# Can momma rat suffocate her babies?-Please Help!



## NewRatMomma

I adopted an adorable hairless female rat about 2 weeks ago and I was told she was an only rat. She started to look "plump" about 3 days ago and yesterday we woke up to 10 little pinkies. We've been letting mom out of her cage for short periods of time to "get away" for a little, maybe 15 minutes at a time. Last night we still saw 10 babies but when I went to her cage today I only found 5 alive, unfortunately as i was looking for all of the babies I found 5 dead. She did not eat them and I would assume if she meant to kill them she would have eaten them. I know hairless have a bad rap for being mothers but can any rat unintentionally suffocate their young, I'm so devastated. They all seemed to be eating well and had "milk bands", please give me some info. Should I be nervous about her raising the other 5? Pleaseee help!


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## Alyneza

Hello, I do not believe the suffocation was intentional. If this is her first litter she probably was overwhelmed and laid on them without acknowledging what was happening. My pet Ruby had an unexpected litter of 15 six weeks ago, and accidentally did the same to two of her babies on day five. The sad thing is she was still caring for them as if they were alive. So all I can say is take a head count a few times daily to be certain everything is alright. I'm sorry for your loss!


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## NewRatMomma

Since she is hairless and im not sure if she has had previous litters and im a little worried about the remaining 5. I know someone who has females and i know that they "foster" well. I hope they make it through the night, im debating about taking them to be fostered. Id love for her to raise them but ill be risking her not taking care of them and having them all die  im not sure what to do.


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## Korra

Do the babies have milk bands? Sometimes hairless have trouble lactating.


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## NewRatMomma

yes, she had them thursday morning between midnight and 630am, we let them alone for a good portion of the day bc i was worried momma wouldnt like us looking around (esp since weve only had her for 2ish weeks). Later in the day we checked for milkbands and they all had them. They also had them this morning when we checked on them. we let mom out a few times a day but when i let her out around noon i didnt check the babies. when i checked a few hours ago is when i found the dead ones. but the remaining 5 have milkbands.


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## NewRatMomma

she seems to be feeding them, i was so surprised and upset when i found the dead ones, i thought she might be a good mom.


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## Korra

Its's not her fault. Perhaps something was wrong with the pups. Maybe she did accidentally suffocate them. It's all stuff that happens sometimes to new moms. She was probably trying to be such a good mom that she overcompensated.


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## lilspaz68

Genetic hairless have issues with lactation, but most "hairless" rats are actually doublerex which have NO issues normally. It sounds like something was wrong with the pups themselves and they passed on their own. I have never heard of a rat mom suffocating them, they step on them, lie on them etc...but this is all very normal.

Good luck to the remaining 5 pups!


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## NewRatMomma

thank you all for your advice, i woke up this morning and discovered that they are all still alive and have milkbands  im hoping that either it was something wrong with the pups but maybe she was overwhelmed and just couldnt care for them. she is not a true hairless she is a little fuzzy.. 
this pic has all 10 babies in it.


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## NewRatMomma

all of the babies seem to be eating fine and she seems to be taking care of them . if anymore die i know someone where i live that has females who have litters and he has offered for me to take the babies over to be "fostered" by his females. if i remove the babies to be "fostered" will the mother react in a bad way? iam just afraid that none of them will live.


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## Kiko

As long as momma is nursing, keep them with her. Imagine having your babies torn from you 
It's best for them, and for her.

Obviously separate them at 5 weeks as to avoid more pregnancy.


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## Lucys_Mom

Can you tell me what kind of bedding they have, and if you had blankets, a heating pad, etc? I recently lost some babies, and I believe they were over-heated/suffocated.


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## lilspaz68

Lucys_Mom said:


> Can you tell me what kind of bedding they have, and if you had blankets, a heating pad, etc? I recently lost some babies, and I believe they were over-heated/suffocated.


Never use a heating pad for babies as they cannot move away from teh heat source...mom often will "bury" the babies to keep their body heat in while she's away. Why do you think yours suffocated?


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## Lucys_Mom

lilspaz, yes, that is what happened to them  I hadn't heard anything negative about heating pads before that, and we had some laying around, so i thought it would keep them nice and cozy, since it was a bit chilly. I put it on low, and went to bed. I woke up the next morning, and they had been buried under the bedding, against the heating pad. Without getting into a description, it was obvious that they had over-heated. I was just heart-broken. This happened quite a while ago, of course I have never used heating pads again. I asked, to make sure that she wasn't using them, because i wanted to warn her about what happened to my little baby rats. I wish i had been on Rat Forum back then, because i have learned so much from all of you more experienced rat lovers


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