New Concern...

[Reptilian]

Well kinda. My female Ruby just had her babies. She had 6 little one, two of which were cold and barely moving by the time I got to her, so I culled those. I am going to let the other 4 grow alittle bit before culling them.

My concern. Her littermate, Emma, had babies last week, 5 of them. Should I be concerned with the small litter size. Does it mean my trio are sick in anyway?

I feed them Becky's diet, frozen mixed veggies, small amounts of fruit, non white bread, and pasta.

I should be complaining, I have cornsnakes that are taking rat pinks, I just have like 15 frozen rat pinks not including the two I just cull and the 4 I'll be culling later.

Ah never mind, lol I don't knwo what I am getting at here.....

[frankykeno]

Were these first litters? Sometimes rats can start out slow and have a much larger litter next time out, sometimes they just have smaller litters for many reasons, some of them being genetically driven, some environmentally (food, caging, etc.). Sometimes if it's occurring across the board with all the females, trying a different male might help with larger litters but that's all speculative until you try it and see what occurs.

[Flagg]

I would feed a quality lab block, Mazuri or Harlan.
My rats eat Harlan 2018 and I just had a first litter of 15 and one of 11.

[Reptilian]

I'll work on getting them a good lab block and it was each their first litters.

Sadly I went to check on the momma and babies this evening and they were gone from the cage. There were spots of blood on the litter as well. I didn't spereate them from their cage mates and only checked on them twice today to take a count and check for milk bands. I was only going to keep them with Ruby a few days anyway. But she obviously felt something wasn't secure with them, environmently or otherwise. Live and learn I guess...

[rabernet]

Are you certain she hasn't just buried them somewhere? Some of my females bury theirs when they leave the nest - but they know where they are and come back to nurse them when they're ready.


I think it's protection, and also helps to keep them warm.