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  1. #1
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    Need help with breeder rat and her litters

    Okay-

    So I have this one colony with 2 females and one male. Between the 2 females, I have recieved 3 litters with around 15 rats a pop. Problem is, only 2 have survived so far.

    With the first 2, pups just slowly disappeared. I thought maybe it would be a wise Idea to take the male out in case he was causing a problem (I thought generally male rats were great fathers). I tried that, and the 3rd litter just popped out yesterday. Without touching them, I counted around 15 again.

    Today, I went to check on them. I was concerned when I didnt see any obvious signs of babies. I peeked uder momma, and there were all of them, just dead.
    No signs of injury, just dead and warm. One was half eaten, so im wondering if the others just died too, and she was eating them all because of it.

    But why are they just dying? It's getting a little frustrating and Im not sure what to do next to prevent this from happening....again. Any suggestions??

  2. #2
    BPnet Veteran TekWarren's Avatar
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    Re: Need help with breeder rat and her litters

    There are lots of things to look at with your "trio". What kind of food the birthing females on eating, bedding, space/territory issues, other stressful things that may be going on around their enclosure, etc, etc.

    Sometimes if only one female has a litter she can also become nervous or even so overprotective that she will kill them herself. We would need a lot more detail on your husbandry to even vaguely help you out.

    Don't give up, sometimes nature is frustrating...other times its something simple you can change for the better.
    www.ASFRats.info African soft-furred rats information and exchange.

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  3. #3
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    Re: Need help with breeder rat and her litters

    Thanks for the response, and I will try to give more info.

    -They are on aspen (and i give mommas newspaper for nests)
    -I give them things like paper towel tubes and empty water jugs cut in half for hiding in
    -they eat a dogfood for overweight dogs for a base food (with rat treats, veggies, peanut butter, ect.)
    -there are 2 females and one male in a 2ft x 2ft x 1ft ventilated space
    -3 sides of the space are tinted
    - the room has an ambient temp of around 70 at all times
    -I have other colonies above and below them, but only one female has given birth so far - yesterday. so i cant say whether she will raise them fine or not.

    there were no injuries on any of them, which really confused me. I have bred mice before with no problem, and my rats once before back in the day. Is it possible that she's too old? I don't know the history on her or how old she is....?

    Thanks for all your help in advance

  4. #4
    BPnet Veteran SatanicIntention's Avatar
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    Re: Need help with breeder rat and her litters

    Just sounds like she's not lactating and the babies are starving to death. Did they ever have full milk-bands? If not, don't breed those two again.

    Also, I don't recommend JUST feeding dog food. It's dog food for a reason. What brand is it? I use Wellness Senior and it constitutes "maybe" 15-20% of my mix(50-60lbs every time I mix it up). Stick with good quality(mazuri or Harlan, NO Kaytee AT ALL)) lab blocks, pasta, cereals, dry Stay away from undiluted peanut butter too, they can choke on it. No bread(unless crunchy) and no tortillas(They WILL choke, no question).

    Also, i hope you're not keeping that male in with the females 24/7. Some females are easily stressed, not to mention they get pregnant immediately afterwards. It's not a healthy situation for her, her nursing babies, or her unborn babies. She needs at least a month to 2 month rest after the first litter is weaned, then you can safely breed her again. If the male was in with her after she had babies, and she wasn't lactating, she's already pregnant anyway... So it's going to happen all over again...

    I wouldn't breed either of them again, just MHO.
    --Becky--
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    Re: Need help with breeder rat and her litters

    Thank you SO much for your response.


    No, I didn't seen any milk on the babies.
    -I dont feed them JUST dog food, but I will admit its the majority of their diet. I will make it a point to add more to it. This is probably a stupid question, but is the pasta cooked? And what kind of cereal do you use?


    Again, thank you SO much.

  6. #6
    BPnet Veteran frankykeno's Avatar
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    Re: Need help with breeder rat and her litters

    You might want to pick up a couple of used 10 gallon tanks and try to remove the female when she appears preggie (pear shaped). Let her settle into her maternight tank, feed her lots of good food and a full water bottle, lots of bedding for nest building, leave her in there undisturbed during the last of her pregnancy, birthing and raising of her litter. Personally I find this works very well for me. I've raised hundreds of feeders, rarely lost a single rat at birth and only had 2 females ever reject or injure their litters (both females were removed from the breeding group as unfit breeders).

    I get used 10 gallon tanks dirt cheap from a local pet store (even new ones are $10 or less) plus the cost of a good lid. See if your females do better away from the colony and the breeder male.

    Also remember to use up those kitchen scraps for your rats, especially those lactating females. Most of what goes into your garbage can can be happily eaten by the rats. Things like bones, leftover spaghetti, ends of bread loaves, that last handful of cereal in the box, fat and gristle off your roast, really most anything you eat they can eat. Here's a great link about this....

    http://www.ratnutrition.com/suppleme...forbiddenfoods
    ~~Joanna~~

  7. #7
    BPnet Veteran frankykeno's Avatar
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    Re: Need help with breeder rat and her litters

    Quote Originally Posted by adizziedoll
    Thank you SO much for your response.


    No, I didn't seen any milk on the babies.
    -I dont feed them JUST dog food, but I will admit its the majority of their diet. I will make it a point to add more to it. This is probably a stupid question, but is the pasta cooked? And what kind of cereal do you use?


    Again, thank you SO much.
    The pasta in Becky's mix is dry. That mix must always be only dry things or it will rot. You can feed them leftover cooked spaghetti though...they love it! Really funny to watch rat pups fight over a long string of pasta LOL. As far as cereal you can pick up all sorts really. I usually avoid the high sugar ones, sometimes they get a bit of that in their dry mix more as a treat really. I buy store brands or bulk cereals like raisin bran, total (not the total brand, the store brand one...way cheaper), cheerios, bran flakes, if it's on sale I sometimes toss in a box of banana nut crunch or one of those types of mixed fruit/nut type cereals. They love cocoa crispies (or any chocolate) cereal but again just as a treat as it tends to chub them up way too much.

    Occasionally I'll grab a bag of mini-marshmallows at the dollar store and pass them out as a handfed treat. Major happy rat time LOL (though only for the adults...I'm careful of what nursing rat babies eat that might bung them up). Another good treat is frozen peas, old bread dipped in a bit of olive oil, M & M's (yes they can eat chocolate unlike your dog), a hardboiled egg left in the shell (makes a HUGE mess but they have a lot of fun breaking into their snack). They get lots of bones from dinner but never uncooked bones or raw meat. If we have wings they have a big feed of chicken wing bones....party night in the rat colony LOL.
    ~~Joanna~~

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