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my rats are first time breeders a few months old cant say for sure how old but they had a nice litter and a few days later they were all gone? they ate them all? why would they do this? i have them on mazuri rodent breeder 6f5m30. any reasons??

>>my rats are first time breeders a few months old cant say for sure how old but they had a nice litter and a few days later they were all gone? they ate them all? why would they do this? i have them on mazuri rodent breeder 6f5m30. any reasons??

I would suspect too low protein in the food. I don't know what it is in the mazuri but I aim for mid to high 20% with rats.
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Sonya

I'm not mean. You're just a sissy.
Happy Bunny

The 6F never worked for me, try the 9F.
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Many Mice, Rats and feeder Roaches

I have had alot of issues with first timers eating there own. It's like they wig out and don't know what to do. I also don't disturb the babies at all in the first few days. if the rat is scared they eat the babies. Just how it is.

I've been using the 6F5M30 for over a year now. It only has 16% protein, which is low.

In well-established colonies (together for 3 months or more), I seldom have a problem with babies getting eaten, but it still happens from time to time.

I got into the habit of pulling pregnant rats out & placing them in a cage by theirself. I've not had the first rat eat her babies when there's not any other rats in the same cage with them & their babies. This goes for first-time mothers, as well.

I have about 15 females that I cycle with one male. When the female is about to drop her litter, I put her in her own cage. When the babies get old enough to wean or to the feeding size I need at the time, I put the female back in with the male and other females that are either pregnant, or waiting to get impregnated.

I do this without taking up a lot of room but I only keep about 75 live rats on hand at a time.

This won't work for everyone. There are times where I'm out of empty cages and a few females have their litter in the community pen. This isn't a problem for me because I pull the newborns to feed to small snakes, young monitor and young gator.

Back to Mazuri feeds; I started out using Mazuri Pellets 5663, in 25lb. bags. It has 23% protein and my rats did great on it. They grew fast, produced slightly larger litters, etc... But I was paying something like $16 for a 25lb. bag and I pay $20 for a 50lb bag of the 6F5M30. Rats are still healthy and I'm able to keep my production up to meet my needs, and save a few bucks.

There are better ways than the way I'm doing it. This way has been working for me for almost 2 years and the only reason I'm sahring it is to try to help give you some other ideas. Whether it's, "Definitely don't do what HH is doing!" OR "Take a few things HH does and modify it to fit your needs."

Have a good one!
Mike
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It is said that 1 out of every 4 people are mentally unbalanced. Think of your 3 closest friends, if they're normal, then it's you.

thanks for your help. take care.

It has to do with its first litters and instincts. Rats from time to time do this .. its normal, but after the first couple litters they stop... then they will produce tons for ya.. it has nothing to do with the food, rats eat anything ..always have food available to them
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Safari Tom
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