Only two?

My first rat litter and there are only two babies. Is this common for a first time mom? Or did some maybe get eaten? If they did I could possibly see why as there is another female in the tub but both are very well fed rats and plenty of water. I'm just sorta surprised as she was huge before having them. So far she is doing great with the two, of course it's only been two days. Sadly my other female doesn't look pregnant at all. I really need to at least one more tub made so I can keep the females apart when they get close to having their babies. But enough typing here are a couple shots of the babies. One photo was color enhanced which is why they look different. lol

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k1...ratbabies1.jpg

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k1...ratbabies2.jpg

Thanks!

She could have eaten some before you noticed them. The smallest litter I have had was 4 and the mom ate 3 of them over the next week. She may have started with more and eaten a few before I found them but I guess I will never know. The 4th was one obese baby because it was getting so much milk :P

If you had more than one female in the tub during or after birth then most likey they ate them. They don't usually leave scraps behind so you probaly wouldn't have found any remains.

ps...I always seperate my females before they give birth. That way you can determine if there is a problem and who it is.

:)

Not horribly uncommon. The smallest litter I ever witnessed was only 4 pups. Mom ate two (witnessed in their 2 heads). The other two died from negligence.

Yeah it was my bad for not separating the females before she had them. I'll be getting the other female into another tub today. So far the two remaining babies are doing good.

I was wondering I read that with mice you shouldn't take all the babies for feeding. Meaning you should let at least one or two grow up with the mom till weaned as it was better for the mom. So would that be true for rats as well? Considering she only has the two left should I go ahead and take them for food or not?

Thanks!

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Originally Posted by SilverWolf

I was wondering I read that with mice you shouldn't take all the babies for feeding. Meaning you should let at least one or two grow up with the mom till weaned as it was better for the mom. So would that be true for rats as well? Considering she only has the two left should I go ahead and take them for food or not?

Thanks!

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I don't breed mice so I really don't know much about that but as for rats...I have never heard that. I pull from mine all the time and from different tubs..depending on what size i need. The moms just go on about their business.

Thanks for the reply. It's feeding day tomorrow and my boyfriend is just itching to feed them off. He just loves being able to use our own stock then buying from the store.

Thanks!

Personally I'd feed them off, let her get a bit of a rest then re-breed her. Keep her alone this time from when she appears pear shaped (obviously preggo) and see how it goes. It could have been the other female, it could have been a poor litter or just first time breeder issues. If she produces another poor litter for you then you may want to rethink her suitability as a feeder breeder.

Thanks again, I did end up feeding them both off. So now mom will have a nice rest. I'll either try again later or since I'm getting out of ball pythons I might find homes for them all. My boyfriend will still have 3 ball pythons plus many lizards who will take pinkies so not sure if we should still keep the rats or not.

But thanks for all the advise and comments.

give her another chance.