Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I had a really big litter of 16 weanling that I just took out of a 6ft cage and a young litter of crawlers (only four)I then checked on the crawlers and found them all chewed up. One of them had its leg chew off, one was dead and they all had various toes chewed off as well as thier tails. I had to put them down.Im pretty sure the weanlings did it as this has never happened and the bites were small. Was this because the first litter was so large or did I not pull them out soon enough?
BTW I have 1.3 in this 6ft cage so there is plenty of room..

That's pretty much the norm for me. If I don't get the weans out before the dams give birth I can count on them just disappearing. My rats will eat everything.

To solve the problem I have one large bin for the breeders. It has 1 male and up to 10 females. When a female showes I move her into her own bin until her litter is weaned. Then it's back to the breading bucket.

The weans go into their own large bin and haven't chewed each other up yet.

It takes up more room, but I'm having great success.

Jeremy

>>I had a really big litter of 16 weanling that I just took out of a 6ft cage and a young litter of crawlers (only four)I then checked on the crawlers and found them all chewed up. One of them had its leg chew off, one was dead and they all had various toes chewed off as well as thier tails. I had to put them down.Im pretty sure the weanlings did it as this has never happened and the bites were small. Was this because the first litter was so large or did I not pull them out soon enough?
>> BTW I have 1.3 in this 6ft cage so there is plenty of room..

I have not had that happen. What I have seen that sounds similar is in a pet store I worked in there were nightly maimings.....typically toes and tails. I sat in the store late and found we had a couple of wild rats that each night came to the cages to pilfer food. The domestic rats, being curious and friendly came over to check it out...wild rats tried to eat them. Something to think about. I am not saying your weanlings didn't do it. But whenever I have had weanlings in with new pups (provided they don't steal all the milk and starve the newborns to death by outcompeting them) typically they just settle in to raise the pups.
-----
Sonya

Haven't we warned you about tampering with the structure of a chaotic system?
Mrs. Neutron

the weanlings I pulled out would have had some bites too and they didnt or the adults too..But it is worth setting some traps around just in case..Thanks for all the help I am just really getting sick of raising stinky rats anyway I may just let them finish the litters they have and put them all down..With the humidity and heat getting worse the flies are getting worse and its just getting gross...I have no room in the house so they are in outside cages like rabbits. And I imagine with the heat they will probably stop having babies soon anyways.sorry I am rambling...