Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I recently began a colony with three female rats and one male. One female just gave birth (she must have been pregnant when I got her). SHe cleaned off her babies and ate all but two placentas. Then, for no reason that I can figure, she just began ignoring them. I believe that they will die as they haven't been attended to for nearly a full day now. I can't really use them at this size, I had wanted to raise them up.

I have accepted this litter as a lost cause but was hoping for tips on how to prevent it in the future.

Also, I purchased the male after the litter was born and put him right in. He sniffed the babies then ignored them. THen (and this is before the mother started ignoring them) he began to eat an outlier. Obviously I removed him.

Could this be why the mom left? Is this likely to happen again if the male is allowed in with other (possibly his own) litters? Was it just because he was new that he did this?

Any insight and advice would be greatly appreciated!!
-----
1.1 BPs (Syd and Nancy)
1.1 Het. Albinos (Bill and Beatrix) arriving Tuesday!!
0.2 French Lops (Lapine and Jacquotte)
0.0.2 Firebellied Toads (Stanley and Stuart)

I would say that adding the male right after the babies were born is what caused the trouble. I have never had a mother rat abandon her babies and only once did I have a male that ate the babies. It was because it was a new group and the female was already pregnant and they were not his babies. He's been fine with every other litter. I would just pull the babies that are left and freeze them (maybe you know someone who needs this size?) and reintroduce the male and start fresh. Good luck!
-----
1.3 Ball Pythons
1.0 Brooksi
0.1 Goini
0.1 Goini x Brooksi
1.1 Blairs Grey Banded
1.1 California Kings
1.0 Normal Corn
1.0 Pastel Motley Corn
0.1 Okeetee Corn
0.1 Emory Rat x Corn

Probably the male. But, I have seen this before in one of my colonies. The female does her job until the young are clean and ready for some real "mommy" attention but she abandons them with no ryme or reason. In my colony, it was due to having a litter to close the one she just weaned. In other words, she was bred again by the male soon after she gave birth to her previous litter. I used all the babies as feeders since I have snakes that were ready to be fed anyways. She has been bred since (in fact only 2 weeks later) and gave birth to another healthy litter. This time she has been an excellent mother. This situation can occur. Just FYI!

Thanks guys. By now, of course, the babies are done for. I have cleared them out and started fresh. I figured that the male was the cause. Thanks for your input--now I feel a little better about future litters.
-----
1.1 BPs (Syd and Nancy)
1.1 Het. Albinos (Bill and Beatrix)
0.2 French Lops (Lapine and Jacquotte)
0.0.2 Firebellied Toads (Stanley and Stuart)