>>rats eat there young sometimes for know reason. being first time mothers this might be the case. two male rats will mess things up too. if they go with out water or food for even a few hours they sometimes eat there young.



IF the young were just dead and not mutilated I would think more to the end that the young moms had stillborns or early young premies. Both likely with first time especially small moms.



I rarely have adult rats eat pups unless it is cleaning up already dead pups or they are being fed inadequate food. This is part of young young moms really since they are trying to eat to grow and their pups are sucking the life out of them. Supplementing with a higher fat/protein cat food often helps. (this straight from a mazuri dealer)



Hopper rats still in with mom will tend to cannabalize and or starve them to death by hogging all the milk.



Lack of food or water will certainly mess with your production for obvious reasons.



In many many years of rat production I can count on one hand the number of times a male or multiple males have been an issue. (with mice two boys will totally screw up a group) other than getting lazy and wanting to sleep instead of breed I don't see the boy being at fault. Few pups would, to me, indicate fewer viable eggs, again, the mom still growing issue. Not as likely something wrong with the boy or there would be no pregnancy at all.
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Sonya



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