Should I try to foster?

So I currently have two litters of rats. One 6 day old litter (7 pups) and one two day old litter (8 pups). At first the mother of the older litter was doing very well, obsessivly nesting and caring for babies, keeping weight on and such. But I've noticed that she's lost a lot of weight, she's very boney now. Her babies also seem colder than usual, and seem a bit skinny today. She also managed to cut her nose somehow. I'm wondering if it would be better to foster this litter to the mother with the younger litter, so that the first mother can recover and put weight on again. She is currently eating 23 percent rat pellets, along with some dog food ( 32 percent protein, maybe a few pieces per day) and some sunflower seeds (Introduced today). Picture of the two litters below, the hooded is the older litter, the light one is from the two day old litter to show size.

Is the nose actually cut or is it porphyrin discharge? Porphyrins will cause what looks like a bloody nose or blood around the eyes when a rat is stressed or coming down with an RI. It might be worth trying to foster a couple of the babies as long as you don't overwhelm the other mother as well.

As a side note... Sunflower seeds are also very fatty and more of a treat so be careful about how much you give them. A bit of chicken liver or cooked egg might be a better kick for protein.
It's been ages since I've looked up diets for rats, but I'd be careful about packing on dog food for extra protein. Sure a few kibbles to supplement is fine... But especially good to try offering things like fresh fruits/veggies/Cheerios cereal as supplements and enrichment treats too. Hand feeding some of those will help work towards keeping them a bit more friendly too. Too much protein can cause kidney and skin issues in rats as well, so if not just a porphyrin discharge, that could be a cause for the nose.

I do believe it's blood. I've seen the red discharge on my other rats. She seems to have a small gash on her nose, I believe it was from a poorly made hopper feeder now. It's been removed. Her food is currently in a bowl until she gets her weight back up. I've put a few from the older litter in to see how mum 2 reacts. I'm wondering if the feeder might be part of her weight loss. If it was hurting her when she went to eat she might not have wanted to eat as much.

That far apart it probably won't work out very well to foster the whole litter but maybe fostering a couple will help take some pressure off the mom that isn't doing so well. I think it's a good idea to boost her protein while nursing even if she wasn't struggling, so the 32% dog food will probably help. I'd just watch what kind of dog food, some is really healthy for rats and others is really unhealthy. Corn isn't good for them (or dogs for that matter), which is present in most of the cheap dog foods and even some of the pricy ones.

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Originally Posted by nikkubus

That far apart it probably won't work out very well to foster the whole litter but maybe fostering a couple will help take some pressure off the mom that isn't doing so well. I think it's a good idea to boost her protein while nursing even if she wasn't struggling, so the 32% dog food will probably help. I'd just watch what kind of dog food, some is really healthy for rats and others is really unhealthy. Corn isn't good for them (or dogs for that matter), which is present in most of the cheap dog foods and even some of the pricy ones.

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I did end up fostering three of the pups to the second mom. She's taken to them quite well and all involved seem to be doing a bit better.

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Originally Posted by BallPythonWannaBe

I did end up fostering three of the pups to the second mom. She's taken to them quite well and all involved seem to be doing a bit better.

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That was a good idea. I do that now & then, & it's the same with mice also- if one mom is overwhelmed & another can take a few more. :gj:

But with mice, it's best to roll the babies about to be fostered in some used litter from the nest they're going to, as babies can be attacked (killed) for smelling like a different male. Rats are usually better about this, more accepting, but either way, the males use their urine to scent mark, & it's noticeable on the offspring.

You can also feed insects to rodents. Giving them some dubia roaches or mealworms would help for protein (dubias have about 3x more protein than mealworms). You can usually find breeders selling cheaply/giving away extra adult male roaches.