dead breeder and some babies too...

[recycling goddess]

so my daughter comes out of her room crying... one of our breeders is dead.

she was a store bought... very very thin rattie. i'm actually surprised she's done as well as she has since it took forever to get some meat on her.

but all the babies in the cage were dead as well except one... and that one was very thin, normal size head and weak. i put it in with another mama.

there was another mom in there and she looks pretty thin as well... although very active. i have her alone in that cage now... not sure what happened. they are fed well, watered like usual... although these two mom's were bred back to back... by accident. they birthed before i got them out of the 'holding tank' and into a maternity tank so they got pregnant within those first hours before i moved them.

i took most of their pups and put them with another pair of mom's (as i keep two females together in a maternity cage) to give these two ladies a lighter load since they were bred so soon. (i give them 2 weeks off approx between weaning and re-introduction with our male)

so... any ideas? i checked the rest of the ratties and everyone looks okay.

we had a burial in the garden... poor little ashley and her pups

and my poor little daughter. she hates to loose her 'pets' as the breeders are her pets as well.

[joepythons]

so my daughter comes out of her room crying... one of our breeders is dead.

she was a store bought... very very thin rattie. i'm actually surprised she's done as well as she has since it took forever to get some meat on her.

but all the babies in the cage were dead as well except one... and that one was very thin, normal size head and weak. i put it in with another mama.

there was another mom in there and she looks pretty thin as well... although very active. i have her alone in that cage now... not sure what happened. they are fed well, watered like usual... although these two mom's were bred back to back... by accident. they birthed before i got them out of the 'holding tank' and into a maternity tank so they got pregnant within those first hours before i moved them.

i took most of their pups and put them with another pair of mom's (as i keep two females together in a maternity cage) to give these two ladies a lighter load since they were bred so soon. (i give them 2 weeks off approx between weaning and re-introduction with our male)

so... any ideas? i checked the rest of the ratties and everyone looks okay.

we had a burial in the garden... poor little ashley and her pups

and my poor little daughter. she hates to loose her 'pets' as the breeders are her pets as well.

Aleesha,i had a few females just up and die from complications during birth .It happens sadly

[sweety314]

Peek has been losing weight so along w/the A/D food, the vet recommended the ENSURE supplement drink mixed in. It's lactose free and higher in calories than just soy milk.

I'm soooooooooo sorry to hear of losing your pet. It's hard---made even harder when you don't know WHY they've died.

Good luck with the other little girl who's thin!!!

[frankykeno]

she was a store bought... very very thin rattie. i'm actually surprised she's done as well as she has since it took forever to get some meat on her.

There's the likely culprit there Aleesha. Sadly the rats that come out of pet stores are indiscrimately bred, usually sib to sib, parent to offspring. Eventually you just can't help but get a breakdown of health with that much needless inbreeding. Even if it's a nice pet store that keeps the males and females seperate, unless they breed the rats themselves they may come from a large breeder that just lets them mate with whatever rat of the opposite sex is handy. They also tend to be overcrowded so from even before they are born they are fighting to get enough food and water. The back to back breeding may have just overwhelmed an already compromised animal.

Rats are very hardy, but any living creature can only take so much genetic and husbandry mess before you end up with these poor failure to thrive, die early rats. Best I can tell you hon is what I said in another thread. Buy the best stock you can, breed responsibly and raise up your own next generation breeders. They will be by far healthier rats that should live out their lives, even as breeders, to a normal life expectancy with good health throughout. You'll still see some losses, no one that keeps animals can avoid that, but they will be the rare thing, not the norm.

Please tell your daughter I'm very sorry this happened.

[Laooda]

Sooooooooooo sorry. That is never EZ....... ***HUGGGGS*** Give your kiddo a hug too!

[recycling goddess]

thanks all.

jo, i told my daughter exactly that when she found her dead. i told her about what you had just said in another thread here... and since she's always been so darned thin and had a heck of a time actually retaining weight... i figure she was just too inbred to thrive.

i reminded my daughter of the amazingly wonderful like she's had while here. all the healthy yummy food she gifts her... clean water... and a warm snuggly bed to sleep in.

[MarkS]

Check the water bottle. Once when I had that happen the problem turned out to be a blocked sipper tube. I couldn't figure out why they had plenty of food and (seemingly) plenty of water but were still getting thin. Though the water bottle was full, the sipper tube was blocked up and they counldn't get enough water out.

Mark

[recycling goddess]

first thing i did was check it and it was fine. cause that's exactly what i thought as well. my hubby said he filled it that morning... so it was being drank.

thanks mark!

[frankykeno]

Wish I lived close hon, I'd happily provide your daughter with recently weaned rats. Perhaps if you are going to be replacing these females anyways you can do so by letting her pick two lovely sisters from the next litter born. Make sure she picks the biggest two females, not the runts, just to up the chances of really healthy ratties. Alternately if you can find anyone close by that has a good colony going you could likely purchase from them (to open your genetic lines a bit with new blood). If she is going to pick from a litter, let her start handling the two chosen females as soon as she wants....most mother rats won't mind and it will teach them from the get go to be very hand tamed around your daughter. Once they are weaned she can up that handling time, hand feed treats and they'll be not only wonderful breeder females, but her rat buddies for life.

[recycling goddess]

she handles all the babies... regardless of whether or not they'll be food in the end. i teach her to give them the best possible life... while they are alive. treat them with love, feed them really well and care for them by providing a clean home. as it's not the length of life which matters... it's the quality!

i wish i did know someone else who keeps ratties (in very good form)... that's not the case, so she'll just have to add some from the pups we have.

fortunately, most of our breeders are not related, so we have a very diverse genetic pool. i would love to get another healthy rattie pup or two though... i'll keep my eyes open!