I have a few of my younger female rats in with my breeder male who is full size. These females are around 150 grams. I recently found 2 of the mothers had given birth in the breeding cage (before I had a chance to separate them) and only gave birth to 2 offspring each. In addition, when I found the babies they were dead. They were not mutilated in any way, just dead and warm. I found a young male in the grow out tub (that I had failed to remove) prior to moving the females into the breeder cage. The male in that was in the grow out tub was the size of a small rat (around 100 grams). My questions are:

Is it possible that the small male got these 2 females pregnant, and that's why they had small litters?

Is it possible that my adult male has reached the end of his breeding age and I should retire him?

Is it possible that the females are too small to produce normal size litters?

Is it possible that the recently colder temperatures are having an impact on litter size?

I'd appreciate any insight you can offer.

Thanks in advance,
Anthony-

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