Help!!!!

[jeffh231979]

ok i have been breeding rats for several months now, but i just started on mice it took some time to get them prego, i had 1 mom die while giving birth, and as i was just cleaning the tubs right now i noticed another 1 giving birth but they were eating the babies just as fast as they were coming out i cleaned that tub and found half eaten babies all over how do i stop this???

[llovelace]

Are you removing the male b4 babies arrive?

[jeffh231979]

no i have been reading and it says not too they will eat them even if you seperate them

[punyhuman07]

is it the mommy eating them or the daddy if it's the daddy get him out of there if theres more then one mommy in tank mak sure you seperate them to i don't like keep multipy moms in tubes i've had this happend before on many times or it might be she is scared and a bad mommy if thats the case she edds to be feed off this also has happend to me too....

[Argentra]

It doesn't matter if you keep mice together or not (and all mine breed quite well in 1.2 trios)...if the parent isn't a good one or the mice sense danger (which is far too easy for them to do), they will eat the babies. They also do it if the litter isn't healthy or if they're missing protein and calcium in their diet.

The best thing to do is make sure the tubs they're in are opaque or covered somehow, kept in a low-traffic spot so they don't think they're exposed to danger. Give them a good food mix (Becky's Mix here on the forum is great!) with senior dog kibble for protein. And watch them for the next cycle (once they get pregnant the first time, it doesn't take as long the next times). If they still eat the babies, then there's something wrong with the breeders and you should probably start again fresh.

[nixer]

they will also eat all their babies if they are too crowded.
have you fed those mice any meat?
something might be wrong with your stock if you had one female die giving birth and now this.
i havent ever seperated mice

[jeffh231979]

nixer no i have not feed them any meat should i be doing that?

[snakelady]

I don't separate my mice either. Also lots of times if the moms are first time mothers they will eat the babies. Then next time around they know better. As you can tell from the other posts, there are a lot of variables involved. Try eliminating some of these factors and that will get you closer to your answer. Good luck.

[nixer]

nixer no i have not feed them any meat should i be doing that?

NEVER! if you give them any kind of meat they usually turn like that and stay that way

if you could shoot some pics in perhaps we can shed some light on it

[Clear]

The only time I had problems was when I had a sick mother, she ate everyones babies! It was horrible. I have 3 females to 1 male and now no one eats the babies.