Need help! Babies look starved...

[jsmorphs2]

Well after 8 or so total litters this one is just not right! This is this female's 2nd litter and the first consisted of 10 pups, 4 of which died right away however the remaining 6 did great. I chalked it up to it being her first litter.

This litter started with 10 also and there are now 8 left. They all look starved and aren't active at all. When I went to check on them today they actually looked dead. But they are struggling to survive.

More info: There are two adult females, two juvenile females and one male in the tub. The other female is going to give birth any day. There was a 3 1/2 week old litter still in the tub but I removed them today in hopes that it will help. Also, they are fed Mazuri 9f with a commercial seed mix as a supplement and fresh water (no additives). I also added some fresh apple slices, romaine lettuce, and carrot slices today. The mom looks perfectly healthy too. I'm wondering if there is something wrong with them or if the mom is just not nursing them enough. If there is anything I can do please let me know, or, if not, should I euthanize them (which I REALLY don't want to do)? I think after this litter mom is going to be "retired" . I don't want these genes in my colony even though her mom was an awesome breeder.

Thanks for any help in advance!! And I can take better/more pics if needed.

[Mike Cavanaugh]

Just leave them alone. If more of them die again then set up a new breeding group and feed off the current group. Every once in a while a group just doesn't work out for some reason... when I experience this I feed them all off and start over. This is why it is very important to do some very basic record keeping.

I do not claim to be a nutritionist or anything like that but if your read thru a bunch of the threads in the ASF section of this forum you will notice a common theme. The majority of people who have issues feed stuff other then the quality lab block or hog feed.

Best bet is to find the lab block or hog food that works best for your animals and use it exclusively. If you want to give them a treat once a week go for it.... other then that, stick to the food that was designed for them.

That said there are plenty that would probably disagree with me... and say that seeds and lettuce provide the necessary nutrients. Just sharing my opinion on the subject.

[jsmorphs2]

Thank you Mike for your help. I will wait and see what happens. Hopefully the litter that's on the way won't have the same problem. If the next litter dies then I will scratch the whole group. If it does good then I know its just this mom that needs to go along with her daughter that I was holding back.

As far as food, their main diet is Mazuri 9f. In a previous thread I had an issue with a supplier that ordered the wrong formula, I wanted 6f. Everyone said it was ok. I give them some seed mainly for the little guys being weaned and only a little but I will start cutting that back. And the fresh stuff I only added today cause I wanted the female to get a little extra in case the problem lied with her (I've haven't given them fresh in the past).