Mother died during birth

[zeion97]

I myself just started breeding rats about a month ago, I got my second female on 12/1 and she just had her first litter last night.. Well started, she delivered her first while I was at work and died with her second stuck halfway. I'm ASSumming that she died because her pelvis began to fuse from not being bred, to be honest I don't know her age, BUT I have another pregnant female who i got from the same store who I believe is 13 to 15 days in and now I'm a little worried. This will be my third litter in the next coming week and it isn't going well, the first litter I had was only 3 babies. HUGE but three (i'd sad 2.5 times normal size) The mother who died was a albino and EXTREMELY large, to be honest I know it's not much help because I don't know her age, but my two assumptions were she died from a breach pregnancy, {i believe i stated that right if not don't thrash me} or she died from a litter being simply to large.

Does anyone want to share with me some info? I'm kinda worried the other mother will die as well..

BTW both female rats are Albino's and i couldn't tell you what the dad was. I'm not good with identifying rats TBH.

I will also add the enclosure was Bloody, very bloody.. the female also had blood coming out of her mouth, which is what honestly worries me, I was going to take a picture but i couldn't bring myself to.. I saw her as more of a pet then a breeder, she was the first rat I've actually liked. Sorry about that though, I should have added the bloody part to begin with

[youbeyouibei]

That sucks and sorry to hear that you lost your female like that and under those circumstances. From the description of the litter and of your female, it almost sounds like gestational diabetes. I'm no expert by a long shot but from your description of the mom (large body size {obese?}) and also the description of the babies (larger than average size for pups, small number in litter, etc.); both of the above could also be signs of it having been her first litter, as those can sometimes be fewer in number...but that doesn't answer the larger-than-usual pup size.

It could also have been that she was too old to have been bred, especially if it was her first pregnancy. Female rats pelvis' don't fuse but it can be dangerous to breed them when they're older, as it can lead to complications. Not pointing blame at you, as you didn't know her age as you said, just saying that it can lead to issues. Not to be too graphic but if indeed it was a breech birth and she was straining, that could explain the amount of blood in the enclosure. Smaller capillary vessels and blood-rich areas of the body could have ruptured from her straining and being unable to deliver the stuck baby. Regardless, sorry for your loss and best of luck to you.

[snakesRkewl]

Too old or breech birth, sad but happens, especially when you have no idea how old the female was.

[wolfy-hound]

I recently lost a fairly young mom in birth also. It could be just "one of those things" that couldn't be helped(short of rushing the rat to emergency surgery at a vet or something, I guess).

The blood at her mouth could also have been from her attempting to clean herself during the birthing. Instead of it "issuing from" her mouth? Perhaps.

At any rate, I'm really sorry you lost her. I'll be thinking good thoughts for your next litter.

[zeion97]

That sucks and sorry to hear that you lost your female like that and under those circumstances. From the description of the litter and of your female, it almost sounds like gestational diabetes. I'm no expert by a long shot but from your description of the mom (large body size {obese?}) and also the description of the babies (larger than average size for pups, small number in litter, etc.); both of the above could also be signs of it having been her first litter, as those can sometimes be fewer in number...but that doesn't answer the larger-than-usual pup size.

It could also have been that she was too old to have been bred, especially if it was her first pregnancy. Female rats pelvis' don't fuse but it can be dangerous to breed them when they're older, as it can lead to complications. Not pointing blame at you, as you didn't know her age as you said, just saying that it can lead to issues. Not to be too graphic but if indeed it was a breech birth and she was straining, that could explain the amount of blood in the enclosure. Smaller capillary vessels and blood-rich areas of the body could have ruptured from her straining and being unable to deliver the stuck baby. Regardless, sorry for your loss and best of luck to you.

I think you confused my two females? I worded my post horribly to say the least.. I had three, 1 Albino who died during pregnancy, 1 Albino who is pregnant, and the other who had a small litter.

The albino that died was at a healthy weight when i got her, but during her pregnancy just got HUGE. I'm going with the fact though she was old, I learned today she was a retired breeder... Nice to be told right..? Hopefully I have no problems with the other Albino who should be giving birth here soon because she was younger. Thank you though for all the info.

and also a side question... Are you sure the pelvis doesn't fuse? I read on a rat breeding site it does? Of course it's the internet and you learn something new every day, so if so, it wouldn't be the first time I've been lied to!

[zeion97]

I recently lost a fairly young mom in birth also. It could be just "one of those things" that couldn't be helped(short of rushing the rat to emergency surgery at a vet or something, I guess).

The blood at her mouth could also have been from her attempting to clean herself during the birthing. Instead of it "issuing from" her mouth? Perhaps.

At any rate, I'm really sorry you lost her. I'll be thinking good thoughts for your next litter.

I'mm hoping it was one of those things, but as i said above, (for some reason your quote didn't get added to my reply..) I learned she was atleast a year old. I agree with what you said think back, the blood was more or less from her cleaning.

Thank you though, I'm hoping my next comes here in two to 4 days. Little girls looks plump.