I think I have a few bad rats

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Originally Posted by Adam Chandler

- How long have the moms been living together?

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My mom's usually only live together when they are not prego or nursing. The sisters had been together all their lives, so I just kept them together. They still have never been parted. The other two bad mom's I assumed had always lived together. That is how they came to me, in one of those condo-type cages. They have only recently been parted because of cannibal. I didn't want her to eat the baby of the other.

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Originally Posted by Adam Chandler

Also make sure to hold back some females from the healthy litter.

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I am keeping EVERY female from the healthy litter! I am trying very hard to expand right now. For the snake breeder I am working with.

But I will tell you this... NO MORE rats from somewhat unknown backgrounds! Very little new blood will be coming into my colony! I will NOT have this fiasco happen AGAIN!

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Originally Posted by RuthlessReptiles

Everytime I've bred rats I've at least gotten 9-10 pinks in their first litters and I didn't try to do anything fancy and these rats were from a mix of reptile shop (these ones looked pretty bad and needed a helping hand) and petco. There is definitely something off here. If you aren't throwing at least 7-10 babies in the first batch, there's a definate problem.

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My thoughts exactly!

I had a couple three, first time moms that went through that, I marked them with dye and monitored subsequent litters, all turned out well, and they are all producing litters of 14-18 now.

@llovelace - I will be giving the sisters another shot, but the cannibal is heading out my door soon. The jury is still out on the chewer... we'll see.

Good luck, I hope verything works out well