No More Chances

[Jay_Bunny]

Gazelle, our albino breeder female just wasted her last chance. With this second litter from the same father, she buried them alive! Thankfully I caught them in time and pulled them all out from the bedding. I do not use a loose bedding and it becomes thick and heavy when wet and then dries into a dust. (wood pellet bedding) so when she buried these pinks it was like buring them under soil. I dusted them off and moved some rats around. I put Doe, my beige female in with them to see if she'd fuss over them at all. I just weaned her litter from her less than a week ago but this is the best shot they have at survival. Tomorrow, Gazelle is being taken to the reptile store to be sold to them as snake food.

I held back the two surviving girls from her first litter. Would these have any chance at being breeders? Will they repeat their mother's mistakes or would it be a good idea to give them a shot?

[littleindiangirl]

Females bury their litter when taking a break and is a sign she is taking care of them. I always give my nursing females a nice large handful of aspen to nest in.

I would think this is a good sign she is improving. They don't know that it's going to become thick and kill them.

[SatanicIntention]

What did you expect her to do when you don't give her any nesting material? They always cover their litter when they go off to eat or rest, it keeps the babies safe and warm. But when they don't have anything to nest in and make them feel secure, then they will use what is available.

Shred some newspaper, shred some kleenexes, whatever, so she has something soft to lay on and cover her babies with. Give her a kleenex box too. You can't just expect a first time mother to feel perfectly safe and secure when there is nothing in the cage but pine pellets on the floor...

And no, I wouldn't hold back her two daughters. Bad parenting can be genetic..

[Jay_Bunny]

I do give my nesting mothers nesting material. Shredded paper, tissue, paper towel, ect. She buried that along with the babies. There were two babies that were buried an inch under the bedding. I had to dig them out.

When I went to check on the babies, all are alive. I have removed their mother from the tank and put Doe in with them. She was a wonderful mother and did a great job with her first litter. When I checked on them, she was nursing two babies. If I pulled her first litter less than a week ago, could she still have milk left? I added the remaining babies to her little "nest" she has created from Gazelle's mess.

[littleindiangirl]

Since I wasnt there, I cant really tell you more than this. My girls will bury their young under an avalanche of material if they want to. I've had a first time mother move all of the bedding and wood blocks and food onto her babies. it was about 5 -7 inches deep. 100% success with those girls, with plump happy babies.

I'm not surprised she buried them, it's what they do.

[rabernet]

I had my first litters on the pine pellets - and I lost most of the babies from the dust that it turns into.

I had another tub with a couple expectant mothers - and a few days before being due to give birth, I put a very thin layer of the pine pellets down and a THICK layer of aspen on top of that. The females DO bury their babie - pile the aspen all on top of them.

I've not had a single loss since making sure that expectant moms have a lot of aspen. The ones not nursing or have 2 week and older babies will be on strait pine pellets. Newborns on shavings.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

With rats if you are only using pellets when the litter is born you will lose most of your babies. (With mice you won’t I only use pellets when they have their babies and they do fine)

What I do is that I use pellets in my breeding tubs once the female is ready to have her babies I set the enclosure with less than half of the pellets I usually use along with wood shaving.

I do that from the birth of the babies until they are 2 weeks old.

Once they are 2 weeks old I only use pellets.

[ch312]

really, you should have stayed back and let nature take its course. too many humans think they "know" whats best for critters but end up making things worse. its hard for many people to stand back and let things happen. just because animals were bought from a shop doesnt mean they lose their instincts. every animals brain is programmed to do certain things.

with any animal, some mothers will kill their babies either due to malnutrition or because they know they cant handle it while others are accidental. humans have this problem with thinking they know whats best for animals when they really have no clue.

i say you made a big mistake removing the babies. many animals will kill their first litter but turn out to be great mothers next time around.

that said, i have been breeding dwarf hamsters and mice for a couple months, and my rats just had their first litters with another due today or tomorrow. 10+ hamsters litters, 6+ mice, and now 2 rat litters so far. 1.5 litters of hamsters and 1 litter of mice died after i thought i was helping. the ones that i didnt even touch until their eyes were open all survived...

rats in captivity and the wild will bury their babies to keep them warm when they are out feeding. with no fur or fat on the babies its hard for them to stay warm and the mothers know this so they give them a "blanket" to keep warm.

[Jay_Bunny]

I did what I thought was best and if you do not have any useful advice, I will ask that you leave. You came in here and from my point of view, attacked me and the way I keep my animals. It is unneeded and unwanted.

As for doing whats best for my animals, I did what I thought was best and I will be checking in on them momentarilly. This was not her first litter but her second. Her first litter she just let die off, one by one, all of the sudden. This one she decided to bury under an inch of bedding. I put Doe in with them and when I left for work, they were all fine.

I've heard of people removing babies from a bad mother and fostering them off to other mothers and the babies do wonderful. That is what I'm doing here, in hopes the babies survive. This was her last chance to prove herself as a good mother and instead she buries her babies under an inch of bedding.

Yes, I will start using Aspen for nursing mothers instead of the normal nesting material I give them in hopes this won't happen again, but this rat has shown she has issues with being a mother and she will not be given a second chance.

[rabernet]

Hmmmm....I honestly didn't see that as an attack. Remember that written word isn't always read the way that the poster intended. No one has to leave, and everyone has the right to participate in threads here.