What in the world...

Has anyone else had a mother rat kill off any of her babies past their pink /fuzz stage? I just found two bodies that were half eaten and pretty chewed and beat up looking. I know they were alive as of last night since I checked on everyone and had the babies out.

She had 12 babies, 17 days ago. All has been just fine with her and the crew till now. I fed off 3 of them on Thursday, left the remaining 9 with her to grow up some and now well I'm down to 7. I've since removed the babies from her and put them in with another rat. I guess I'll wean them early since I don't have any other mom's that have babies of that age, but only pinks. I don't want those mom's leaving their pinks alone.

I'm pretty shocked since I've never seen a mother rat do this at to her young at that age. Didn't someone else on here have a rat that killed and ate another rat or something? What did you do? I'm thinking of putting this female rat down since she isn't nice and she just killed two of her kids for whatever reason. UGH and of course she had to kill one that I was going to hold back and keep. Stupid rat!!!

I'm seeing a snake or CO2 chamber in her future! :P

Sadly Matt I don't have a snake that is big enough to eat her. Man does she have me mad!

The question is did she really kill them or did they die of natural causes, and she then dispose of them, like rats do since they are after all scavengers?

Actually I never thought of that. It's a really good point and very possible!

Good question Deb. All the babies seem(ed) very healthy, active, alert, eating well and starting to nibble on their lab blocks. I don't know and guess I'll find out if anyone else dies. Hopefully they are all fine and make it!

If the mother had food and water available I would think that the babies died on their own and the mother ate the bodies.

Allison the only experience I've had with that sort of thing was recently. One of our females, Alita, suddenly killed half her litter overnight, though did not eat any of them. One day she had ten, the next day only 5. My only explanation is that it was Alita's last litter and she was getting older so I feel she may have lost her milk or had very little of it and was trying to cull her litter back to save a few of them. I fostered the remaining 5 to another female with a litter the same age and retired Alita.

How old is this rat? Is this her first litter? Was she housed alone with her litter? Is her temperment unstable anyways (aggressive, a biter, etc.)?

I'm not sure how old she and no this is not her first litter. She has been housed by herself since I could tell she was pregnant. She's never been really handled since she's only been used as a breeder rat but she's never shown any aggression towards me or with the male from what I've seen.

It could be a similar situation to Alita and your female has just reached the end of her productive breeding months and can no longer support such a large group of offspring.

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Originally Posted by lillyorchid

Sadly Matt I don't have a snake that is big enough to eat her. Man does she have me mad!

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I sure do and Ruby would glady deal with her for you. lmao

Jake... Send Ruby over here so I can have her I MEAN so I can feed her this rat... *hint hint* ;)

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Originally Posted by lillyorchid

Jake... Send Ruby over here so I can have her I MEAN so I can feed her this rat... *hint hint* ;)

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Sure, I'll get right on it but shipping a 13.35 lb snake could be expensive lol

Deb & Joanna,

You two were both 100% right. Something is up with these babies! Last night I noticed one was "circling". She just kept walking / running in a tight circle around and around and around. When she tried to walk straight she seemed very off balance and "lost". This morning I found her dead. This evening I noticed another one was doing the circle thing too, so I just put her down. I think those other two must have died on their own and momma rat was just cleaning up. I assume something neurological is wrong with them.

Could it have been from you handling them? Maybe the momma got paranoid and killed them because they smelt like you?

At first I thought about that but now I HIGHLY doubt that. I do believe something is mentally wrong with them. As I posted post #14 right above you Justin.

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Originally Posted by lillyorchid

At first I thought about that but now I HIGHLY doubt that. I do believe something is mentally wrong with them. As I posted post #14 right above you Justin.

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Well I guess ruby was not guilty after all.

Have you use any chemicals near their enclosure (Bug spray...) that could have affect the babies in anyway?

lol Deb, Ruby is Jake's Boa that I wanted to feed the mother rat off too.

As for any chemicals or sprays, nothing has been used around them and I wash my hands before and after I handle any of them. I just read that rats can get inner ear infection's that cause head tilts, circling, inability to drink from a water bottle, and lethargy. Also as stated pituitary tumors also make rats do the same exact things just like an inner ear infection does. So I'm guessing they either had inner ear infections or pituitary tumors.... Strange and very sad. Momma rat is now going to be retired and the father agouti berkshire rex that I used I'll keep an eye on the babies he produces.

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Originally Posted by lillyorchid

lol Deb, Ruby is Jake's Boa that I wanted to feed the mother rat off too.

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I thought I was following that right. Glad you posted this so I didn't have to go back and re-read it.........lol.

Justin it's a pretty rare female rat that will destroy her young if they carry human scent. Mice can be pretty iffy that way but generally rats are fine with this as they are intelligent enough to connect human scent with being fed, watered, etc. I personally hand check each pinkie born here within 24 hours of it's birth (usually within 8 to 12 hours) to check for genetic problems and that they are nursing well and have never had a female reject her offspring because of this. With the mice I wouldn't touch their babies, they seem to eat their young if you look cross eyed at them...blech!

Sounds like you've found the problem Allison. Likely the female was simply cleaning up the corpses or if she did destroy her own young it was because she instinctively knew they were defective or dying anyways.