Was it the diet change? *WARNING GRAPHIC PIC*

[jben]

Hey everyone,

I know all about the rats eating some of their youngs (pinks) but how about eating some of their 3-4 week old young?? I keep 0.2 per tub and in one of my tubs I had (13) 3week old babies left, I had fed some pups off. When I cleaned the tubs on 11/5 I had (8) 3 week old babies left and I wondered WTH happened, I had the feeling they were eaten but couldn't believe it, not at that age. Then I cleaned the tub on 11/12 I had (4) 4 week old babies left and I found one of the babies almost completely eaten (graphic pic below) The only thing that I have changed was the diet, I used to feed Mazuri but switched about a month ago to TSC Doggie bag. Are they eating the babies because they're not getting all the nutrition they need? Should I cull the females? They are well fed and maintained, food and water at all times and cleaned once a week depending on smell. I was thinking of going back to Mazuri but will wait to hear some advice.
I forgot to mention, the male was never in the tub with the babies. He gets rotated but unfortunately he died two weeks ago, I don't have a clue why.
Thanks

*GRAPHIC PIC*


Also, I avg 16-22 pinks per female, pic below is 21

[Rhasputin]

If you're averaging 16 to 22 babies per litter, your rats need the absolute best nutrition available.

The only reason they would eat their babies at that age, is if they are seriously lacking in something. I would switch to feeding them your own mixed food. 16-22 is a LOT of babies for one mom to take care of, especially if you're using sub-par food.

I don't know about 'doggy bag' but it's not meant for rats, so I doubt it has the proper nutrition for them (not that most pre-bagged rat foods do either. )

[Powerspythons]

Get back on Mazuri...6F is the best. Dont be cheap out on the food just because they're rats, they're still animals too. Happy rats make more babies!!

[SlitherinSisters]

I don't know what Doggie Bag is like either. I don't feed my rats solely dog food, I feed a mix of dog food and rat food. I'm not sure, but the dog food could be lacking nutrition that the rat food has. For awhile I was feeding my pet rats some of my dog's expensive food and they were getting fat as heck, but my feeders who eat lower quality/protein dog food (and rat food) all the time aren't fat. They prefer the dog food over the rat food, even the Mazuri, but there may be something in rodent food that isn't in dog food. That's one thing I haven't closely studied. I know rodent food is mostly grains and so is cheap dog food, so.... who really knows, I'm too tried to look right now, I haven't slept yet. The joys of night shift

If you don't want to pay the money for Mazuri, which I understand! I used to feed Mazuri, but recently switched to Kent because it's half the price for double the amount of food. It's not as high of quality, but it's decent. Most feed stores can order it for you. If you aren't around a feed store, if there are any stores that sell horse/cattle feed they usually carry Kent. Granted I live in Iowa and feed/farm stores are rampant, I don't know what the rest of the country is like. You can do a search for Kent feeds on the net just like Mazuri and find dealers near you. I'm getting 50 pounds for $10.99.

Oh and you know how you always tease me about holding back too many babies! Well I picked up 11 rats from a friend of mine, and I'm holding back 6 babies I have right now. I knew at one point I had 13 breeders, so that puts me at at least 30 breeders..... I went a little crazy! Thank heavens I have 14 bps to feed now and can justify having so many dang rats!

[snakesRkewl]

I would guess the momma rat was low on protein and found out how to get some.
I've never lost a rat at that age due to predation and would probably switch back to Mazuri given the size of litters just to be sure.
I also supplement their food with yogurt for moms with babies, especially large litters.
I also give left over meats and other quality treats after dinner time, ok so I spoil my rats

[Shadera]

Dog food is for dogs. While it may be similar in makeup for those looking to pinch some pennies, the lab based research that goes into quality rodent foods is the best thing for them. I do mix in the DB 25/75 with Mazuri for the rodents I'm growing out, I wouldn't dream of offering it to breeders.

Never seen moms eat babies that were that far along. And it sure doesn't seem like it was a random occurrence. Myself, I'd feed that entire group off.

[SnakeKB]

Ive been feeding the TSC Dog Food for 2 months now. Its been great for me. I got my 1.4 setup mid September, every female dropped a litter of close to 12 all within days of each other. This was there first litter too. Ive got a weaned container with 40-50 babies right now. All the weaned are over 50g. The food really does work. All i can think of is if you changed the food while they had babies, that made them picky and wasnt eating the dog food at first which caused them to eat there young. I changed my soft furs from hog feed to dog food and one of my sets had some babies with them and they ended up eating 3 of them a couple days of switching food. Some animals dont adapt to change as well as others. Thats all i can think of. Also the dog food is 18% protein and the Muzuri 6F is 16% protein. There is nothing bad in the dog food that would harm the rats or make them malnutritioned. Doesnt even contain food coloring.

[girlundertherainbow]

I've never bred rat for feeders, but have for pet and show, and have never had rats cannibalize. I'd say they have to be seriously lacking in something. I also made my own food mixed from high quality dog kibble, high quality muslix type cereals, some dried pastas, and some Pretty Bird pellets. Among other fresh things from time to time. It's actually alot cheaper than Mazuri IMHO or any other "bought" food imho. I would do some lab blocks for teeth work as well.

[jben]

Thanks everyone. I will go back on Mazuri today. I thought maybe someone else expirienced this but I guess not, weird. I did notice that they eat the dog food much faster so in my personal expirience so far I don't think I really saved any pennies as planned but that's what I get for trying to save a dollar, it never fails. Thank you everyone.

Stephanie - WOW up to 30 breeders, talk about mass production...LOL As long as you have the snakes to "take care of them" . You figure the more rats the more snakes you're going to need...LOL After losing my male rat and some being eaten I'm falling behind. I'm raising two males to start breeding soon and I'm holding back two females from the pic above. The mother and grandmother always give me large numbers

[lilbit]

I only have 15 BP atm but i do have 3 hog island boa, im running 90 female rats each throwing about 12 pups every 6 weeks, so im looking at 150-180 rats a week. i use a mix of 2/5 Mazuri f6 2/5 kent, and 1/5 old style dog food cost per pound is around .44 its not so bad but i go threw alot a food a week so cutting a few corners with the dog food goes a long way sometimes. but i do notice that all of my pups eat the dog food over the rat block. i also feed all my adults yogurt 2 times a week and they are all put on weigh quick. some of my females are in the 500g range and my males are all over 600g