My First (UNEXPECTED) Litter + A Mystery...

[Aedryan Methyus]

So, i've had my auto watering rat breeding racks up and running for a month or so now and they're working great! However, due to the fact that i've been having a difficult time finding decent quality females for breeding and having to keep feeding off a lot of the rats that i've been getting, it is taking a lot longer than I wanted to get my breeding program going, unfortunately. Anyway... A few weeks back I purchased 4 (supposed) female rats from a local snake/rat breeder friend of mine to hold back for breeding. One of the rats was a lot larger than the other 3 and he said she was probably only a couple of weeks away from being ready to breed. A few days after I got them settled in (all 4 in the same tub by themselves), I founf one of them dead. Then a few days latter when I checked in on them, I discovered that there were only 2 of them left in the tub. I pulled them out and sifted through every inch of the bedding and the 3rd rat was not in there, nor were there any remains! Sooo... I have no choice, but to think it had to have been eaten. I researched it and found that in the wild, rats will eat their dead so that it won't attract predators. Is that true and if so, is it common for "fancy" rats to do that as well? I can't think of any other explanation...

Today when I was cleaning my rat racks and getting ready to switch all of the rats into clean fresh tubs I discovered that there was a litter of babies in the tub with those two remaining (supposed) females! Obviously one of the 4 rats that were originally in there together must have been a male, because I had not been trying to breed them yet. The larger rat that I mentioned previously seems to be the mother and even though she should definitely be sexually mature by now there are only 7 babies in the litter. So, i'm not sure why the litter is so small.... I'm hoping maybe she just isn't finished having them yet, but i'll have to wait and see...

[the_rotten1]

Yeah, it's true that rats eat their dead. Whether they do or not depends on a number of things. If they have plenty of high quality food and water available they're less likely too, but it's not a guarantee. It depends on how quickly you find and remove the dead ones. The longer a dead body is in there the more likely they'll start to chew on it. I've found partially gnawed on dead rats ones before, but never an entire rat missing. They are capable of chewing up and digesting bone though.

Seven isn't unheard of if they start breeding early. Her next litter should be bigger.

[Bogertophis]

I've raised many rats & never had them cannibalize each other like that. I have to wonder if their diet is adequate...they need balance & quality protein to
reproduce. Also, that one young rat shouldn't have just dropped dead if it was healthy. Let's hope one didn't escape...

Also, if this is her first litter, there's nothing wrong with a litter of 7 babies. Younger rats that are reproducing before they're fully mature can have problems,
so be glad you HAVE a litter to count. Give her a break... And feed her well, she's feeding the family now too.