Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hello, i have a 1.1 rat breeding 33 gallon tank, and jus came home to realize that my female rat has eaten her whole 2nd batch of babies! could this be because i left 3 of her 1 month old previous babies in with her? She had a lot of protein in her diet leading up to today, and still does have a lot. I obviously dont want this to happen again, and would appreciate any input. Also does anyone know what ui can breed to produce a siamese or blue rat (besides siamese to siamese or blue to blue)? And culd anyone please post a pic of these morphs? I know i have a lot of questions, and thank-you for any replies!!!!

Sorry, can't tell you on the genetics question..but it sounds like you need to replace your female. 1st litter of pups with rats you might have casualties...usually if a Rat will be a good mother, the 2nd litter shows it. The leaving of several babies may not have had anything to do with it..then again, if those pups were still nursing on her, they may have been causing the smaller pups not to get milk and they died..and mama was simply cleaning up. I had that happen once so I've taken to removing all rat pups at 4 weeks.

I agree...you need to replace her. Every once in a while, you get a female that is a bad mom and once they cannibalize their young, they usually keep doing it. Unless they were just cleaning up...that is different. My guess is, since she already raised one litter, that she wasn't just cleaning up. If you had plenty of food in with her and there were no extra males, those babies shouldn't have gotten eaten.

For siamese and blues, I've always had trouble getting them. In my experience, siamese and blue traits tends to be very recessive so unless you put them with an albino, your chances of getting more of them are slim.

>>I agree...you need to replace her. Every once in a while, you get a female that is a bad mom and once they cannibalize their young, they usually keep doing it. ...

The above isn't always so. Sometimes it is caused by stress. I'd give the mamma another chance, but I'd be sure to put her into a separate cage at least three or four days before she whelps. I've had mammas that killed their babies, but later raised good litters, after being provided with plenty of privacy (and a DARK place to make their nests).
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tricia

>>hello, i have a 1.1 rat breeding 33 gallon tank, and jus came home to realize that my female rat has eaten her whole 2nd batch of babies! could this be because i left 3 of her 1 month old previous babies in with her? She had a lot of protein in her diet leading up to today, and still does have a lot. I obviously dont want this to happen again, and would appreciate any input. Also does anyone know what ui can breed to produce a siamese or blue rat (besides siamese to siamese or blue to blue)? And culd anyone please post a pic of these morphs? I know i have a lot of questions, and thank-you for any replies!!!!

One, don't know if I would try a new female or not. If you have truly given her privacy, left her alone but for feeding and cleaning I tend to think I would replace her. If she is the least bit high strung and you have stressed her it isn't entirely her fault. If her condition is good I would tend to think stress or new mom time.
As for genetics....
himis are complicated and this page might help....

Blue to blue gets blue. I don't think there is a way otherwise.
Here too is a blue dumbo baby from my last litter. The blues are the only rats I have that make Himi's too. The dad is a son of the blue mom and sis and he is a himi.

http://www.rmca.org/Articles/himalayan.htm

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Sonya