baby rats and dad

Question
my 5 month old albino rat just gave birth unexpectedly today and had 9 kittens. i removed dad as i am scared he might eat them but feel sorry for him as he might be a good dad. can you give me any advice on the matter. kay

Answer
Dear Kay,
thank you for your question.
If you put them together again, they will mate again almost immediately. Apart from that, the group scent will be lost by now, you will have to reintroduce them, but it's better to wait until the babies are no longer depending on their mother.
I recommend either nutering the male and reintroducing them after six weeks (rats can successfully mate up to six weeks after neutering) or leaving the female babies with the mother and introducing the male babies to their father when they are about four to five weeks old (that's the age when they can leave their mother, they will be able to breed shortly after that). I would prefer keeping two groups because neutering is always a bit risky.

Here's a list of US rodent vets if you want to neuter the male or if you need help with sexing the babies:
http://www.rmca.org/Vets/
and here's a website with some more information on rat babies, rat introduction ect.
http://www.rmca.org/Resources/rmcafaq.htm

I hope I was of some help to you
Jennifer