Babies!!! Help!

Well my mom's dachsund is fed Nutro so I may have that covered depending on the protein levels in it. And my niece is addicted to Cheerios so we have plenty of them. I'll just make a shopping list :)

She had 12 babies but one of them recently died :( I don't know why. I don't know if I should take it out or not. I heard that they usually eat their babies? Or is that mice? I don't want her to go on a rampage if she finds one missing.

Nutro lite variety is a fantastic dog food for rats.. the protein is only 14%. All the other varieties have higher protein.

Remove the dead one. She will not miss it, and if you leave it and she doesn't eat it, it will start to stink and grow bacteria (not what you want)

I remove whole litters from mom rats (freezer trip) and they never go on rampage.

Yep just reach in a grab it out. She's likely far too busy to even miss it. I regularily remove fuzzie or pup sized rats from the nursing females to feed them off and they don't seem to be bothered much by it. Do watch your fingers though, some females can be quite protective and will nip when you get close to their litter. I have one Albino female rat this is just a tiger when she's nursing but fine otherwise.

12 is a nice sized litter so if one didn't make it that's still pretty good really. Don't be surprised if the female splits her litter into two nesting areas and moves back and forth between them or splits then puts them back together. Seems they do that and Emily and I were laughing about it in another thread as both of us had been "helping" the mother rat when she knew what she was doing all along LOL. Don't be surprised as well by all the squeeking the little boogerheads do. They are like leeches on the mom rat and complain loudly when she dares leave them to get a snack or a drink (typical kids eh! LOL)


~~Jo~~

I know...alls I hear is a chorus of peeps at 3 o clock in the morning. By the way I think Frank is pregnant. Her sides have been bulged for the past 2 days and she has been looking a bit more chunkier than her usual slender build. I just went and bought a new setup for her. Hopefully this time I'll be ready :) What should I do if she has the babies before I move her into the new tank? Or should I move her today? Thanks!

When she has her babies, don't move her for at least a few days. Either move her now, or leave her and remove the male.