young male rat older male rat

Question
QUESTION: hello
ive got two dumbo ear blue rats about 5 months old,good temperment, we brought two female rats and one was pregnant from the store she had 7 ,4 girls 3 boys,the boys are 4weeks 5days old , weve put them in the large cage with many levels  for space because we dont want them to lay with there sisters or mother and have more babies,we have done this only a few days ago, we let them meet on neutral grounds and they were fine with eachother so moved them in with the older boys,one of my blues has become abit of a father figure to them and wont let them go out of his vision he keeps pulling the babies back down to the bottom of the cage and picking them up with protest from the babys im finding it hard to know why he keeps doing this, ive watched and its not that he hurts them but more protecting them but not letting them go anywhere either, out of the 3 ive got new home for two of them and then there will be one left on his own, my concern is will this little one be ok with the slightly older two and when he picks them up can he hurt them etc... any help on this would be good , id like them to be together as the little baby one would be by himself and i hate for them to be on there own...thanks lisa..

ANSWER: How much older is the male rat than the baby?

Often a male adult can kill a baby rat for unknown reasons so I would be leary.  It sounds cute that he is being so protective but its also not real common. However, I have not been around alot of male adult rats with baby rats that young I only know what I have been taught. You can ask Robin or Janell, the other two experts on here that are breeders. They may be more used to seeing this than I am and can let you know if this is ok or not. I say its not safe, but again, my line of work falls more on the medical aspect of it all and I may just be paranoid.

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QUESTION: hi again the blues that the baby is in with are 5 months old and the baby is over a month old.it seems that the older blue is protecting the youngster but im also paranoid because one of the male babies who seem to have had a fit but also seemed to be perking up must have died and in the night his auntie ate his inside's im so pleased i didnt find him and my husband did.i would have gone to pieces just after we seperated the sex into there own type, one of the boys had a fit and seemed unwell i moved him into a glass tank with another brother and his mum's sister i.e auntie for company i watched him and he seemed to be perking up i hand feed him baby rice and he ate fine then started back on solids but in the night he must have passed away and the adult female must of tried to clean up ive spoke to one of the experts on here about it and said she was cleaning up the nest as its insinct to do so etc etc.. quiet grose but i guess thats nature..they all are clean and well feed.. just one of them things i guess. anyway i'll ask one of the breeders thankyou for your help,it's a fantasic site im glad i came across it..

Answer
Sorry it took so long to get to you. I am on vacation and forgot to put myself on hold so I am trying to do fun vacation stuff plus keep up with my rattie friends!

I am sorry your baby died. The other girl on here that told you that was normal to eat the other rat is right. This is actually a way to show respect too, to dispose of them properly as they do in the wild, leaving nothing for predators to get.

Anyhow, good luck! hang in there!