# Rat problem



## matthew288 (Feb 19, 2009)

One of my females that was put into its own cage a few days ago as she was ready to give birth, today I went in there to find a lot of the shavings with blood in there and the female eating what appeared to be afterbirth. She looks like she has given birth and eaten them, as doesnt seem to be preggas anymore.
If I go out tommorow morning and there is no babies Im going to put the male back in, is it worth giving her one more go or should I retire her. This is her first litter.


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## Wild~Touch (Feb 19, 2009)

Put her in the freezer


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## kimmyhayward (Feb 19, 2009)

rats only take around 3 weeks to give birth and can get pregnant immediately after giving birth so i think its worth giving her one more go.
whats to loose, its only 3 weeks.
my rat had 9 babies her first litter but then escaped and moved them all into the garden somewhere, and then i managed to catch her a few days later, but no babies. what a waste.
also my other girl looked like she was big enough to have around 12-14 and has only had 5.
either way, my lovely oscar is getting some food.


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## Vassallo2008 (Feb 19, 2009)

Bredlislave said:


> Put her in the freezer


 haha AGREES.


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## jaih (Feb 19, 2009)

Yeah i say retire her to the freezer.


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## matthew288 (Feb 19, 2009)

Its funny because I have 8 females are all ready to drop, one looks like it has 20 in it, be interesting to see how many she has. I have one male and he seems to be a good one, looks like hes joining the other female in the morning.


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## seumas12345 (Feb 19, 2009)

Freezer mate. I had the same problem. She ate her first lot and the second lot she aborted (as in went into labour but reabsorbed them).... Cull and get another female, trust me it's not worth wasting your time


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## Sdaji (Feb 19, 2009)

If we have one produce less than 12 in a litter or it does a bad job of looking after the babies it gets clonked. If it's a very early litter and the rat is only part grown we'll sometimes give her another chance if she only has 10 or 11. If we ever have one eat its own babies I imagine it will have a few last seconds to live.


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## mis_gmh (Feb 19, 2009)

Just a quick question. I have numerous rats and in 3 days i have 35babies. I have seperated them from the others as one of my males was in with a female and while she was giving birth he was trying to bash her!! Im just wondering if anyone has problems with males bashing females and eating babies? 
And should i keep males with the females with babies?
regards
laura


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## funcouple (Feb 19, 2009)

mis_gmh said:


> Just a quick question. I have numerous rats and in 3 days i have 35babies. I have seperated them from the others as one of my males was in with a female and while she was giving birth he was trying to bash her!! Im just wondering if anyone has problems with males bashing females and eating babies?
> And should i keep males with the females with babies?
> regards
> laura


males are allways (bashing) the female. the male is trying to mate with her. i have 3 females and 1 male in a tub and never remove any of them. i never have a problem with babies being eaten


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## matthew288 (Feb 20, 2009)

Another birth litter today 8 dead some half eaten not sure if they were still born but a few half eaten 1 alive can I chuck the live one in with another litter not to waste any time with 1?


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## FAY (Feb 20, 2009)

Matthew, Could be their diet. If there is not enough protein in their diet they will eat their babies.
If you don't fix that up, you will always have that problem of them eating their babies.


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## matthew288 (Feb 20, 2009)

yeah im just off to the supermarket for a can of dogfood.


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## Recharge (Feb 20, 2009)

thanks fay, I'm glad at least one person though to put forward a possible diet issue, no need to instantly dispose of a failed birthing, there are avenues to check first, such as diet.


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## Saz (Feb 20, 2009)

If babies are born dead or very sickly the mother disposes of the remains as quickly as possible so that they don't compromise the rest of the litter and the smell of dead/decaying animal doesn't attract predators to the nest.

I've only had one rattie eat her babies, and they were born dead as I caught her giving birth. She came pregnant and was way too old to still be breeding.


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## Maree (Mar 14, 2009)

As soon as the mother gives birth, the male will mate her again. Post partum estrus and usually very fertile. Better to leave the same male in all the time. If you put him back in after a couple of weeks and the pups are still there, he might have forgotten they're his and kill them. Normal behaviour for rats.


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## matthew288 (Apr 7, 2009)

Well checked on her tonight and she was in labor and had given birth to 5, however she looked like she was just finishing a feed. Hopefully she will have more and not eat them again otherwise she will be off to another place within a few seconds of my discovery.


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## euphorion (Apr 7, 2009)

dont bother with a can of dog food, just get a dry kibble mix that has a high protein content, that way it wont stink out the cage or wreck your rats guts.


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## Noongato (Apr 7, 2009)

In the pet rat side, i found that the female rat would eat the bubs if she was mal nourished during the pregnancy. When my pet rats were preggas i used to give them bread soaked in milk. Its not fat free but i imagine the milk provides the calcium and whatnot. But then i feed my rats chop bones and things like that aswell. Hehe.
Another thing is the baby rats squeek and wriggle when born to stop their mother from eating them, if they are dead or fail to show signs of life the mother will eat them along with the placentas.


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## Mle00 (Apr 7, 2009)

As a high protein feed very now and then I throw in a hard boiled egg or some grilled fish (mackeral) they love it~!


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## matthew288 (Apr 7, 2009)

Over the last month they have been getting a mix of biomare, barastock rat food, dry kibble and fruit veg once a week. we will soon see, the 5 were alive tonight.


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## matthew288 (Apr 8, 2009)

well only 5 looks like its time to freeze her!!!!!


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## matthew288 (Apr 12, 2009)

Another question for the rat breeders out there, im running out of space and have a few males that I have removed from other cages can i put several males into a new cage by themselves, until i purchase some more females in a few days? I know if there is females this cannot be done but what about a fresh cage for a few excess males.


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