Mothers fighting over babies.

[Bugsy]

I currently have a trio of adult rats, i got a litter last nite, and i noticed this morning that the 2 females were fighting over the babies to the point where they ripped the babies skin...i hav seperated the other female and the male to leave the mother with her babies, seemed to hav fixed the problem for now...can anyone tell me why this may have happened? i knew mothers helped feeding each others babies, but i didnt know that would fite over them to this extent....can i fix this problem?
Bugs.

 

[sigridshurte]

nothing fixes the problem they pretty much will always do it .... its very annoying. i seperat them just before they give birth

 

[Hsut77]

Some of mine are o.k with each other and make a pinky pile that they both feed etc. Others will fight over all the babies and keep them all for themselves and won't let the other mum near them. I just keep an eye on them all and seperate if needed.

 

[Bugsy]

ok thnx sigridshurte...does everyone else's rats do this when you hav 2 females togetha and one has babies? i thought that alot of people keep females togetha while raising young....the injuries on the babies look kinda bad, they have bits of skin ripped off but they hav another layer of skin underneath, does this heal? what sort of chance do they hav of surviving? will the mother try to fix the injured ones? or will she just ditch them? please help me out people, i am new to breeding rats.

 

[lauraschram]

You will find this happens a lot. Do not keep two females together when they have babies or most of the time you will end up with lots less babies. Seperate then just before they give birth.
If you send me photos of the babies i may be able to give you an idea of their chance of thier survival at this point - the mother may try to raise them or she will kill them. Probably best to leave it up to her. They are pretty good at knowing when their babies are/aren't worth trying to save.

 

[dragon lady]

it territorial.... most rodent are the same...including rabbits
with the exception of g/pigs....they share everything

if you would have left the other female in their...the mother would have killed her own young

 

[Bugsy]

thanks everyone for their help...i got in contact with the guy i bought the rats off, and i will be getting another male off him so i can hav 2 seperate tubs with a pair in each tub...i decided the trio thing is not worth the hassle....i guess this is like everything, ya havta learn the hard way cheers guys.