Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok, I just started breeding rats not too long ago...been having GREAT success. Been having about 150 babies born a month I think for the past 2 months.
Well, yesterday, I did something stupid, and I'd like to know if this was just a mistake I made, or do I have some serial killers on my hands??

I don't have a ton of room to separate each pregnant female to have her babies...
I have 3 breeder bins, big enough for 1.9, and then I have 3 babies bins. (#1)One that has about 30 small rats (just pulled the moms out), (#2)One with 5 sets of new borns, and 5 moms, and last (#3), I have some 1-2 week olds with 2 moms.

Here's what happened...I found 3 more pregnant females in the breeder bins...so I took them out and put them with the 1-2 week olds that had 2 moms in there....
Well, I had a walkman on while doing this..so I didn't hear that 2 of the babies started to get SLAUGHTERED by one of the pregnant females. When I happened to see that...I pull her out and put her back in the breeder bin to have her babies there.
Then, the second pregnant female started to do it too!!!! So I pulled her out too!!!
About 30 min went by, and the last pregnant female didn't do anything. She just sat there, and all was fine. Well, I finished up, and left for about 2 hours. This is where my mistake was...cause the last prego female freaking MURDERED all the babies there....they were all just the size where they just opened their eyes and running around...

There were 3 left alive and untouched, and the others...man...it looked like WW3...bodies all over the floor

I was so upset...

SOOO...this brings me to my questions.

#1 - was this just a stupid move I made? Putting pregnant mothers in with young ones?

#2 - now that those 3 pregnant females have tasted blood, do you think they'll eat their own babies when they finally have them??? What should I expect???

#3 - How normal is this???

#4 - if I have some GOOD moms that take care of babies...how long can they produce milk...I mean...can they in theory take care of one litter of babies, then just swap those out for another moms new litter?

Unrelated questions…

#5 – Water….I hear people use some bleach in the water??? Is true? IF so, why? And how much bleach would I use in a 5 Gallon tank?

#6 – Drain the water lines? Why do this, and how often??

Thanks in advance for any help.

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>>#1 - was this just a stupid move I made? Putting pregnant mothers in with young ones?

Yup, sorry, but IMHO it was dumb to put them in there. But I also believe in moving the males and leaving the mom groups set all the time.
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>>#2 - now that those 3 pregnant females have tasted blood, do you think they'll eat their own babies when they finally have them??? What should I expect???
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Well, they are stressed so that may lead to problems but likely as not they are fine. To me there is no such thing as tasting blood. If they kill their own it is stress, if they do it twice they may suck as moms. But nothing to do with previous rampaging.

>>#3 - How normal is this???

For you to do something dumb?? (sorry, but it was a question)
Seems normal to me for a pregnant mom about to have a litter to want to have them in as safe a place as possible etc. and to stress about suddenly being dumped in with others. It may be a routine for you but it isn't for them.
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>>#4 - if I have some GOOD moms that take care of babies...how long can they produce milk...I mean...can they in theory take care of one litter of babies, then just swap those out for another moms new litter?

I wouldn't with rats for more than a couple of litters or they are gonna be making less for the pups and growth will slow and you will wear them out. Why trade pups from their moms to surrogates routinely?
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>>Unrelated questions…
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>>#5 – Water….I hear people use some bleach in the water??? Is true? IF so, why? And how much bleach would I use in a 5 Gallon tank?

Don't, and don't know. I bleach out bottles (no automated yet) once a month or so but have well water and don't filter it.
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>>#6 – Drain the water lines? Why do this, and how often??
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>>Thanks in advance for any help.
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Sonya

Don't beat yourself up about it. We all make mistakes. : )
I agree that the mom's should be fine.

I do use bleach in my water. I put 1 capful to 1 gallon of water. I've noticed that it keeps the smell down and helps keep the bottles clean. : ) Nope, I'm not automated yet either, I don't think I ever will, don't like the thought of having floods.
Rat soup.......ewwwwwwww!

Later,
Jen
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HerpCrazy Reptiles

thanks guys! I appreciate your input a ton! I hate to say it, but I'm not really beating myself up over it...I just don't want it to happen again...I need some of these little guys for future breeders, and I can't be having moms go killing them all before they even how to eat solid food.

Lucky, I had plenty of snakes willing to dispose of the bodies for me...and I didn't have to do the killing myself.LOL

I've taken all the info into consideration...I'll definitly be more careful!!!

THANKS AGAIN

I don't seperate any of my rats, I set up a colony of one male and 4-5 females and leave it. But, a couple months ago I dropped a new rat into an established colony. (She was a pretty blue and I wanted to breed her to a male that sometimes throws some blue hoods) Got up the next morning and EVERY SINGLE pup in there was dead. About 30 of them. I was mad as hell!

Well, since there were no more pups for her to kill I left her in the colony with the intent of pulling her as soon as any of the other females looked pregnant. I did that, and by that time she was pregnant as well. I let her have her pups in another tub with a lone female (I REALLY wanted some blue pups and figured she had already cost me enough money she better give me some pups!) I let her raise those pups for about a week, and she seemed to be fine. Then I put her back into the colony. (Harvested all the other pups first) She took fine care of her pups, (And I have some blue pups now!) and it looks like some of the females in her colony should produce again any day now, so I will see if she leaves the new pups alone or not. If she kills another litter I will put her down. But I hope not, she makes some really pretty pups!

BTW~ Some people put bleach in the auto water systems to keep algae from growing in the lines.

Or you could seperate her and pick a male from her litter to cross her back to. Then you get...

More rat tubs!

DeMak

use a cap full of bleach per 5 gallons. This is only if you have well water. City water already is chlorinated.

This prevents the slime coat that forms on the bucket and inside all the lines. This can cause disease if allowed to go untreated. It is a biological event that will get passed into your rats drinking water.

Mike King
MK Reptiles