Male killed entire litter!

I am so upset! I clean/check on babies every day to refill water and feed. I decided to take pictures so i headed out and found blood all over the nest...My 1st litter since starting to breed rats again and the male slaughtered all of them. They were only 4 days old and I was proud as they were the biggest babies I've seen yet...this has never happened I housed the male with nursing females before and never had issues...
Is it my fault? What could I have done? Please anyone who has had this happen want to share?

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Originally Posted by AJs Snake House

I am so upset! I clean/check on babies every day to refill water and feed. I decided to take pictures so i headed out and found blood all over the nest...My 1st litter since starting to breed rats again and the male slaughtered all of them. They were only 4 days old and I was proud as they were the biggest babies I've seen yet...this has never happened I housed the male with nursing females before and never had issues...
Is it my fault? What could I have done? Please anyone who has had this happen want to share?

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Was the male definitely the father of the babies? I know in many species males will kill offspring that aren't theirs, causing the female to go back into heat sooner, so they can sire their own progeny.

Sorry for your loss, that's never fun to find that. Are you sure it was the male? I've had a few of my females who were first-time moms kill their entire litters. I've never had a male do it, even if I foster babies he didn't father. I'd look more to the female than the male, especially if she's a first-time mom. If not, then maybe try it one more time with that male & if it happens again, he'd be the next meal if it were me. I know lack of water can cause them to become cannibalistic, if they're dehydrated. Not saying that was the case, just something to consider maybe. Good luck & again, sorry that happened to you.

Females should be separated from males while nursing. It is not healthy for females to have back-to-back litters, and they can breed again only hours after giving birth. That's a fast track to killing your female quick. Even if they are feeder breeders (especially if they are feeder breeders... they are giving your snakes their babies lol) you should try and keep them as healthy as possible. It is also a lot of stress on the female to have a male wanting to mate all the time and getting all up in her nest.

Just my experience,

I have kept father and adult son in the same bin with 3 females with no cannibalism, I separated the son out finally with his own females to find him later eating his pinkies. That is the only time he did that. I have had females eat babies also. I believe stress to be the main trigger if it only happens once, just make sure it doesn't keep happening.

I do harem breeding and have a spare bin where I put moms who need to gain weight and weaned pups so they aren't draining mom who most likely has a new litter to feed anyway. If they are looking thin, I soak the rat blocks in Ensure and feed that for extra calories. They get Mazuri 6F as a staple and then leftover table scraps when available.I never separate nursing or pregnant females from males, I simply do not have room to separate each and every female.

That said, I do care about my rats a lot. And treat similar to how I would a pet. If they are suffering for whatever reason, I humanely euthanize and feed them off.

To be honest that's why I will not keep males in with pregnant females. I have never had luck with leaving the male in the tub with a litter. Not saying you can't do it, but why take the chance if you don't have to.

I enjoyed using momma racks when I was breeding and my partner enjoys harem breeding and both work fine, it's just a matter of preference really.
Momma racks slow production some so you need more females breeding than you would if you were harem breeding.

Momma rack I used...this one is a 9 space with 20qt sterilite tubs
http://i968.photobucket.com/albums/a...s/PICT4876.jpg

Would you have a material and cut list for the momma rack shown in the picture?

Are you sure it was the male that killed them? It could have been the female.