ASFs eating their young

im totally new to breeding, only had my 1.3 for a month now, and have a question.

last night one of my females gave birth to only 4, that i counted, babies. the first one i found was chewed up a bit with a limb missing. the other 3 were in the hide box with mom so i assumed they were safe. i went to bed after that. when i woke in the morning i checked on the status and was sad to see that there were no longer any pinks in the tank :( ive heard that i should pull the male but am not sure.

so my question(s) is/are

is a 4 rat litter small? should i move the male once the females are preg? any other tips?

also these were all first time breeders. hope that helps a lil.

thanks in advance and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

First time mommies will sometimes eat their young. No you do not need to remove the male from the colony. You probably have another female ready to deliver, just keep an eye out for this type of pinkacide again, if you notice that it's just one of the adult females doing it, feed her off. Yes a litter of 4 is small for asf's, they average 8-10 or more per litter.

probably just because it is a first time mom.

Just food for thought... established breeders will eat their babies when they are stressed out... For me this has happened when they experience cold temperatures (under 60 degrees is no good). It also happened when I moved them to a new spot in the house with more foot traffic.

thanks for both responses. i have a follow up question

could the babies have been premature? only asking cause it was just a 4 rat litter. i was thinking that it may be possible, and the werent strong enough to survive, so they were eaten.


thanks again and sorry for all the questions

Anything is possible.

That said, I don't think so. from mating to giving birth to mating.... You could almost set your watch by it. I doubt they were premature. Prob just a small first litter, and a nervous first time mom.

Dont sweat it. Take notes and move on.