Baby eating... what causes this issue!

[SnakeDoc]

Ok, I've had issues here lately with parents eating their babies about as soon as they have them. So for me to fix this problem in the past was feed the parents off as feeders and start new colonies. What do you guys do when this issue happens? Their food is a variety of corn, oats, high protein dog food and pellet food. I also include a weekly dose of Timothy hay. Tubs stay clean so I know that is not the issue....HELP!

[SnakeDoc]

WOW, so I'm the first one this has ever happen to? Come on now I've read where if they are dirty all the time but that's not the case here. Well atleast my Cyclone Eastern Garter and Bearded Dragon are getting fed well.....

[NotaMallard]

With mine, if I recognize a reason for eating I let the parents live. My reasons have been recent tank moving, lack of water, or overcrowding. If I can't tell why it's happening (recently I had a trio that ate the head off of every baby produced), I cull the entire trio.
Your diet sounds fine. How many rats per tub? I've noticed a big increase with groups over 1.2. It's just odd if it happens a lot for you, although I'm sure you're doing fine. Some ASFs just are blood maniacs.

[kilabyte]

I bred hamsters when I was a kid and they eat their young as well. The reasons were due to any foreign scent on the litter. You cannot touch them. If they smell anything on them they will eat them. Seperate the father and leave just the mother to feed the litter.
As soon as they open their eyes and can eat on their own I would get the mother out of there also.

This may help solve your problem if rats are the same as hamsters. I'm sure it will help as they are all rodents with similar habits.

[musicalKeyes]

My problem was water. I had a mom eat five of her babies before I figured out the ball on the water bottle was too heavy for her to move, so she was dehydrated. This was with mice, but I assume it would be similar. Definitely check water. Good luck!

[pendragon]

Hi
I breed ASF"s and have had this same problem in the past . You will find that it is usually one of the other females that eats the young. right

[Mike Cavanaugh]

Your best bet is to read through the older threads... this subject has been discussed many times.

They will eat the young when any combination, or even just one of the following occurs:

They are scared
They are stressed
Food isn't right
water isn't right
They are crowded
They are mad at you

NEVER remove the male to leave the mom alone with the kids. Again, read up on the old threads.

[SnakeDoc]

Hi
I breed ASF"s and have had this same problem in the past . You will find that it is usually one of the other females that eats the young. right

Thanks to everyone for your in put!

Pendragon - I have noticed that there are two or more females in the nest area in the tub. My usual breed ratio is 1:4. Once they have babies I usually leave everything alone, like my snakes, and clean only when necessary.

Your best bet is to read through the older threads... this subject has been discussed many times.

They will eat the young when any combination, or even just one of the following occurs:

They are scared
They are stressed
Food isn't right
water isn't right
They are crowded
They are mad at you

NEVER remove the male to leave the mom alone with the kids. Again, read up on the old threads.

Thank you Mike Cavanaugh for your input as well. I think I've figured it out, at least with my situation. I did some thinking while reading these posts and others and remembered that last season I would separate the pregos or moms with babies into their own separate tank. This allowed me to give the babies a separate diet for faster growth. This is what I need to go back to.

THANKS GUYS!!!

[ericzerka24]

I've heard that pulling an ASF from an established colony is a bad idea because when you go to reintroduce them back in, they will fight and possibly kill each other.

I'm sure mike could tell you more about this the I could. I read just about every asf thread on this site before I got started breeding and he seems to know his stuff pretty well.

[pavlovk1025]

I bred hamsters when I was a kid and they eat their young as well. The reasons were due to any foreign scent on the litter. You cannot touch them. If they smell anything on them they will eat them. Seperate the father and leave just the mother to feed the litter.
As soon as they open their eyes and can eat on their own I would get the mother out of there also.

This may help solve your problem if rats are the same as hamsters. I'm sure it will help as they are all rodents with similar habits.

... I would separate the pregos or moms with babies into their own separate tank. This allowed me to give the babies a separate diet for faster growth. This is what I need to go back to.

Dont do either of those things.

If you have to clean, you can remove the babies, change the bedding and put the babies back with no issue in regards to foreign scents on the baby...just did that today with 1day old pinkies.

NEVER remove the male.


Dont trouble yourself removing the female either. You can add and remove females at will, but why? Any of those previous reasons are why your babies are getting eaten, not because the female's in there or whatever. They just do it sometimes, and it's something that you have to accept with breeding rodents.

They cull off deformed or unhealthy babies on their own as well, so maybe you have some breeders that arent throwing healthy litters. Either way, moving breeders around or being paranoid about accidentally touching the litter isnt the way to go about it.

ASFs are extremely easy to breed, dont overcomplicate it for yourself.