I've been breeding rats for 20 years and they're great but these mice are really pissing me off. It takes forever for them to mature enough to start reproducing and then they always eat the babies!



I have a 1.3 group in a 5 gallon and after months and months of feeding these things, finally last week discovered that 2 of the girls were quite pregnant. A few nights ago, Buttons delivered. The next morning, Chocolate had her litter. When I went to check on them that morning, I discovered a whole pile of dead babies. ??? One or some of the mice had gone through and bitten out brains and organs to kill them all. They had food, they had water, they weren't crowded, there was only one male...I don't get it. ??? I pulled out all the dead babies and parts but left the live ones in because it looked like Buttons and Chocolate were sharing the workload. Well, that lasted about 3 days. Today, I just found all of them dead and in pieces all over the cage.



I have a clutch of Florida Kings that are still too little to eat rat pups so I need the mice for them but this is so freakin' irritating!! I hate mice...I hate their smell...I hate their temperament. I only have them because I have to and I have no more cage space to give them seperate housing. Now I wish I had pulled all the babies out and froze them as soon as they were delivered...darn it.



I was able to find 4 pinks that were mostly whole and washed them off to give them to the Kings but now one snake has to go without a meal. Those darn mice!



Thanks for hearing me vent guys.

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