Rat died.. question for Becky, any1 else...

I had this black rat that came from a girl who had her rats as pets. She was one of three that I got. The second and third of the group are doing fine.
But this rat died. I thought she was pregnant at first. She was very bloated and actually felt a little warm to the touch. She was in her cage, straining, and rbeathing heavily. I left for the day, assuming she would give birth like her sister did. Instead, she was dead when I got home. She had a bit of red stuff oozing from her birth canal.
Why do you think she died? Could the babies have been impacted in there or something? I really think she was pregnant; she felt kind of "lumpy" like all my other prego rats have felt.
If it is any consolation, her sister had 8 healthy pups. I am debating whether to use them as feeders, or get a few more unrelateds and breed more. There is a huge demand for rats as feeders in this area.

Ratata and her babies:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...ive/Ratata.jpg

sounds to me like she had complications giving birth I have had it happen more than a few times in my breeding colony .

Quote:

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Originally Posted by RobertCoombs

sounds to me like she had complications giving birth I have had it happen more than a few times in my breeding colony .

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Yuppers ... I second that one ... see it all the time when I help out at my rat guys barn.

-adam

I guess it is nothing I could have done to help, then. She was a pretty old female.

Sounds like a hemorrhage. Nothing you could have prevented or done for her. I had a hairless girlie do that, bled quite a bit, and only had 2 babies... Big ol' weinie. She's fine though, and her kids are now bigger than her. Probably why they say not to breed hairless rats...