Several Rat Questions

[artist&writer]

Does anybody have any idea why baby rats getting ready to be weaned suddenly die? They have no marks on them whatsoever. Do you feed off older females that have obvious tumors? Do you find that older females that have small litters let their babies all die?

[Stewart_Reptiles]

I don't feed off females with tumors that's a personal choice.

As far as pups not making it it could be for various reason from tempertures to chemichal exposure to the female inability to feed them (they would in that case appear malnourished) to diseases that affect rats (megacolon for example)

I retire the females when they produce 8 babies or less so by that time there is really no issue other than "low" production, the older the female the smaller the litter, some female may have issues producing milk etc, and a female producing a handfull of babies is sadly not worth it when you breed feeders.

[Daigga]

Does anybody have any idea why baby rats getting ready to be weaned suddenly die? They have no marks on them whatsoever. Do you feed off older females that have obvious tumors? Do you find that older females that have small litters let their babies all die?

Any females with obvious health problems need to be culled IMO. It's better for them and for your colony as a whole. Any females that neglect their litters or seem to have hidden problems (like their offspring suddenly dying for no obvious reason) should also be culled for the same reason. Ideally, you want your females to be healthy, produce large litters, and care for them well until it's time for the pups to be taken away. It sounds like you may need to contact some local rat breeders for some better breeding stock if you're having problems like these often.

Are you giving your girls a break between litters? Over breeding females could be a cause of various health problems and/or small litter sizes. I kept my colony on a 12 week rotation when I had it, giving each tub of females up to 4 weeks to rest after weaning a litter to regain everything that birth and baby raising takes out of them.

[artist&writer]

Does anybody have ideas on how to catch rats? I have about 6-7 that got loose in my house. They are smart enough to stay out of the live trap. Is there any way to keep them from killing and eating each other?

[wolfy-hound]

Generally speaking, I've only had rats eat each other when they run short of water OR when they are not on a good diet. I'm sure that overcrowded rats would also kill and eat each other.

I start out trying to catch a loose rat with a live trap, or a bucket(deep bucket). If the rat does get into and out of the bucket, I put water in it so it has to swim. A swimming rat can't jump out.

If these don't work, I start using snap traps and lethal measures. Rats can destroy way too much for me to let them roam about freely.

[John chandor]

I have never had a problem with my baby rats dying but make sure to not wean them early (maybe try giving them an extra week) and make sure food and water is accessible to the babies.

I would recommend culling rats with tumor. I would not recommend feeding them to your snake.

Rats will usually only eat their babies over stress or lack of protein. Older rats may not be able to take care of a bunch of babies so she may have to eat some or all.

Hope this helped