aw poor momma. i have a momma rat that just gave birth to only 2 babies--she is getting older, though not a year old yet, but this will be her last litter and once they are weaned she will be a companion to my other breeding females. fyi--it's not always messy when momma's eat their young. i caught one of my females in the act of finishing off a runt baby a while back and there was no evidence left over at all. i wouldn't have even noticed that anyone was missing until i cleaned the cage at which time i would have counted the babies.