dead newborns?

[nchapa]

One of my rats had her babies today, she is a first timer, she is a dumbo. earlier today she had 8 live ones and this evening 6 were dead. They didnt look abused but my wife said it appeared as if she was eating one of them. I have her in a 1.2 setup. Is this normal for some first timers? I have had others that have huge litters that live n their first time, what should I do?

Thanks

[snakesRkewl]

not normal but it happens now and then

[dillan2020]

Dying off like that happens every once in awhile but eating the dead ones is totally normal. they always eat any that die or are stillborn.

[RestlessRobie]

It happens I have a female who is a great mom her last litter was 17 and all survived. This go round she had 15 and only 7 made it so far. The 8 that did not survive were dead with in a day or two of being born. The other 7 are doing great. I have no idea what happened they were just dead so go figure.

[AHOOD]

Yeah. My tan hooded female had 10 her first go and they didnt last 4 days. She has 15 and they are all doing great. I guess you gotta figure if all rats had successful pregnancies all of time, we'd be all overrun with them! lol!

[nchapa]

UPDATE: So far 2 female rats have had their babies and they all died. What i noticed in the second rat, that was also present in the first rat was premature babies. In the first rat i thought they were torsos, but i took a closer look at the second rats and they were tiny rats all curled up not fully developed.

The rats were in different cages, the only thing i can think of was ising cheap rat food from the local feed store, i had to use because i was waiting for the mazuri to come in.