# Rats all dead........



## caradeller (May 18, 2009)

hi...
went to feed my rats about 10 mins ago and opened thier box and they where ALLLLLLLL dead???
4 breeding f/m one m and 13 weaners...dead..
did they have food water ..yes
did they have clean cage with warm sleeping boxs.. yes

unless its was freezeing last night i have know idea how this happened...anyone eses have this kinda thing?


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## redbellybite (May 18, 2009)

wow pretty bizare that you lost all in one hit...bit of a head scratcher ...you sure they had plenty of fresh air ? and didnt suffocate ?...


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## kupper (May 18, 2009)

i had five newborn die last night as well,

i am in sunbury and it was like 0 last night and 7 degress this morning


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## caradeller (May 18, 2009)

yeah heaps of air...im think it was reallly cold...but they where all in the same nesting box...u thing they would of been warm..plus they have good bedding


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## beeman (May 18, 2009)

the cold will kill them very easily as does excessive heat, If it gets to cold even a group
in a nesting box cant generate enough warmth to survive


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## caradeller (May 18, 2009)

sould i bin them or freeze???would they be ok to feed to my snakes..
maybe i wont risk it just in case something else killed them??


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## beeman (May 18, 2009)

The choice of wether to use them or not is up to you! Personally if we have any rodent die in the breeding system we discard it Not worth the risk ,imo


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## Lewy (May 18, 2009)

caradeller said:


> sould i bin them or freeze???would they be ok to feed to my snakes..
> maybe i wont risk it just in case something else killed them??


 

I never feed rats and mice that have died to any of my reptile's 

Would hate to kill some of my collection

Lewy


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## mystix81 (May 18, 2009)

Say it's the cold....i have business breeding rodents for food and winter sux...last year i still had smal set up and i was bringin weaners up to the house and bringin them inside...which was ok with 50 or so weaners but now am in the hundreds so not happening anymore...maybe just next time cover cage with a towel so the warmth stays in (but make sure cage iss clean otherwise the ammon. build up will be too much for em) Chrissy


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## OdessaStud (May 18, 2009)

I doubt very much if it was the cold especially as they were in a coloney its amazing how resistent to climate change they actually are given the correct housing conditions.It sounds more to me like they have either been poisioned ie fly spray,or a bait, eaten something they shouldnt have( unusual they arnt stupid) or something has been introduced into the coloney by a wild mouse maybe? I wouldnt risk using them as feeders just in case. Odie


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## Jay84 (May 18, 2009)

I very much doubt it was the cold. When i used to breed my rats they were kept outside in the shed all year round. It was made of cement sheeting which is very thin and had lots of holes under the eaves where the tin had gaps. I never lost animals on cold nights? That was at my parents down on the mornington peninsula too....... very windy and cold!

I wouldnt risk feeding them to your snakes.... just incase it is something more sinister than cold.


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## caradeller (May 18, 2009)

bined them...cleaned cage cant find anything that could of caused it...food is same thya they always get...and mic3e eat same..their all fine :shock:


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## leamos (May 18, 2009)

Had the same problem when i was in sydney, every winter the first frosts of the year sorted the men from the boys so to speak but never lost all like that does sound a bit suss loosing them all overnight. I found a sterofoam box that my breeding box fitted in snuggly (2-3cm gap to still allow air exchange) and used a light towel over 2/3 of the lid. Keeps them nice a warm overnight, but take them out during the day to provent overheating. Hope this helps


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## Slytherin (May 18, 2009)

That's odd, possibly the cold but are the cages kept in a garage near where a car may have been or near a gas hot water heater and the pilot light may have gone out. Gas and carbon monoxide fumes kill quickly and silently. I know it may be reaching, but you never know.


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## dodgie (May 18, 2009)

I Have lost rodents in the past from the cold.I now heat my rodents with heat mats at one end of there cage on a timer at night.


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## dodgie (May 18, 2009)

OdessaStud said:


> I doubt very much if it was the cold especially as they were in a coloney its amazing how resistent to climate change they actually are given the correct housing conditions.It sounds more to me like they have either been poisioned ie fly spray,or a bait, eaten something they shouldnt have( unusual they arnt stupid) or something has been introduced into the coloney by a wild mouse maybe? I wouldnt risk using them as feeders just in case. Odie




:lol:


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## liberty (May 18, 2009)

doubt it woudl be the cold, i mean think of real life for them the live through the cold in nature.
have u sprayed anything recently, neighbours sprayed?


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## caustichumor (May 18, 2009)

How cold are we talking?


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## kupper (May 18, 2009)

liberty said:


> doubt it woudl be the cold, i mean think of real life for them the live through the cold in nature.
> have u sprayed anything recently, neighbours sprayed?


 
pet rats are pretty far from there wild cousins , with the amount of in breeding we do it does make them weaker 

i just checked the temps last night and it got down to 2 degrees in the west of vic and 7 degrees until 10 this morning


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## dodgie (May 18, 2009)

liberty said:


> doubt it woudl be the cold, i mean think of real life for them the live through the cold in nature.



