rat breeding question

so I started a new rat breeding pair ( 1 male & two females ) about a month and a half ago. About a week ago I saw one of the females start building up a nest and keeping her space away from the other two. Just a couple nights ago she gave birth to only 2 pinkies .... This is her first birth and she is on the younger side..... is this normal for them to give birth to so few?

Did she only give birth to two or is it possible she could have ate the dead babies?

There are a couple things that could have gone wrong and yes, being young can throw a low number. I have noticed that males and females (mostly females) that aren't raised together, will often fight over the babies for the first litter or two. It can be really, REALLY sickening when you open the tub and find babies with their neck or face ripped off.

Some first time mothers can also kill off their entire litter if they are nervous or threatened.
Recent introductions can do this.

I have also read and heard, that males can sense if babies are of their descent or not, and will kill them if they aren't his. Not sure about this one, haven't experienced it.

Pine dust, I think I was having a problem with this a while back because I will always finding fuzzies with their nose plugged up with dust. Kind of hard to drink milk and breathe at the same time, I imagine. These babies didn't seem to have milk bands. I don't know why I mentioned this one, but kind of something to look out for if you notice it.

nope nothing like that.... she just had two healthy babies... no still born, none eaten ( as far as I can tell ).... I was keeping a close eye on these to make sure everything went ok. As far as I can tell there were just two born..... just seemed like a really low number even for a smaller female.

I have had it just happens sometimes. It always happens when I'm in need of a big litter lol.

Is the other female prego? Are the two females the same age or litter mates?

yeah the two females are sisters and the male was older from another seperate breeding pair.... and yes it appears that the other female is prego.

Is it possible to give them both separate homes?

If she takes more than a week to give birth, I would say it may be because she was young. I think they go into heat every five days and while I have had some take more than one heat cycle to go, most females will give birth within a week of each other when in the prescence of a male during the same period. If it takes more than a week, she either skipped a cycle (doubtful if she is young because she can't defend herself as easily to an older male) or just hit sexually maturity after the first female. Getting pregnant right after hitting sexual maturity can result in a low number count, the same as they do when they are older and around menopause. Rats are weird though, because even though what I stated has been the norm for me, I have had some females give close to 20 for their first birth, but I usually wait until they are 12 weeks old.

Hibiscusmile - Huh? if you are talking about the newborn rats then no as they would die without their mom and if your talking about the two mothers then..... no as it wouldn't be a breeding pair ( 1 male & 2 females )

Rick - Thanks for all the info.... I'm going to chalk it up to young female small clutch.... We'll see what her sister does in a couple days I guess.

sorry Nick not Rick..... my bad

I just thought is she was alone with her babies, then the others could not get to them. I know with my rabbits they had to be alone.