babies died (HELP)

I got about 10 mother with babys right now. they all have large liters. 13 babys or more
and they all have had liter before and have done fine,but this time i got babys died in alot of the cages, In some of them i have had babys missing.I just want to know if it is normal for this? in the past they all have done just fine and never lost any babys. All the mother and babys look and act great but this week every day i find died babys. And one more thing all the mother are young 6 months or younger. And i have one more ? what is the age that you should stop breeding?

thanks
jeremy

We need more information. Temp, what kind of food, housed together. Pretty much how everything is setup.

temp is about 75 and all my breeders are in a rack system and when i move pregos i put them in 10gals tanks by their selfs,they are in their own room. they all eat zeigler wafers bedding is pine shavings. all my rats look and act great but this time i just have not had good luck.

Whats a zeilger wafer?

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Originally Posted by Beardedragon

Whats a zeilger wafer?

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Matt, they have this really cool thing on the internet now called Google! :P

https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportun...=core&_cview=0

Zeigler Bros. INC it is a science base rat food it is rally good I got it from Ralph Davis they are out of Gardner,PA www.zeiglerfeed.com

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Originally Posted by rabernet

Matt, they have this really cool thing on the internet now called Google! :P

https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportun...=core&_cview=0

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Whats a google?:bolt:

It's not really normal, 13 isn't a super huge litter, and the mothers, especially that young should do fine.

Are they pinks that are showing up dead, or older? Any pics?

[IMG]http://img223.imageshack.us/img223/7...7981vo2.th.jpg[/IMG]

most of them are pink or pups no older than a pup that are coming up died or missing

When pups "go missing" it could be from lack of protine.Some people add dog food or chicken( cooked chicken bones are good too). Also pine isn't supposed to be the best. Do you live near a feed store? They sell corn cob bedding really cheap because farmers use it and wouldn't buy it if it were expensive. Pet stores in my area sell it for over $30 more a bag!It also stinks less.

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Originally Posted by rebeccabecca

When pups "go missing" it could be from lack of protine.Some people add dog food or chicken( cooked chicken bones are good too). Also pine isn't supposed to be the best. Do you live near a feed store? They sell corn cob bedding really cheap because farmers use it and wouldn't buy it if it were expensive. Pet stores in my area sell it for over $30 more a bag!It also stinks less.

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I thought I remembered that corn cob bedding was not a good choice, but couldn't remember why, so I googled it to see. I found this, which is definitely not what I remembered, but it was very interesting:
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/art...?artid=1314908

The summary is that corn cob bedding has been shown to block male and female sexual behavior and disrupt the female's estrous cycle in rats. So I guess not a good choice for breeding feeders!

I also found another page that discussed this and said that the chemical that causes this effect has been found in fresh corn and in corn products such as corn tortillas. The point was that it is definitely in the corn...not a contaminant. But it makes me wonder about all the rodent feeds that use a lot of corn. It is the major ingredient in Mazuri 6F, for example. Hmm.

I love aspen too as it's super soft and a $5 bag goes pretty far. I never thought about cancer from the bedding. I do know not to feed them corn because of the risk of cancer. I have to buy the cob bedding because I have rabbits and they use that on there litter box .