moms eating their babies

so in the past two weeks ive had two moms give birth and the moms ate the babies... one of them actually buried all her young and i found them and disposed of the dead young, while the other just yesterday ate all of hers. i have another momma that gave birth to her first littler of 11 and shes doing just fine with them.

im thinking it might have to do with the heat of summer down here in orlando, but my garage door is insulated and i didnt have an issue last summer... could there be another issue? i have had them for about a year and a half but i doubt that they are too old and i do not over breed my rats.

so you guys think its the heat, or something else could be affecting my mommas?

Thank you!

Are they first time moms?

If it's the heat, the young are dead when they are eating them.

You can check their water supply to make sure it is flowing freely and that they are staying hydrated. Also, make sure they are receiving enough protein during/after pregnancy.

Are you harem breeding? Or do you split the females when they become pregnant? They could be eating them because of stress as well.

Either way, I would consider remove them from my breeding group, especially if this happens again. I rarely give a female a second pass after she kills and then consumes her young. Regardless of reasoning. It's the one issue I am rather strict with my rats on.

What are the temperatures in your garage?

What are you feeding them? I've seen females on poor diets canabalize.


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Heat, water, stress, and diet. More info and I'm sure the problem can be figured out. I've never had a mom eat a baby yet. Mice on the other hand... LOL.

Regards,

B

at a year and a half they become food...lol
i dont let the moms get to old. replace them early and you will get more babes in the long run. usually nutrition is why they cannibalize or lack of water. un clean cages can lead to dead babies that will get eaten as well. i harem breed and very rarely have issues with moms or dads eating the young. if i know who did it they get fed off immediately. no second chances.
adam jeffery
are you sure they werent still born and then eaten?

That could be very possible. Girls start having issues with birthing and fertility around 1 1/2 and are infertile around 2.


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1 1/2 years old is my cut off point for females breeding, they just don't have many good litters at this age even if they weren't over bred.
It sounds like they threw bad litters and tried to gain some protein from the mess :(

My females typically throw 4-5 litters by the time they are just over a year old and then they go to homes as pets or go to another place to be fed to larger snakes since I don't feed any of my ball pythons adult rats.

it seems that the old age may be the issue, they are just over a year and a half. the temps in the garage are ranging from 86 to 88 usually, but can get higher when the garage is opened. but water is flowing fine, and the food is mazuri 6f and always has been. i also clean out the cages every 5 days so cleanliness is not an issue. i have groups of females in 2-3 and have one male whom i switch from tub to tub every 2 weeks, which i am actually considering replacing.

it seems that the new mom is taking care of her young very well in the same conditions, so i guess i will just pick out some females from this one litter i have and euthanize the older ones...

Thanks every one for the replies.

not to hijack but what is the perfect protien level i found some lab block with 21% protien
4.5% fat to much i now f6 has 16 or 18 and i heard too much of protien is bad ans well