I have talked with my sister, and she is having the same issue. She feeds her rats Mazuri 6F (we are both going to the store to get some today) and fresh foods. She does not overcrowd and gives the females breaks inbetween litters. Even still, hers are on their 3rd and 4th litters and still, over half of the babies don't survive. We got our rats from the same places around town. So we are thinking of getting rid of the rats we know are not producing well and selling them off as feeders and getting new rats from a better source.
And as far as the blues go, ours do not produce well at all. Her blue berkshire, Blue, has had 2 litters and almost none of them have survived. I think maybe a few did, but I'm not sure. I know she was pretty upset about it. My blue hooded just had her 4th litter. Every single litter with her has been a disaster. Out of 4 litters (close to 60 babies) only 3 survived to weaning age. The rest were eaten, killed, died from not being fed, were fed off when they got so weak. I will not breed my blue hooded girl ever again. She will be kept as a pet. I'm going to try her daughter (a beige hooded dumbo) but we will see if this bad mothering instinct gets passed down.
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