do you take the babies out before their eyes open?

[pliskin]

the second litter my ASF's had looks like they're almost ready to be weaned. they're moving around the tank pretty good on their own and it looks like the mother has stopped nursing them.

but their eyes are still not open yet. I want to remove them to a grow out tank , but I don't want to move them too early and have them die on me.

so, do you guys take them out before their eyes are open , or should I wait for another week or so ? this particular litter was born on jan 8

[sassy-pants]

Wait until their eyes are open. I usually wean mine within a few days of them opening their eyes, but never before.

[pliskin]

but what if the mother isn't allowing them to feed from her anymore?

she looks ready to drop another litter and she's now spending most of the time on the opposite end of the tank , completely ignoring them.

I just want to get them out of there so she doesn't start eating them again.

[771subliminal]

but what if the mother isn't allowing them to feed from her anymore?

she looks ready to drop another litter and she's now spending most of the time on the opposite end of the tank , completely ignoring them.

I just want to get them out of there so she doesn't start eating them again.

they seem to drop a new litter right when the last one is ready to be weaned, but i have had to leave one or 2 in with the new litter due to them not being ready. they dont seem to mind a bit

[Kevin_Hornby]

I wean all my babies at 13 grams. (Thats the size they can no longer fit through 1/2 mesh)

[pliskin]

I looked in on them again today and she's still nursing them , just not as much. I guess I'll leave them in for a few more days 'til they open their eyes.

[docturgonzo]

I have just had a similar issue . Mine were at 20 days and i have had to pull away from the mother as she has just laid another (or one of my pregnant females has) litter and has started to kill my 20 day olds.

I have pulled them and they are eating and drinking fine. Personally i think 20 days is about the absolute earliest i would pull, considering eyes only opened 3 days prior to that but they are all drinking and eating a small bird seed mix and porridge oats.

The female will gradually spend less and less time with the litter as the days pass and the young wean, its part of the weaning progress.

They are set up to deal with multiple litters so they will handle babies of all sizes mixed together generally so i wouldnt worry

[pliskin]

I wouldn't be so concerned about it if I had more than one female in there to share the load on feeding, but this particular breeding group was my first attempt at breeding and it was 1.1

my other group of 1.2 just had a litter, but I wasn't expecting them to since they didn't even look mature enough. They're much smaller than my 1.1 , and the pinkies are tiny.

[Darkice]

I wait a week after their eyes are open. By then they will be fine.

[pliskin]

thanks , all.