Bad Mothers

[ElliotNess]

Whats the prevalence of Rat mothers being a bad mom. I had one drop a litter and by the second day she had let 7 of them die. Took the other 6 and dropped them in with the other tub with a litter that dropped to day after. They all seem to be doing fine now.

I dont know when to pull mom and babies, and my friend says he doesnt bother. Should I pull Mom and babies of the next litter and separate into a separate tub and see what I get.

[Nussman]

I'd give it a shot at least. I think leaving the mothers in with the colony tends to stress/distract them from caring for the litter...can definitely lead to higher mortality rates from my experience.

Then again, there are also just bad mothers.....these girls get introduced to my boas

[ElliotNess]

Yeah I am going to figure out which mother it was and let my big boy eat well.

All the others are fine. This was litter6 and it just didnt go well. I am going to make some changes this weekend.

[Kat_Dog]

Sometimes first time moms don't understand what's happening and they neglect their litter.

It's always good to have another mom nursing at the same time.


I always give moms 2 chances, if by the second one they didn't figure it out, they're sold as a large rat.

[Tigerhawk]

I find that when I separate the mother and babies from the rest of the colony. The litter does a lot better and they seem to grow better. Try and separate the female before she drops her litter and you should see a difference.

[J.P.]

i prefer to put mom in a nursing tub when she looks like about to burst...this way, she can go on labor without getting distrubed. i seldom encounter bad moms with this set up.
the pinkies can go a few hours without feeding, and their hunger squeals can help trigger the mother instinct for first time moms. there is more risk of a first time mom not learning to be a mother in a colony set up because there are other females that comfort the pinkies from a clueless mom.
also, some rats can intentionally cull part of a litter if its too big for them to handle or if they notice weak babies.

[wolfy-hound]

I like to have experienced good moms with new moms so that new moms learn. But some moms are just lousy mothers.

I have even had one murderous mother who deliberately carried pinkies to the water dish and dropped them in. She got eaten.