Rats Are Dying...

There have been no exterminators. They are kept in my room. I don't even let anyone burn candles or incense in my room because I don't want it to bother the snakes. My room is quite warm because it is climate controlled with the snakes. It could be something environmental, but I doubt it is fumes or cold temps.

Hmmmmmmm......it's quite a mystery. :( I hope we can figure it out!

Wow; I am really sorry to hear about your rats. Are they from the ones I gave you? All of mine are doing really well. I use pine shavings and feed mostly lab blocks and have never had a problem.
I think I may know the problem; I had a litter that was mysteriously disappearing like yours; every day there was one or two dead weanlings. They would sometimes be ripped apart and all showed signs of a violent death :( Well one morning I watched afer feeding, to see what was going on; three or four of the babies would grab onto one piece of food and fight horribly over it. This happened even though I had put enuff food in; more than one block pet ratling. This I am sure would have led to the death of one or two if I hadn't stepped in. They were just about ready to be fully weaned anyway so I took Mom out and split them into smaller groups in ten gallon tanks and they all ended up fine. I know I get away with using 10g tanks, but I think that for larger litters they are too small, esp. when the babies are mobile and ready to be weaned. You could try upping them to a 20 long tank; this is what I do when one of my mommas has a mega-litter.

You're probably right Jen. Only 2 of Frank's babies are alive now. I went from 16 babies down to 5 in a matter of days. Many of the bodies I didn't find because they had been completely cannibalized. I had 2 males and a female left from Regina so I split them and split the one male I had from Frank in with them. Hopefully the move will prove useful. I'm kind of depressed about it all. All this for nothing.

As for megacolon, it may be a possibility for Frank's babies because they are only 4 days younger than Regina's and are really small. I thought they were at least a week younger. Still there isn't any of the bulging.

Thanks for everyone who tried to help. I appreciate it.

Kelly, as Gin said, it may be due to having to many rats in the 10 gallon tanks. 10 gallon tanks are really not any good except for a single rat. Get some of those rubber maids like I am sure you have seen in other threads for this use, and use those instead.. when you use 10 gallon tanks, you have to have LOTS of them to not have too many housed together. I had not realised you keep yours in 10 gallon tanks, or I would have mentioned this sooner..sorry.

It's alright. It's too late to fix the problem now anyways. One of the remaining babies that I kept in with Frank and Regina's last female died last night while I was sleeping. The only one left from Frank's litter is a black and white male I put in with the remaining 2 males of Regina's litter. Not sure if I want to breed again. I'm a little discouraged but may just continue to take the failure as something to learn. Who knows. Once again, thanks for all the help.

It can be a tough lesson Kelly. Heck when I tried mouse breeding it was the most disgusting, depressing experience and I thought I'd done everything "by the book".

Gin and Jeanne are right about the 10 gallon tanks. I have only one left as I've changed over to a minium 50 qt rubbermaid. My only 10 gallon is reserved for one female and her young only up until they are fuzzies. As soon as they become active pups, even though still nursing, I move them to a bigger tub. As soon as Flash is done with her current litter of 11 (which are 6 days old) that last 10 gallon is getting retired. Won't miss it either they are way worse to clean than a way bigger rubbermaid or sterlite clear bin.

Maybe take a bit of a break. Set up some big tubs (tons of pics and stuff in the Feeder forum) and just try one litter at first. If you get a good result...then you can work up to a bit bigger colony as you gain experience and confidence. Remember too that some females do not make good mothers (it's more common in mice but still) so if you see a female showing poor mothering skills after a couple of litters....pull her out of the breeding pool as it's just a waste of time and money without a postive result.

Any help you need in setting up again (now or later on)....just let us know.


~~Jo~~

I do have a few 54 qt. rubbermaids hanging around. I usually just swap them in to the snakes that use them so I can clean the dirty ones. But I was told that the rats will chew right through them? Are you speaking more along the lines of the cement mixing tubs?

Some folks do use those Kelly. For my own reasons I prefer not to. Check the feeder forum for posts by me, Bdadawg, SnakeySnakeSnake and you should see very clear pics on how each of us do our rat tubs. I actually quite like Bdadawg's addition of the thin aluminium so I'll be revamping my own rat tubs (learn a new thing every day). You also see discussions on chewing issues, which tubs are best and a fantastic example (Bdadawg) again of the use of the huge Iris Xmas tree tubs as growing out tubs for bigger feeders.


You'll see things in our tubs like toilet tissue empty rolls, pvc pipes, etc. My theory (just my own take on it) is that rats are highly socialable, curious critters. In big clear tubs they can see out of, they can stand up in, lots of room to move about and scurry through stuff you give them, no overcrowding, lots of good food and water, bones, etc. to chew on....these things all should contribute to a rat that doesn't need to chew out. Why would it...it's living in rat heaven LOL!

All I can tell you hon is I have had mine in these tubs for awhile now with no attempts to chew out...not one from any age rat. I check the rats and their tubs twice daily just in case and to feed and water, etc. Once a week every tub is dumped, wiped and new aspen and whatever put back in. On that day I do a count of each tub and do a hands on check of every rat (takes seconds really per rat). Then I have a weekly total colony population count so I can see how the overall picture is looking. Everyday they get rat mix, fresh food (mostly kitchen leftovers) and fresh water.

Seems like a fair bit of work....funny enough it isn't. Once you have a routine set down, it's no biggie. I have 41 rats as of today (I'm not allowing new breeding right now as we are hoping to move in a few weeks). I probably spend about 20-30 minutes per day on rat care and feeding....on the weekend to do full cage cleans....alone it takes me about 45 minutes...with help much less than that.


~~Jo~~