Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi all I have been breeding my own rats for a few months now and has several successful liters grow of age. But sometimes the babies are killed and eaten. can someone explain why or how to prevent this? I have 4 colonies of females with 4 to 6 females per tub, and they all share one male (hes pretty busy).

Any ideas?

thanks,
Ed

>>Hi all I have been breeding my own rats for a few months now and has several successful liters grow of age. But sometimes the babies are killed and eaten. can someone explain why or how to prevent this? I have 4 colonies of females with 4 to 6 females per tub, and they all share one male (hes pretty busy).
>>
>>Any ideas?
>>
>>thanks,
>>Ed

Low protein or fat or both in their diet. Pups dying and being cleaned up. One mom about to pop and making room for her litter. Toss in some sunflower seeds and or cat kibble and see if it helps. What are you feeding now?
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Sonya

I'm not mean. You're just a sissy.
Happy Bunny

Thanks for the post! Right now they are eating wet grain, and dog food. I also feed leftovers if they are high in protin.

I believe they are being killed, one day healthy babies, sometime up to a week later they are mangled, or already gone. Could it be the male?

Thanks for the help!

>>Thanks for the post! Right now they are eating wet grain, and dog food. I also feed leftovers if they are high in protin.
>>
>>I believe they are being killed, one day healthy babies, sometime up to a week later they are mangled, or already gone. Could it be the male?
>>
>>Thanks for the help!

I very very rarely have a male cannabalize. I would bet it is for want of protein. Toss in some cat kibble.
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Sonya

I'm not mean. You're just a sissy.
Happy Bunny

Will do, I will also throw in the sunflower seeds.

Could it be me stressing them out? I check on them regularly and some of the females come out and say hi etc..

thanks for all your help.

I think the biggest thing is a pour diet. Don't feed table scraps to the rats, even if they are omnivorous. Get a quality lab rat chow like Mazuri designed for breeding and nursing rodents. Large parrot seed mixes are great for some variety (I find this is consumed completely unlike typical rat seed/nut mixes sold in petstores for rats, which contain alot of alfalfa pellets which rats don't seem to eat at all (or at least its the Last thing eaten).

Dog and cat kibble can be used, but make sure it contains no red dyes (its toxic to snakes and since it ends up stored in the rats, snakes can be poisoned by it when eating the rats).

Overcrowding can cause excessive stress as well. It may be better to move one or two nursing mothers into another bin after her pinks are about a week old.
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PHLdyPayne