Rat Moms Diying

[FIREball]

Any explainations of only the mom rats diying?

First litter was born approx 4 weeks ago, rats were big enough to be weaned then mom dies.

This last week also had 3 more moms die, 1-2 weeks after birth.

Moms are either in their own tub with babies or with one other mom with babies, dad is not in same tub.

All other rats are doing fine. Rats were "mediums" when purchased and let them grow for another 3-4 weeks before introducing them. Add another 3-4 weeks to get pregnant and theres your age. Do you think they were too young?

Sippers work, plenty of food (Mazuri 6f), they are kept in an a/c garage in freedom breeder rack.

[frankykeno]

That's very odd Jeremy. I'd think they are big enough to breed. Would you say they were at least 250 grams or so pre-breeding weight?

Were all these female rats from the same litter or the same source/breeder? I could see one dying here or there, sometimes the stress of pregnancy and nursing just shows a weakness up in a rat that is just weak to begin with but so many in a row is a real puzzle. When you found them dead where the mothers of good body weight for a nursing female rat? Was their offspring well fed and not showing signs that mom was not producing milk for them?

If this continues and it's only in your producing females it may well be worth it to have one examined by a vet. Either that or if they are all from the same source I'd consider starting over with a new group. All that time spent breeding them and then to lose a producing female and possibly her nursing litter, well that's just a real shame.

P.S. Just struck me that maybe it's a calcium deficiency since pups of that age would be pulling a LOT of milk therefore draining her of her resources. Maybe try offering something high calcium to the nursing moms and see if that helps. Maybe a bit of kitten formula kibble or something like that.

[FIREball]

Yes all females were from same source. Babies were all healthy, very healthy in my eyes...big chubsters I will look into the calcium idea, thanks!

[littleindiangirl]

I would look into finding a new source for new blood lines.

How warm are they kept? I see you're in Florida, rats can easily die from heat stroke.

Check your water lines, make sure they are working. Keep rats cool, and feed them a good lab block.

If you still have some dying, look into getting more females from different sources.

[redmantodd]

I would look into finding a new source for new blood lines.

How warm are they kept? I see you're in Florida, rats can easily die from heat stroke.

Check your water lines, make sure they are working. Keep rats cool, and feed them a good lab block.

If you still have some dying, look into getting more females from different sources.

How warm is too warm? Just looking for a ballpark figure. I had one die recently also. Very curious.

Thanks,
Red

[littleindiangirl]

85+ is getting very warm. Where we are uncomfortable, they are too. Same thing with high humidity and warm temps, it's easy to lose rats this way. They only dissipate heat through their tail's and feet, so they need to be kept cool. Rats live in fairly extensive earth burrows in the wild, kept away from high heat during the summer, and generally are active only at night when it is cool.

[FIREball]

I would look into finding a new source for new blood lines.

How warm are they kept? I see you're in Florida, rats can easily die from heat stroke.

Check your water lines, make sure they are working. Keep rats cool, and feed them a good lab block.

If you still have some dying, look into getting more females from different sources.

Although this past week has been in the 90s, heat index 110, the way they are setup in the garage with the a/c its around 75-80. I just found it odd only the moms were diying. I am currently tracking down some females from another breeder to narrow it down.

[littleindiangirl]

If it spreads to more rats, and pups, it could easily be a virus going through. Good to hear you have options to get more rats though.

[SlitherSister]

often the rats that are sold as feeders aren't really great lines to start a breeding program with as they are mass produced & often not feed a quality diet beyond sustaining life until packaged & shipped --- they weren't raised with the intent of them being anything more than fed off within the first few days/weeks/months of life

I'm not saying it is impossible to start off with some 3 or 4 dollars feeders but chances are these females just weren't healthy enough to kick in with producing litters. If it is viral then you have a whole different mess to deal with.

Heat is a huge issue in Florida (fellow Floridian here) 85+ is getting into that danger zone so rather than push it best to stay below that 85 mark.

Diet is very important & breeding mothers need to be on good diet & even better if they were conceived & born to a mother that was also on a very good diet. I've had my line running for many generations & it shows in the size of the rats & with the fact that we have big litters. By the time my babies reach 4 weeks they are up over 50 grams. Grown out males are up over 300 grams by 3 months.

Breeding rats takes more than letting nature run it's course. From the replies it looks as though there are a number of people on here that can help you sort out what may be happening.

[SatanicIntention]

LoL, my 4 week old babies(pedigreed and pets only) are over 100g by then. Fatties.