I just got a breeding colony... A Momma Rat Question

[OFRD_GRL]

I see that alot of people on here separate the moms when they give birth & for raising...

The person I got my breeding group from told me to keep all the moms together because they all act as nannys to the whole group of babies...

I have 3 females in one container... one has (11) 2 day old babies... they are all fine together it seems. The other 2 females have not birthed yet.

Figured I would get input.

I have enough tubs for them all to be individual, and had originally planned on them being that way... but when she said she kept them together, I just did that for now.

Thanks!

[takagari]

... you wont find many people telling you to seperate. Rats are great in small groups as moms. Take the male out once they are all prego though.

At least this worked flawlessly for me and many others I know


Shawn

[nevohraalnavnoj]

I have seen large scale breeders do it successfully both ways. I separate the moms when they give birth, sometimes putting them back together about a week later or so if I am short on space. The reason I do this is because if several mommas drop babies at once, I find that they fight over the babies...essentially a big game of tug-of-war with a rat pink. Lots of them get killed in the process.

If you separate them to give birth, or there are no other birthing moms in the tubs, I don't see this fighting happen. After the babies are established, mom's tend to nanny each other's babies pretty well with minimal scuffling.

It's really an issue of what your goal is: fewer tubs, then use colonial breeding. Or, if you prefer to have the highest per momma output, then you will do well to separate birthing moms. Just my $.02.

JonV

[OFRD_GRL]

Awesome thanks a million!!

Ya I have the male separated and the 3 females together.

[Wh00h0069]

I used to keep the moms together, but had a lot of issues with infant deaths. Some of the moms were eating the other mom's babies. I have much less of an issue now that I separate my females once they become gravid.

Hope this helps.

[OFRD_GRL]

I guess I will see how it goes and if separation is necessary, then it can definitely be done

[kazboots]

My friend and I have raised rats for both food and pets, I have kept everybody together, a lot of time we don't even take the father out unless the moms need a break. About the only time I separate the mom is if the cage I have them in won't work for babies, some of my pets are in chinchilla cages that babies can escape from. If the moms do fight over the babies I would separate but other than that leaving them together should be fine, I only really had a problem once but the other mom had lost her own litter. Every rat is different so once you know how they act,you will know how to proceed in the future.

[nevohraalnavnoj]

I used to keep the moms together, but had a lot of issues with infant deaths. Some of the moms were eating the other mom's babies. I have much less of an issue now that I separate my females once they become gravid.

Hope this helps.

Ditto. Also, I think it's "pregnant" rather than "gravid".

JonV

[nevohraalnavnoj]

I guess I will see how it goes and if separation is necessary, then it can definitely be done

That's what I did. I tried colonial at first, then when I had pairs of mom's only coming out with 3-10 babies total due to deaths, I decided it was time to separate.

JonV

[OFRD_GRL]

Thanks for all the input

I will get pictures tonight of all of them for you guys. Supposedly one of the moms puts out rex babys.. I dunno tho.. genetics in rats are not high point?