HELP, MY RAT IS EATING HER BABIES!

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HELP, MY RAT IS EATING HER BABIES!

Postby WinterSkyWolf » Sun Sep 19, 2010 1:13 am

I have a pet rat that had 10 babies, they are 3 weeks old. I found 2 of them dead on the floor a couple days ago, then i found 2 more ones dead the next day, and she started eating them! Now today i found 1 dead and she ate it again! Im getting really worried, i need to seperate them. Is it safe to seperate 3 week old rats from their mother, they are eating solid food now.

Edit- They are all dead so you dont need to answer this anymore :(
Last edited by WinterSkyWolf on Sun Oct 10, 2010 1:11 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: HELP, MY RAT IS EATING HER BABIES!

Postby elvisscout » Sun Sep 19, 2010 1:39 am

hi, I'm not quite sure, but I looked it up, I think that you would be able to seperate them...for a shortened time. It says to seperate them at 4 1/2, but I'm not sure. Just trying to help. I think it would be okay though, if she's eating them.
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Re: HELP, MY RAT IS EATING HER BABIES!

Postby metalmad » Sun Sep 19, 2010 3:31 am

It's perfectly normal that the mother tries to eat already dead babies if she is not the one killing them. How did 3 week old babies die? It's normal during first few days but it sounds odd for them to die at that age already.
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Re: HELP, MY RAT IS EATING HER BABIES!

Postby MoonfallTheFox » Sun Sep 19, 2010 3:51 am

She's cleaning up her nest by eating the corpses. Totally normal. Your babies should not be separated yet, and they should still be nursing at least some. 5 weeks is the age of separation of the boys, 4 and a half is fine, but any later is bad news- the boys will breed to the girls. The girls can stay with mom.

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Re: HELP, MY RAT IS EATING HER BABIES!

Postby Davy + Aero » Sun Sep 19, 2010 5:47 am

keep a very close eye on them. if the mother is killing them, seperate them, if not, leave it be then. Maybe call a vet to see what's wrong? I don't think 3 1/2 week old babies should be dying :/

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Re: HELP, MY RAT IS EATING HER BABIES!

Postby lailamoonchild » Sun Sep 19, 2010 5:50 am

What are you feeding the mom? She might need more protein, although it would be weird for a deficiency to occur three weeks after birth. Is she in a cage that's big enough for her and the babies? Some rats will kill their litter if their living conditions aren't good enough for the mother and the offspring.

In case you wanna check on the cage size: http://www.cagecalc.de/
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Re: HELP, MY RAT IS EATING HER BABIES!

Postby AtomicMilkshake » Sun Sep 19, 2010 9:23 am

If she eats them and they where alive (which my hamster done) you probably got your scent on them, and doesn't reconise the babies as her own. Try not to handle the babies, or remaining babies until they're old enough to fend for themselves. And when they are old enough, sell them. You do not want 100s of rats around the house! They will end up breeding together! Oh, and watch out for rat kings, you do not want that. D:
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Re: HELP, MY RAT IS EATING HER BABIES!

Postby renki » Sun Sep 19, 2010 9:33 am

If they are eating solids and are no longer nursing its time to remove them and then sell them unless you get alot of cages. See the problem you face is that there are boys and girls...you cant have them together because then they will start reproducing babys that will have problems. Then from my understanding that some male rats do not get along...so you have to keep them sperate. Then if the females start going at it you have to separate them. So I would advice finding them new homes. We had this problem with hamsters onces. I remember when I was real little Those things kept having babys and...well it didnt go over good. We ended up having to give them all seprate homes.
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Re: HELP, MY RAT IS EATING HER BABIES!

Postby lailamoonchild » Sun Sep 19, 2010 10:49 am

Rats should be separated from their mothers when they're four weeks and a half, not younger - their mother teaches them everything. Mine already ate solid food when they were three weeks old, so you probably could separate them as a last solution.
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Re: HELP, MY RAT IS EATING HER BABIES!

Postby metalmad » Sun Sep 19, 2010 11:23 am

As the previous poster said: it should be the last resort to separate them. Animal babies weaned too soon are known to have problems mentally and physically.
But it's extremely unlikely a rat would kill her babies because human scent got onto them. They are extremely attached to their owners and rat babies grow up less social if you don't handle them from early age. Each mother is of course a different story but after the babies start moving on their own they need to be handled otherwise they won't make very good pets.
Male rats get along with each other 99.9% of the time. There is something wrong with the male if he doesn't. I'd really like to wipe the idea from people's minds that they don't get along. Too many male rats are kept alone which just makes me want to cry.

And I think the thread starter found help somewhere else as there hasn't been any replies.

... and sorry if I sound harsh... I've been told I might do it but I don't really mean any harm. It's just the way I talk about important things... ^^;;
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