Rat keeps eating her babies again and again.

Hi I have several breeder rats but one of them keeps eating her babies.. Her first two litters went great but then she started eating them i have bred her six times now and she ate all litters so i thought maybe she needed a break from breeding so left her in a birthing tub with the other mom's so she could help take care of them but a few hours later i checked on her and she ate all pinkies that were in that tub belonging to the other mom rats...

My question is should i just feed her off or is there a way to fix this? I have no interest in keeping her as a pet. :confusd:

What are you feeding your rats? Sometimes they do this when they need better nutrition (but she's the only one doing this, right?) or they're getting too old to breed/nurse (but she only had 2 litters- that's not a long "career" at all) & unfortunately, sometimes they're just not cut out to be parents. What are the temperatures they're being kept at? Rats reproduction typically falls off in the winter (when it's colder), but in all likelihood, she's never going to be a good producer. No real way to fix this, especially since it's not like she doesn't know how to take care of babies- she just doesn't want to. Sometimes rodents kill & eat their first litter out of confusion- they get carried away cleaning up the afterbirth, & are hungry & just keep going-oops! :rolleyes: When it's a first litter, mine get another "chance"; and if they only eat some & set some aside, not "cleaned up", I've found that if I clean them up & give them back, it suddenly clicks & they know what to do from then on. This one sounds like a feeder though.

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

What are you feeding your rats? Sometimes they do this when they need better nutrition (but she's the only one doing this, right?) or they're getting too old to breed/nurse (but she only had 2 litters- that's not a long "career" at all) & unfortunately, sometimes they're just not cut out to be parents. What are the temperatures they're being kept at? Rats reproduction typically falls off in the winter (when it's colder), but in all likelihood, she's never going to be a good producer. No real way to fix this, especially since it's not like she doesn't know how to take care of babies- she just doesn't want to. Sometimes rodents kill & eat their first litter out of confusion- they get carried away cleaning up the afterbirth, & are hungry & just keep going-oops! :rolleyes: When it's a first litter, mine get another "chance"; and if they only eat some & set some aside, not "cleaned up", I've found that if I clean them up & give them back, it suddenly clicks & they know what to do from then on. This one sounds like a feeder though.

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I agree with Bogertophis. My breeder says sometimes it's a lack of protein in their diet, but even after correcting that sometimes they just continue to eat the litters anyway. Typically he lets them go one or two litters and then feeds them off.

Stop playing around an gas her. While the dietary intake may be wrong. It doesn’t matter. It might be stress having other rats fight over babies an room. Still doesn’t matter. An the worse thing. Some studies show it’s a learned condition. The whole tub may need to go.

The rat needs to go. Gas it or sell it as a none breeding pet or give it away. Don’t keep rodents that bite or cannibalize. Rodents don’t breed long enough to waste months fixing what can’t be fixed.

Good luck!