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Here is a newbie question for you. I saw in another post where someone stated that rats will sometimes kill off their pups if there is not enough bedding. How do you determine if they have enough bedding?

Thanks
Bruce

>>Here is a newbie question for you. I saw in another post where someone stated that rats will sometimes kill off their pups if there is not enough bedding. How do you determine if they have enough bedding?
>>

I believe I missed the specific post you're referring to but thought I'd share with you my experiences. In my (small scale) mouse/rat feeder colonies, I'd keep a few boxes of unscented, generic facial tissues near me while changing out cages -- a few pieces routinely went in with each change of bedding (aspen, whatever.) So in my circumstances, the amount of bedding was not an issue because I was providing "nesting material."

The mice or rats in some cages would shred the tissues into mounds and use it for nesting/hiding, others completely ignored it and "nested" successfully on top of the aspen. Obviously this method would not be an option for large scale breeders, but it's something that was part of my cage cleaning process. I suppose it's akin to the nesting boxes (cardboard boxes, pvc pipes, etc) that "pet" rodent owners feel are required for all animals. Personally, I've kept rats as feeders and also as "strictly pets" in my classroom and never did provide nesting boxes at all times -- found it to be a hassle to clean or replace them, found that anything cardboard picked up odors very quickly, and never did see a need for it based on observable animal behavior.

For what it's worth, I did not have what I'd consider a major problem with cannibalism.... especially with rats. If it happened, I generally felt I could chalk it up to a fluke or else could directly attribute it to inadvertent overcrowding, insufficient protein in the diet, new mothers, etc.

Best of luck to you!

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Rebecca
TSBabe66@hotmail.com
Honored to moderate at Snakefeeders, a great place to buy/sell/trade feeder animals. Come check us out! http://groups.yahoo.com/group/snakefeeders/

For some reason all of my rat moms have carefully moved all of the litter in their tubs to one corner of their tank/tub and made a nest that looks a bit like a volcano. They use food as building blocks around the top, I suppose this is so they always have food close by since the babies never want to let go, and then they pack it with the rabbit pellets. She and the babies then lay in a heap on the bare floor at the center of this ring of food and litter. The rest of the cage floor is pretty much bare too. I have tried adding more litter to the end that she empties out but find that the only thing that accomplishes is supplying her with more building material so that the volcano walls can be higher!

I have also tried to provide paper tubes or tissue for nesting material but it seem to get too smelly. I really don’t provide any nesting materials and find that my rats do find. I have never had a problem with cannibalism with my rats and only rarely with my mice.

Marcia

Same thing here.. my nesting females will take all the shavings from the cage and pile them up around the babies.. with the babies on bare caging in the center.. I've never had to provide nesting boxes or material and have never had a problem with cannabilism or dead pups... My females just dropped 3 litters yesterday and 2 litters a week ago...

I love it when my rat moms make a nest. My wife enjoys it too. It is fun to see the moms be such great moms. My wife likes looking at the babies suckling and growing.

P.s. Some of my young females (about 13 weeks old) are definitely pregnant. They will be dropping anytime now. I am waiting for them to make nest. Hopefully these first time moms will be good moms (fingers crossed, since they are so young and may be no good as moms).

cheers.
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Longtang. I like snakes and rats.