Lost a good litter

[WmHrbst]

I am new to breeding rats and so far things have been going great! I run 1.4 in each large tub and keep them together at all times. This last time I decided to move the female into her own tub instead of keeping her with the others. Two days ago she had her litter of 10 and everything looked fine. I would peak in on them throughout the day and noticed she wasn't paying any attention to them and it started to get me a little worried. Today I came down to check and all of the pinkies were dead and the mom was just going about her business as usual. The only thing I can think of is that I moved the mom and stressed her out with the move. I read as much as I can on this forum regarding rat breeding and see many different opinions on the topic of moving females/males; any opinions on this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Bill

[kdreptiles]

Is this mom's first litter? How did the babies look? Did they have any milk in them (white spot on the side of the belly) or were they emaciated? What kind of food are you feeding them?

Some moms just aren't good mothers or are bad milk producers. I have one like this, she would give birth and leave them. Her first litter died, half of the second litter had to be taken care of by another mom that had a small litter, the rest of them died. Now, as far as I can tell, she has gotten it together and is nursing.

If they are not getting high quality food and fresh vegetables at least on occasion, they may not be getting everything they need to produce milk for the babies, as well as sustaining herself.

[WmHrbst]

This was her first litter, I feed them all the same diet of Mazuri. All the babies looked fine but I did not check for the milk.

[dart]

That's common for a rat's first litter. I've had multiple females that ignore the first litter, bite them, etc. I always give them a second or third chance and they usually get the hang of it. But, putting moms in a separate tub by themselves does seem to cause this to occur a lot less often. So you're on the right path

[SlitherinSisters]

Since she was a first time mom she might not have known what to do with them, or she may not have been producing litter. I would give her another chance or two to see if she figures things out or not.

[wolfy-hound]

That's one reason I like having a experienced mom in with new moms. They seem to be willing to help care for babies, so the new mom figures things out. Since I started keeping a experienced mom in with the new moms, I haven't had new moms lose entire litters.