why are my rats eating there babies?

[norcal707]

I have had a few litters of rats, and I'm noticing that there eating there babies... I have them housed with 2 females when there about to pop and let them raise in there until weaning... have had litters do fine like this, and now I notice that there starting to go missing.... any help would be greatly appreciated!!!

[Godzilla78]

I assume the mom is well fed. Maybe separate the moms, to keep her babies with her, and the other babies with their mom. Of course if they are all together, it is too late to figure out which babies are which.

[norcal707]

yes, they are well fed and only 1 mom has popped and the other is gonna pop in a few days...

[Jeanne]

Separate your moms into caging of their own.

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[John1982]

There are a few things that can lead to infanticide in rats. Anything that might prevent the mother from raising healthy babies should be examined. Poor diet, water shortage, sustained stress and birth defects are some common causes. If you're keeping multiple females together, they will often steal babies from each other which can result in tug-o-war matches that may seriously damage and/or kill the offspring.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Could be anything from

Low quality food

Not enough water

First time mom

Culling due to lactation issue

Fighting over babies (up until they are 7 days babies are VERY fragile and the mother fighting the babies can cause serious injuries)

Babies are just dying up and rats do what they do they cleanup eating the babies.

Bad mother which in this case need to be culled.

[norcal707]

thanks for all the input everyone.. I'm gonna try a few things out and hopefully it all works out well!!

[wolfy-hound]

Many times it ends up being diet. What are you feeding them?
What size bins are they in? What type of room are they in? Loud noises? Other pets? People coming and going? What temperature is the room?

Never let them run out of water. Ever.

First time moms often seem to eat babies, but some times you get a baby-murdering rat.

Usually rats are naturally good mothers.