, etc. for all 3 tanks and rinse them off with dishwasher soap and very hot water in a big tub. Using hot water to rinse makes them dry much faster. Then I fill out the water bottles and the food hoppers. So then when I set-up the fresh tank, I just towel dry the stuff and put it in the fresh tank then put the rats in. I usually get this all done well under an hour but, I've been known to spend A LOT of time just watching the rats run around in the fresh tank trying to "re-arrange" everything, digging the substrate, moving babies, etc., that I sometimes find myself wasting an entire Saturday morning...

I used to dump my tanks out, wash them, dry them, then set back up. It works very well, but was taking way too much time. Now I do it the easy way.....

I use an old license plate to push everybody to one corner of the tank (same corner the babies are in)... turn on the shop vac, and suck up all the old stuff. Then I throw a handful of new pine in and bingo, I am done. I can litterally clean 15 tanks in less then 30 minutes. I might wash the tanks out every once in a while, but it has been 2 months since the last washing, and they still don't need it.

If you want to try this method, make sure the shop vac is OUTSIDE when you use it!!!! otherwise the cloud of funk could kill you!

OP, as you can see by my methods that does not result in any babies deaths, you don't have anything to worry about.

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Originally Posted by Mike Cavanaugh

I used to dump my tanks out, wash them, dry them, then set back up. It works very well, but was taking way too much time. Now I do it the easy way.....

I use an old license plate to push everybody to one corner of the tank (same corner the babies are in)... turn on the shop vac, and suck up all the old stuff. Then I throw a handful of new pine in and bingo, I am done. I can litterally clean 15 tanks in less then 30 minutes. I might wash the tanks out every once in a while, but it has been 2 months since the last washing, and they still don't need it.

If you want to try this method, make sure the shop vac is OUTSIDE when you use it!!!! otherwise the cloud of funk could kill you!

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Yea, my only complaint about cleaning ASF tubs is there are so darn many of them to pick up! And once they start running around the tub, they can sometimes take a little bit to catch them. I grab three or more tails at once if I can and drop them in a clean tub.

I forgot to mention, I don't do it the way I posted anymore except for 2 tubs with a high number of animals (it's a bigger tub style).

I have an extra tub on hand. I set it up first, then just transfer everyone over to the new one. Clean out the dirty one, replace bedding and toys, then repeat with the next tub.

But exactly like Mike said, when I first got these guys I kept them in a long glass tank. I just moved everyone over to one side, scooped out the old litter, and replaced, then went to the other side. But that was when I only had the one tank, and it was more of "too heavy" for me to lift and carry to a trash can.

That shop vac was probably the single best investment I have made since breeding the rats. That and the Power Kill Victor Rat Snap Traps :)

I soooooooooooo need a shop vac. :(

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Originally Posted by frankykeno

I soooooooooooo need a shop vac. :(

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The smaller ones are actually pretty cheap. You don't necessarily need a huge one. Menards carries all different sizes.:)

Best,
Red

Have not tried the shop vac thing but thats sounds cool. I use the plastic I cut from the tub lids as my "safer" barrier from nippy moms.:fishslap:

I got a high quality full size ryobi from Home depot for 80 bucks. you don't want a smaller one because you would have to empty it out a couple times while cleaning. I can do all my asf's without having to dump the bucket till I am all done. I believe it is a 5.5 hp motor?