I started breeding my rats in February. For a while everything was going fine except for a few females that didn't have that much luck with their litters. At this point though, the only thing breeding regularly and with any sort of success is my mice.

I have them on a dog food from Southern States and they are fed baby foods, fresh foods, and rodent lab block when I can get it. They are housed on wood pellet bedding and wood shavings (not sure what kind but it was marketed for small pets). I do not overcrowd and cages are cleaned on a regular basis and they always have access to clean food and water. The room fluctuates between high 70s and mid 80s, mostly being around 85.

Every single litter in the past 3 months has been a disaster. Eaten, dying, killed and left to rot, etc. Almost none survive. I was able to hold back 5 from one litter as future breeders (the litter was 14, only 5 survived) and Yoshi's litters have all died except for 3 babies that did survive to weaning. Yoshi was pulled from breeding but was pregnant. She just had her litter today and all the babies were left with their sacs still on their faces, their cords either not chewed off or chewed half-a**. I was able to clean up two and put them in with another female, but even her litter isn't looking good.

Its like these females just don't care. They stop feeding them and the babies starve, one by one. I was thinking of selling them as feeders and using the money to buy brand new adult females. Of course, I'm still going to try and breed the bad female's offspring just to see if they are any better (I doubt it) but I am just so frustrated.