Reptile & Amphibian Forums

This is wierd kind of. I have one female rat that I let breed in with the colony who is a really bad parent...she has the babies and abandons them which I don't mind because I have 2 female rats who will take over all the pinkies and I need the production at the moment. But I have one little black pied female.. who hasn't even HAD a litter yet.. thats producing milk and feeding a set of 9 pups.. I've kept a watch and she's the only one taking care of them at the moment. I didn't think they could produce milk without having a litter first. I suspect the black female is gonna end up being a great parent just from this.. I just thought it was kind of odd...

>>This is wierd kind of. I have one female rat that I let breed in with the colony who is a really bad parent...she has the babies and abandons them which I don't mind because I have 2 female rats who will take over all the pinkies and I need the production at the moment. But I have one little black pied female.. who hasn't even HAD a litter yet.. thats producing milk and feeding a set of 9 pups.. I've kept a watch and she's the only one taking care of them at the moment. I didn't think they could produce milk without having a litter first. I suspect the black female is gonna end up being a great parent just from this.. I just thought it was kind of odd...

Have you tried isolating her with her litter? That will sometimes kick a poor mom into learning how. That and sometimes they come around by learning from those in with her. But some, rarely aren't too good at it. I have found that if I have one that trusts me I can keep tossing her babies back under her and she will get the hang of it. Some are just dense too.
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Sonya

Her first 2 litters were spent in Isolation. I lost 9 out of 11 with the first one.. and 7 out of 10 on the second litter before I took the rest away and gave them to another female to take care of. This bad mother female is a biter as well.. she's nailed me 3 times already even though I've handled her since she was born.

What had surprised me is the fact that the little black female I have... who's never had a litter, is lactating...She's feeding a set of 9 pups right now that aren't hers.

She may have had a litter of only one or two pups, that you weren't even aware of. If she dropped it/them at approximately the same time time as her cagemate, you'd not know it if you keep the mothers communally. A very small litter could be carried without the mother becoming noticeably thick girthed. I really doubt that she's lactating without having been pregnant. Another possibility, is that she may have aborted or resorbed a litter, although I think that to be less likely than her having birthed a mini-litter. Just last week, one of mine gave birth to a singleton pup that I had no idea she was expecting.

>>What had surprised me is the fact that the little black female I have... who's never had a litter, is lactating...She's feeding a set of 9 pups right now that aren't hers.

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tricia

I don't think thats what happened... I can't be positive but I keep a close watch on all my girls... She may have had an early pregnancy and reabsorbed the litter because I'm usually watching when all my rats give birth. I monitor that to make sure there's no problem.. (Its fairly easy with them in a cage right behind my computer stands) They usually birth either in late afternoon or the middle of the night and I'm awake during those times.. I don't know though.. I was just surprised that this little black female seems to be a better mother than the one female I have who's actually had experience at keeping pups.

>>I don't think thats what happened... I can't be positive but I keep a close watch on all my girls... She may have had an early pregnancy and reabsorbed the litter because I'm usually watching when all my rats give birth. I monitor that to make sure there's no problem.. (Its fairly easy with them in a cage right behind my computer stands) They usually birth either in late afternoon or the middle of the night and I'm awake during those times.. I don't know though.. I was just surprised that this little black female seems to be a better mother than the one female I have who's actually had experience at keeping pups.

If the black one has ever had a litter she can be lactating. Also, like Tricia says....some rats just don't show. Heck, I had a little hairless that could pack 15 pups in her and barely look well fed....and there was no way she hid anything being a hairless! If the other mom is that bad I would only keep her if she is dropping pups in good numbers and I needed newborns. Otherwise I personally wouldn't keep her in the breeders. Especially if she is a biter! I hate biters! I have a pair (mother/daughter) and the only reason I keep them is because they regularly have 30-40 pups between the two of them and do a great job raising them.
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Sonya

I have to agree with Sonya. Unless you need the babies, cull. Rats are smart. They will learn, good things and bad things. Don't keep bad teachers around.

DeMak

Thats about the only reason I keep the biter around is cause I do need pups in large numbers right now. I'm feeding a 13 inch Savannah Monitor. I'm raising up a few new girls to add to the colony and I have to remove my original female soon. Her production has dropped off sharply over the last 2 litters. So, for now I was keeping the biter cause she throws 13-17 pups every litter like clockwork for me. I agree.. biters shouldn't normally be kept.. but until I can move my Bosc Monitor up to fuzzies I need the production at the moment. Plus I still raise up all the males that I can to feed my Boa *L*