ASF and Regular rats

Well, I previously HAD a trio of ASFs. Everything is peachy, babies are born, they start to grow. I leave, I come home and it's like Jamestown. Everyone is dead. Well, let me scratch that. Babies are MIA assumed eaten and all three adults are dead.

I have no clue what happened. My other animals are fine, I have used no chemicals, I fed nothing different, no temp changes no environmental changes. Nothing. Incredibly frustrating. I was really hoping for these guys to take off since I have an unbelievably picky het pied male that I LOVE the pattern on but he's only gained 67 grams since I've had him.

So, much to my husbands dismay I am going to start on breeding regular rats again, if I can get a hold of the friends I got the ASFs from I might try again but I don't particularly like having critters die with no explanation (though my first trio did well until he mistakenly fed them off). The enclosure they were in has been disposed of just in case there was something odd in there.

Wow something is really odd there. Three adults and how many babies? More than one generation of litters? This all happened in a matter of a few hours while you were gone?

One generation. 1 adult male 2 adult females 5 babies. I changed their water and fed them the night before (nothing new at all). Got up for work, left for work that morning. Got off at 5, waited around on the base for Ryan to get off, stopped at Albertsons for supper ingredients. Got home around 6:30-ish. Got supper started, then did my nightly critter check and found them cold and dead. The dwarf hamster and weekers (guinea pigs) in the same room are perfectly fine. No one was home, the cats can't get in the room when we aren't here... believe me, I was shocked.

I think I would be in awe too, that is a very freakish thing to happen. Maybe they were part of that cult that does group suicides? :O

I swear I kept them away from the Koolaid! Though I really do have grape koolaid it's in the top shelf of the kitchen cabinet. o.O

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Originally Posted by SatanicIntention

I think I would be in awe too, that is a very freakish thing to happen. Maybe they were part of that cult that does group suicides? :O

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thats halerious. i better not let my rats read this or they might get ideas. :rofl:

That is darned odd. A litter of 5 is darned odd actually with ASF's so I wonder what was up with that too. You'd think if one of the adults ate the babies well they'd eat the babies but then they all keel over? Toxic babies?

You wouldn't think it's environmental since the other small rodents are showing no ill effects. Very very odd. :confused:

i wonder if the asf rats are more affected by something that the other animals arnt.

do you live in a appartment. if so sometimes the janitors will let them selfs in to spray for bugs.

We do live in an apartment but no spraying of any kind was done. I called the management the next day to see if anything had been done. And once again, all the other animals including the snakes are fine.
Jo, I wasn't home when they gave birth so I don't know if they had more to start with or not.

Melissa, I have had the same thing happen with two cages.

I had a pair of females with one litter, and they ate the babies over a couple of weeks, and then both died suddenly. Two males in another cage died about a month later.

It was just totally wierd. I don't know the genetics on these guys, or if there is some wierd time-out switch on them....but environmental seems more probable to me...I just can't figure out what. They are all on the same rat kibble, fresh water, etc...I use white millet and timothy hay for supplemental feeding but had not started a new bag or anything. In fact, the females who died did so before I started adding in the extra feeds. I am down to one adult female and 5.3 subadults out of a litter born shortly after I acquired the group. It is very odd. I don't use any toxic chemicals around here...no bug sprays, no insecticides etc. Both groups who died were on aspen bedding. The remaining ones I have now are on Swheat, which I really like.

Mine were all on aspen bedding too... curious. I hadn't changed any food since I got them, always the same food with timothy hay (which they shared the huge bags with the guinea pigs who as I said were and are still fine).

You know, I wonder if Tek has any insight. Maybe try the ASF forums?

I have been raising these guys for a long time (since back when they were $100 a trio) and have never seen or heard of this before now. I have had a group regular rats do it once. A 1.3 group of regular rats killed about 14 almost weanling size babies. 1.1 of the adults was also dead.

ive had this happen once. these things get a chill at all and they start eating their own and then die. the wierd thing is that some are more likely than others to do it. as of lately mine just at 2 litters of babies so i gave them a bigger tub and they now have a litter of 9 hopefully they make it this time