Small litter

[Snikt228]

One of my rats just had a litter last night but it only had 4 of them in there. 3 were in a pile like normal and one was in the corner, it looked neglected and it was kinda cold. I put that one back in the pile but I haven't been home yet.

This is like the 7th or 8th litter from this one rat and they have always been around 9. Just seems weird to have only 4. Is this normal?

[Ginevive]

It is funny. I have one girl who I bred 3 times before. She was having normal litters of 8-10, and then threw a tiny litter of 2. I gave her one mroe chance, and now she has 9 babies. It is just odd..

[frankykeno]

She's likely just coming to the end of her productive breeding life. You'll generally see a sharp decrease in litter size once they hit this age usually around 14-16 months or so (depends on the rat and how well she was cared for - some slow down earlier, some a bit later).

[Ginevive]

Yes. This is actually the last litter I am getting out of the girl I mentioned; Jo is right. (as usual

[Snikt228]

Kinda gross. I got home and I had 1 and a half dead pinks. Now I only have 2 survivors. So this litter is basically a total bust.

Do you think I should retire this rat from breeding or just a fluke?

[littleindiangirl]

Well, how old is she, and who did you pair her with? If she is young still, there may be an underlying problem in the pairing, or with the mother.

[frankykeno]

Connie he said she's had 7 or 8 litters. She's likely just ready to retire from active breeding (depending on the frequency of those litters, etc.)

[littleindiangirl]

yup, me just not reading again...

[Ginevive]

I wonder if there were "naturally" more babies, and she ate them for some reason? Or if they died of defects/natural causes, she would have eaten them to keep the nest area clean..
I would retire her; sounds like she has had a lot of litters.

[PigsnPythons]

I don't raise rats, so I was wondering when you say retire...do you mean she just lives out the rest of her natural life being fed and pampered, or she is turned into a feeder herself?