And in the wild they can bask in the sun during the day and then wonder around and find some where nice and warm at night.Captive rodents are stuck in a cage in all temperatures and can't warm up even if they want to,


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## liberty (May 18, 2009)

well maybe that should be changed and incorperated by the breeder, so many of the people on here get on their high horse about replicating ur reptile natural environment maybe soem breeders should do similar for the rodents we breed.
its not hard to give them a good variety of space, and when u do give them a natural environment the number of pups u get dramatically increases, not haveing a dig at u at all ok.

cheers


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## Noongato (May 18, 2009)

I live in Orange, which it snows really well here.
My pet rats are in a big cage and their bed is one of those bird nesting boxes, theyre are 4 adult Female rats in there.
Never had issues with cold killing them...
Odd....


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## FALANA27 (May 18, 2009)

*here what i have done*

it has heat lite it only go on out nite
an doing with breeding
in has an it not glass 
i cant spell word what im using


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## liberty (May 18, 2009)

*** did u say falana27?


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## FALANA27 (May 18, 2009)

*here my ideas*

an it not glass it other stuff with heat lite i only use out nite time


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## FALANA27 (May 18, 2009)

*sorry about that*

put my ad twice


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## FALANA27 (May 18, 2009)

*just let you all know im ***** out spelling*

an watching what im writing so sorry 
what im try say 
that my rats breeding well now


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## Noongato (May 18, 2009)

You have a good setup there Falana..


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## shered (May 18, 2009)

Did you clean their enclosure yesterday? Could cleaning fumes have built up? Did you put something new in their enclosure, like a new dish or something, that may not have been cleaned properly? Different substrate? Just some idea's that you can investigate.


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## FALANA27 (May 18, 2009)

*thank you*

thnak you


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## KingSirloin (May 18, 2009)

I had a baby mouse escape, a fuzzy still without it's eyes opened and no longer than 3cm, and it survived 2 nights on it's own in the back yard somewhere before my dog found it still alive so the cold night shouldn't have done it. The mouse is back safe with it's family.

If their cages are in direct sunlight though, heat stroke can kill them all very quickly. Even in plastic ventilated tubs, the heat can build to fatal levels.


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## Noongato (May 18, 2009)

Do you get cats in your yard at night? 
I find that even the presence of a cat around my rats (smell maybe) makes them freeze on the spot and then frantically run so hard and fast that they run into stuff and get a bloody nose. If a cat hung around for a while, could they die from the stress?


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## GTsteve (May 18, 2009)

FALANA27 said:


> it has heat lite it only go on out nite
> an doing with breeding
> in has an it not glass
> i cant spell word what im using


 

Do you mean it has a perspex front instead of glass? I've got to ask something though. What is in the enclosure next to the rats? Is that a snake? It looks like something is coiled up.


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## caradeller (May 18, 2009)

cleaned last week..they are keeped in a 4ft by 2ft cage..wood and wire...have been for months well the adults...i onw cats and they sleep on their cage rats didnt care used to them..nothing has been sparyed nothing new......yeah...dont know what happened..


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## diprotodon (May 18, 2009)

i came home two days ago to find 13 hopper rats were dead ,they were in 90 litre tub with there two mothers. Problem they had ,was they all had a bite to there heads .Coldnt belive that the mother or mothers killed there own young aspecially when they had spent time raising them up and the day before seemed content .Could it have been the cold that drove them to kill there young im in qld and it hasnt got that cold yet, yawl got me thinking about keeping them warmer during the winter ,This was to be the first harvest so got a bit angry at the most suspicious looking rat and clunked her on the spot and i will be keeping a close eye on the other one .Rats are a real pleasure to raise but after i see what they are capable of doing to each other. I dont have a problem kulling anymore.


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## JasonL (May 18, 2009)

Rats don't do well in very cold temps, they will also kill off their babies if it gets too cold.


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## caradeller (May 19, 2009)

no bite marks..all where fine..they where all togehther..some babies were on tits....though two weeks ago the parents were wormed..with new wormer..but thats 2 weeks ago..


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## mystix81 (May 23, 2009)

am still backing the cold only say this because like someone pointed out, they are not in natural enviroment and therefore if the temp is dropping dramatically at night compared to day, they have no extra resources in their cage to buffer them from the drop at night/early morning, just like we need blankets?? If they were out or wild they would find a snug little corner away from drafts and wet etc??? I close my shed doors at night and give mine shredded paper seems to be enough for them to snuggle in! But i stil have issues with the weaners and the cold! like someone else said 'seperate the man from the boys!' but am considering heating (only the weaners though)...


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## Kimbully (May 24, 2009)

I Wouldn't think wild rats would find a snug place to sleep at night because they are nocturnal  They would be out and about looking for food etc.

Kim


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## mystix81 (May 26, 2009)

Fair point, 'nocturnal thing'. Just tryin to demostrate my point seems that's all i do! 'Rats & Mice' but each to there own..u'll figure it out soon enough....


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## Clitybangspython (May 26, 2009)

u told me when picking up that bredli ur housemate dosnt like ur animals they
prob killed them just a thought


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## herptrader (May 26, 2009)

Ours get thermostatically controlled heating and fan forced ventilation. I have lost very few apart from the ones I dispatched myself in the last 10 years.

Heating/cooling may not be essential to their survival but it will make a huge difference when it comes to breeding reliability.


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## caradeller (May 27, 2009)

> Clitybangspythonu told me when picking up that bredli ur housemate dosnt like ur animals they
> prob killed them just a thought


dont think so lol...she is way to scared to evan walk past the cage lol...ba u never know:shock:


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