Quote Originally Posted by pliskin View Post
I have a question for you guys. The one that just gave birth, I had 1 male and 1 female.

I was told that its not a good idea to introduce another into the colony after they've started breeding.

so, should I just leave one of the females and raise her up to be another breeder?
Fallguy's post mentioning shared nursing made me think about this. I would have started the colony with a 1.2 ratio , but I couldn't get anther female at the time.

I've got two other 1.2 colonies in the works, but they're still a bit young, I think.

and, about the babies, they're moving around on their own now but they haven't opened their eyes yet. do I remove them as soon as they open their eyes?

and can I start feeding them the mazuri rat food right away?
You cant really add a new male to an existing colony, but you can definitely add a new female. I just did this the other day, and youll witness some fighting but theyll calm down and the female will be accepted after she either establishes her dominance or gets dominated.
I remove about 3days after they open their eyes, they usually figure it out on their own by that time. As for leaving a female in to raise as abreeder, it really is a waste. By the time she gets to breeding age (2-4 mths, 4 mths being typical) then half of your colony is ready to be retired.