moving the babies from one tank to the next

[SquamishSerpents]

hey there, i recently had a batch of ASF babies be cannibalized. i have read a lot of places that ASF's don't generally eat their young, even if you move them to clean their cages. since it was cleaning day, i went ahead even with the newborns in there. well, as soon as i had moved the whole group back to their fresh tanks, they started eating the babies.

it's actually quite gross to watch, they're so meticulous with their cannibalization!

i knew there was nothing i could do, so i just let them be. i think 3 out of 9 survived so far, and another mom dropped a litter since and they seem to be doing just fine, no more eating the young.

but then i got to thinking, since the ASF's have such a good system of helpin' each other out, could i have saved the babies by taking them from the cannibalizing parents, and putting them in the other tank, with the other colony? has anyone ever done this and had success?

thanks.

[Mike Cavanaugh]

No.

Was this their first litter? Often times a group will eat some of if not all of their first litter. This should not happen after that first litter though. If it does you either have a problem with your food or water, or just a bad group of breeders that need to be fed off.

[SquamishSerpents]

it may have been their first litter, i'm not 100% sure because i can't tell the rats in that colony apart. they were all put together at the same time, same age, and i'm not sure if they all have already had a litter or not. thanks though, i'll keep an eye out. there's babies in there now and none have been eaten, so i hope it continues that way.

[irishanaconda]

i have had this happen a couple times now and if i notice the 1.3's or 1.2 keep doing it i feed off one of the females to take the setup down to 1.1 and it seems to be working.

[pavlovk1025]

Whenever I clean bedding and there are babies in the tank, I move the adults into a separate tub first, then I scoop out the nest (babies+bedding) into a little bowl that I have off to the side. Then I replace the adults first and then move the babies+bedding into a corner so as to preserve the scent. I dont know if this works or not, but after cleaning I dont experience any cannibalism. Any babies that get eaten usually get eaten within the first 3 days after birth.

[jason79]

but then i got to thinking, since the ASF's have such a good system of helpin' each other out, could i have saved the babies by taking them from the cannibalizing parents, and putting them in the other tank, with the other colony? has anyone ever done this and had success?

thanks.

I don't have any ASF but with my regular rats I move babies around to different momma's all the time. If I have one that starts to eat the babies or I combine small litters so one of the momma's can go back to breeding and I never have a problem with it.