I tend to think that you're correct about the possibility of the babies having died for some reason related to husbandry. It is extremely rare for momma rats to kill their babies after they've bonded with them, I've almost never seen a baby killed by an adult after the baby was over 24 hrs old. Certainly, the feeding of wax worms to the momma strikes me as an unconnected event, and that the timing was coincidental.



>>Sometimes pups die and it is natural for the mom to clean up. If they didn't do this in the wild, one dead pup would soon make their den uninhabitable. Perhaps sometimes we are too quick to assume 'she killed them'. The heat may take it's toll this time of year also. I had two fans running today and the little guys and gals were not happy campers. It was 88F inside the animal house.




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tricia

[ Hide Replies ]

• i just thought id say that 1 week after birth I fed my female rat some waxworms, and over night she ate 7 of her 11 babies -n/p - mitchellaube, Wed Jul 16 16:18:30 2003
• and I doubt the two events were connected...though that is a bummer - Sonya, Wed Jul 16 19:01:05 2003
• I wonder if....... - tomsey, Wed Jul 16 20:26:40 2003
• Thats wat im betting on, she running around her cage like crazy after i.... - mitchellaube, Fri Jul 18 00:52:01 2003
• Other factors.... - DeMak, Wed Jul 16 21:21:21 2003
• RE: Other factors.... - patricia sherman, Thu Jul 17 21:35:25 2003