Cannibalism

So for some reason my babies keep getting eaten. I have no idea why this is happening however my tub might be over populated. I have 5 rats total two are considered 'small' and the other three are one male, and two females with 1 litter of babies.

So today I walked in my home and checked the tub and one of the 'small' rats was holding onto a babies decapitated head, she was eating it.

Right now I've separated the mom and whats left of her babies into a separate tub.


Why is this happening? I don't know much about rats.

What food are you feeding them.

You'll see much better results if you remove pregnant females from the male. Also, what are you feeding them? Dog food won't get you very far... I learned that the hard stupid way.

I ran out of rat food and have been feeding them dog food and lettuce for the past 3 days. What does that have to do with them killing each other?

Rats and mice when in a breeding colony MUST be fed a high quality food. Straight dog food wasnt giving them the nutrients they needed so they substitute the babies for their food.

Look into getting Mazuri or Kent rodent food.

cool, how long should a bag last the number of rats I have? I can't find economical bags of rat food anywhere. By that I mean they sell the food in small quantities and it seems a bit pricey.

i have 500 rats n mice and i go though 75lbs a month of Kent.

Kent is 12.99 per 40lbs bag if you can find it at feed stores near you.

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Originally Posted by flameethrower

i have 500 rats n mice and i go though 75lbs a month of Kent.

Kent is 12.99 per 40lbs bag if you can find it at feed stores near you.

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very nice, thank you.

wait is it sold as 'rat' feed?

Kent is a ALL rodent food. Be used as their main source of food.