I'm Furious

[Jay_Bunny]

We have an agouti hooded rat momma named Chance. She was originally bought as a feeder but when the snake refused a meal, we kept her. She grew too large to feed to anyone so we kept her as a breeder female. She has had one litter before this, and she let them all die around the age of 1 week. This time, she had a litter of 6. All was well. We fed two off, leaving her with 4. We picked two females from the litter to become future breeders. Then I noticed they were beginning to get a little thin, and there was a dead one in the corner. So last night we gave them some KMR and put them back in with Chance. This morning we find one dead and two barely alive. The two that are barely alive are still with us. My fiance is downstairs trying to keep them alive. Last I checked they were showing some improvement. (He said he saw one actually take a breath instead of just gasp for air.)

I want to give them a chance to live. I always like to at least give them a chance. If it looks like they won't make it after giving them a chance, then we will put them down. What can we do for them?

And the mother. My golden rule is 3 litters, but this is her 2nd and for both litters she has just let them die. I'm just so mad at her. I know its technically not her fault. She is doing what comes naturally to her. She has water, food, clean bedding. The mother rats even get treats and chew toys. I suspect her of being pregnant again because she gave birth in the tub with the male.

Rah! I just don't know about her. I'm so mad that two litters died because of her. And with both litters we wanted to keep one or two of the babies. The two we have downstairs are a black hooded and an agouti hooded. We were planning on keeping the black hooded. Her name was Cinnabun. The one we found dead this morning was a cream hooded named Gamble. I'm full of mixed emotions right now. I've had two bad mamas in my colony so far. Gazelle had a few bad litters and I ended up taking her to the store and sold her as a feeder. I still have one of her daughters. Now Chance is my bad mama. I believe I gave Gazelle 3 tries. If Chance is pregnant, I'll give her the 3rd try, for the sake of the babies. If this litter goes badly, she is out.

[littleindiangirl]

Don't get yourself too down. Summer isn't the best production wise. I would personally give her a break of 2-3 months. She'll be full grown and it will be fall. I think if she doesn't do well then, she may just not be breeder material.

Also, something to think about. If you find other females with dying litters, it may be a germ being passed around.

[Jay_Bunny]

Kasper's entire litter died off just before being weaned. (except for one male that we still have.) Along with it, an adult female from another cage. After that, we had no more deaths. We had some die from another litter later on, but they had been born small. The bigger pups in the litter were plump, healthy things. They were fed off as soon as they were weaned.

The two that were barely alive have passed. Since we have Kasper in with a male now, she will be moved into her own cage in case she is pregnant. We will see how this litter goes if there is one.

[rabernet]

I don't see where this is her fault? Perhaps she isn't producing milk well and that's the reaon they're not getting the nutrition from her?

Some females just aren't momma material, through no fault of their own.

[wilomn]

Perhaps it is time to get a new line of rats.

One of the problems with making friends with your feeders is allowing them to take more of your time and money than you would a regular feeder.

If you want companions, rats can be great. If you want feeders, rats are great. Mixing companions with feeders is tough.

With my rats if a litter gets eaten or dies off young, new adults are cycled in. I don't have time or patience to wait weeks or months for those animals to produce the small rats I need to feed.

Sometimes you just have to feed em off and move on.

[Jay_Bunny]

I know its not her fault. I can't help that I'm mad though. I really need to start providing for myself as far as feeders since its a 20-30 min drive to get feeders each week. The gas is killing me.

I think investing in some new rats might be a good idea. There are few of my rats that I am attached to. I could retire those that I am attached to and keep them apart from the colony and keep as pets, and get all new rats to start the colony with.

[frankykeno]

If you are having die offs in various littes from various females at various ages I'd be looking at your husbandry first. It's not unusual to get crap rats from a pet store but you don't usually see problems across the board like that (it's more individual animals). Look into how you are keeping them, breeding them, feeding them, etc.

Getting "furious" because a breeding animal doesn't perform as expected is counter productive. They are living creatures, not production lines. They will do as best they can depending on their genetics, their abilities, how they are cared for, etc. It's not personal.

[Jay_Bunny]

I keep them in glass tanks right now. Each has, depending on size, anywhere from 1 (nursing mother tanks, 10g), to 4 (20g Long, resting breeders) individuals. We keep them on wood pellet bedding with a layer of aspen on top. They are fed Mazuri lab block 6F. They are bred as follows...

2-3 weeks with male
3.5 weeks to raise pups
3-4 weeks vacation
repeat

Temperatures in the house are never too hot or too cold. Normal temperatures in the house are at 75.

I can't think of anything I'm missing as far as husbandry. If anyone can think of anything I am doing wrong or something I'm not taking into consideration, then PLEASE let me know.