Things to Think About Before Breeding Rats
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- weensue
- Tekkdavi
- Patty39
- Patty39
- ftwnw89
- mebemesothere
- Jennelyn
- Jennelyn
- Kitsu43
- mireille54
This archived discussion is "read only".
» weensue - mother rat eats her young
Your article was so informative. I had a huge upset yesterday when one of my females (housed with another female) gave birth unexpectedly. We got her two weeks ago out of a feeder tank, and she didn't even look pregnant at all. I thought she was hurt, so I disturbed the pipe she was in in her cage, and out tumbled 7 babies. We took the other female rat out, but with all the excitement, she began eating the babies. It was so difficult. I removed the other 6 at first, but all my local vets say to "let nature take its course" and told me that I could never hand feed newborns. I had to put them back in and see what she did, and this morning they are all gone. I'm quite upset. For what other reasons do mothers do this? I know she's a young mother, so maybe that has something to do with it. Can someone please help me to understand what happened? I'm still blaming myself...-- posted by weensue
» Tekkdavi - Don't blame yourself...
I'm so sorry you had to go through this. It's a tough thing to deal with, but it's fairly common in first-time mothers that aren't used to being around people much. Rats eat their young for a number of reasons:1) If there was something wrong with the babies. (Highly possible if they were from a feeder tank. A lot of very inbred and genetically weak rats are born that way...)
2) If the mother doesn't think she'll be able to provide a safe home for them. There's no point in wasting all that energy raising babies that won't survive to adulthood.
3) If the mother suffers from malnutrition sometime during the pregnancy. She may not be able to make much milk for them, so she recoups some of the lost energy she put into making babies by eating them. (Another good possibility -- feeders don't usually get the best of care and feeding.)
Nature is very practical; rats usually eat their young for good reasons, but it seems so cruel to us....
It is possible to handraise baby rats, but it's very hard -- they must be kept warm, fed every 2-4 hours all day, every day for 3-4 weeks and cleaned often to stimulate proper elimination. It's better if you can find another nursing rat to foster them, but that can be hard to do, too.
Here are some websites on caring for rat orphans. (You can use them to help educate your local vets if you like.):
http://www.rmca.org/Articles/orphans.htm
http://www.ratfanclub.org/orphans.html
Another suggestion I would have for others who might go through this -- leave the other female in the cage as long as she isn't pregnant, too, and as long as she doesn't look like she'll hurt the babies. Two females with babies will sometimes fight over whose baby is whose, and they can accidentally hurt the little ones. However, females who don't have babies usually make excellent "aunties" -- they provide a sense of stability for confused new moms and help with baby care and nest building, etc.
All the best,
-- posted by Tekkdavi
» ftwnw89 - Re: mother rat eats her young
In response to message posted by weensue:I have a few questions for you about breeding rats.
1. I have a questions about where to keep the babies. After a few weeks of keeping them with the mother, how many should i keep together while they are waiting to be picked up by the owner?
2. I have another question. How long is a female rat pregnant?
3. Another question is can you tell if a rat is pregnant by a lager stomach or are there other "earlier" signs?
4. I have yet another question. If you buy a female and a male rat and put them in the same cage, what are the chances they will breed? And if they do once, will they necessarily breed again?
5. The last question is: Is it good, bad, or does it matter if you have "male rat 1" breed with "female rat 1", and then have those rats breed with different rats.
I want you to answer me as soon as possible. E-Mail me at f_house89@msn.com
-- posted by ftwnw89
» mebemesothere - Re: mother rat eats her young
In response to message posted by weensue:my name is rob i work in a rodent rescue center and have worked with rats for a long time. One reason might be because you touched them, if babys get smells on them from either another rat or a human the mother will kill them and then eat them. Another reason is that she could of been so young she was scared and didn't know how to bring them up.
anyway i hope i have help
yours
rob gold
-- posted by mebemesothere
» Jennelyn - HELP>> i need someone experienced advice
I have a little white female about 7 weeks and a brown male about 6 weeks. I know she will make a wonderful mother, but i don't know HOW OLD THEY HAVE TO BE. I have searched every site and just became a member here to find out.... please help. I am really looking forward to her mating. But is she too young??? Thank you, Jen.-- posted by Jennelyn
» Jennelyn - HELP> i need breeding advice....
HELP ME PLEASE1) how old must they be to mate
2) how long are they pregnant
3) do i touch them
4) do i help with temperature
PLEASE email me with help @ Lgs4u2c@aol.com
thank you, -Jennelyn
PS> PLEASE HELP ME SOON IM IN NEED! NO ONE ELSE KNOWS ANYTHING>> HELP HELP HELP
-- posted by Jennelyn
» Kitsu43 - rats
ok, i know that breeding rats for feeders seems inhumane. however, has anyone really considered that snakes and reptiles deserve to eat too? are you gonna go out and train every snake and reptile in the world to eat plants instead of rats, rabbits, birds, crickets, etc? how is it inhumane for an animal to eat? rats eat dead animals in the wild, large birds eat rats in the wild, and even some pet birds eat rats. what's the point in having a pet snake or reptile if you're gonna have to starve it? personally i'd rather pay for my snake to eat a rat once every two weeks than for it to starve and die. the point is, is that you aren't considering other animals feeding needs. a lot of snakes prefer to have their feed live and kill it themselves, my snake personally loves it, as cruel as it sounds, however he won't eat rats that are frozen then thawed. so is it humane for me to STARVE my snake just to keep a rat alive? and is it humane for my snake to DIE just because you don't like the idea of it killing it's own food? personally i love animals, however every animal needs to eat no matter the type of diet it has, may it be live, dead, or otherwise. SNAKES ARE ANIMALS TOO AND DON'T DESERVE NOT TO EAT. You wouldn't criticize someone who raises beef cattle for you to stuff down your gullet would you? exactly. snakes are animals too and if i feel like feeding my snake a LIVE rat, then i'm gonna do it regardless what people like you think, because i think my pet deserves to live instead of being starved. thankyou for your time, and do some research next time.-- posted by Kitsu43
» mireille54 - NOT conceding to breeding or feeding
Kitsu, breeders, and all,I have a problem with breeding pets when there are so many homeless animals in shelters and on streets. Breeding snakes or reptiles only to have to breed mice and rats to feed them makes as much sense as breeding cows for humans: none. (My "gullet" does not consume animal products.) There are too many homeless animals out there because humans decide to $profit$ from them.
There will probably ALWAYS be pets around who need to eat other pets, but the situation is very different than wild animals eating for survival: in this case, humans intervene and are therefore RESPONSIBLE for the life and death of innocent creatures for their own pleasure.
-- posted by mireille54
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