Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have been breeding rats for a few years now, but I just came home to a new experience.

I separated off about 35 weaned rats and put them all in one big enclosure. They have been living together like this for a few weeks.

They have had plenty of food and water, but I just came home to see a rat mob fighting over eating the stomach out of one of the rats.

I was blown away!!! It was a healthy rat as there was still food in its stomach.

Thanks for any insight.
TomChambers

Overcrowding... it can cause things like that... I had that happen with a group of over 20 youngsters. There was plenty of space for them but it stressed them out enough they started cannabilising each other. I'd seperate them out into at least 2 groups... I don't usually keep anymore than 15 youngsters together anymore in one enclosure.
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Lucien

1.0 Columbian Redtail Boa (BCI)(Sutekh)
2.2 Leopard geckos (2 Blizzards (Caine and Goliath), 1 het Blizzard (Lilith) and 1 Tangerine Albino (Tequila Sunrise ...Tiki for short))
0.1 Savannah Monitor (Kiros)
13 rats
5 Gerbils
2 Dogs (Loki and Storm)
2 cats (Sahara and Hercules)

I have increased the rat production over the last 6 months to sell them to a local pet store for extra cash.

So I've been grouping 20-30 young rats in large tubs until they are about 100-120grams then I sell them.

This is the first time anything like this happened. I was planning to go and get more tubs today anyway. I’ll start making smaller groups in the future.

Question: is it just the group size or should I also separate gender as well???

Thanks for the input.
TomChambers

Sorry it took so long to get back to ya.. I've been busy.. as to your question... you could seperate by sex if you want to.. but I doubt thats any part of the problem. I think it could be the group size and that group was just more susceptible to the stress of it. I've had some groups of 20 do fine together and then others cannabilize heavily....so I generally keep it down below 20 per group now just as a safety precaution. I couldn't afford to keep losing pups... not with hungry mouths to feed.
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Lucien

1.0 Columbian Redtail Boa (BCI)(Sutekh)
2.2 Leopard geckos (2 Blizzards (Caine and Goliath), 1 het Blizzard (Lilith) and 1 Tangerine Albino (Tequila Sunrise ...Tiki for short))
0.1 Savannah Monitor (Kiros)
13 rats
5 Gerbils
2 Dogs (Loki and Storm)
2 cats (Sahara and Hercules)

I split them into groups of 10 and they seem to be happy so far.
Thanks again
TomChambers