# I am horrified... (GRUESOME- WARNING)



## graphite (Apr 6, 2011)

GORE WARNING!!! Don't read if you are squeamish  and sorry for any typos i have a pile of baby rats in my shirt and im typing this with one hand while i support them with the other.



















so two months ago i adopted a young male rat who was pretty overweight. anyway, with a proper diet he got down to a good weight, and I had him living in the bottom of one of my cages that had wide bars, and he escaped one night and got into my roommate's girl rats' cage. long story short, one of her rats just had babies about two weeks ago. all was well, we had 8 happy fat babies and mom was doing great with them. I went in there the other day to check on them and mom was ignoring them, and they were all cold to the touch and barely moving. I warmed them up and they were fine again. i thought maybe there wasnt enough bedding in there to keep them warm and they were too close to the window. i put them back in with mom and she nursed them and all was good. But now I don't think she can take care of them anymore. I just went in there to check on them again, and I could only count six. I looked all over the cage and to my horror, I found the severed head of one of the babies.

I am so sad and horrified right now. The mom Lilith must have eaten one baby and most of another. They don't seem like shes been feeding them too good either anymore. I don't know what happened... I don't know what to do... I dont want to give her back the babies, but I dont know why shed do this, or if she killed them, or if they just died. But they were all fine yesterday. Please, if anyone has any advice or anything, please let me know.


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## LightningWolf (Jun 8, 2012)

Are any still alive?

If so, they are 2 weeks old and they are old enough where they will survive being hand raised. get a New paint brush (or small plastic syringe without a needle) and goat milk. (http://www.ratfanclub.org/orphans.html) Might also be best to get a scale to weigh them But they are old enough where they will stop eating when they are full and shouldn't be an issue. would still be nice to rub their bellies after meals. I would say at this age feed them every 3 to 5 hours. Might be able to get away with every 3 hours and one feeding in the middle of the night. Make sure to keep them in a small container (like a small bin cage or 10 gallon tank) with plenty of bedding and fleece scraps to keep them warm.

Some Rats freak out, and will cannibalize their litters. Sounds like she had issues raising them (lactation issues, physical issues, mental issues) and decided to cull her own litter to a size she could manage (which could of even mean no babies). It does happen.


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## ratchet (Sep 27, 2012)

Part of motherhood is culling the weak or sick - she very well would have eaten one or two for the Benefice of the rest of the brood. It happens, it's natural - and while it may seem disgusting or cruel, in reality, she is eliminating two sources of competition and also making sure her more fit pups get her milk. 

That being said it is also natural for a first time mother to reject her young. To me it doesn't sound like that is the case, as they typically will reject them immediately and not later on. I would return them to the mother and just keep a wary eye on them - this is a lot of stress for a first timer and its not uncommon for them to be a little baffled with what to do.


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## graphite (Apr 6, 2011)

there are six left and are all doing pretty good, they are active and everything too. Is there any other kind of milk or formula I can give them? I work at a vets office, if that matters, so I can take them to work with me.


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## graphite (Apr 6, 2011)

is esbilac for puppies ok?


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## PeachPeach (Jun 22, 2012)

You don't want a dairy formula. Soy infant formula is best, and quite inexpensive.


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## Isamurat (Jul 27, 2012)

I woild watch her vvry carefully but leave them in with her for now. They will do better under her care as its more than just feeding and it is perfectly normal for mum to clean up should a kitten die suddenly. It makes sense as in the wild food isnt always to hand and raising a litter takes a lot of nutrients. Its her way of ensuring that the remaining rats thrive. However sometimes (thankfully rarely) mums can suffer from a hormonal imbalance of some type and turn on there babies a d kill tne one by one. It pretty rare in rats, much more common in rabbits a d hamsters, but can happen. Keep an eye on her, or get someone else to, if she kills any others then you will need to seperate her. If they are starting to move around now make sure there are lots of low dishes with mushy food made up with puppy milk (I use egg food sold for birds made up with puppy milk, it high in protien and like porridge). A low bottle with puppy milk in is also good, you will probably have to dropper some milk in at first though as they are young. My babies normally start tasting food a d learning the water bottle around 2.5 weeks. Hopefully this isnt necceary and she raisesthem wonderfully from now o .


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## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

It's not unusual for rats to cull if they have too many babies and no other moms to share their nursing duties with, but I've generally only seen this with large litters (over 10). 

As to formula... anything is better than nothing. And in a pinch, once the babies have teeth, I've had good success feeding them shredded miniwheats soaked in regular milk. Baby rats are survivors, and will adapt to a wide range of inferior situations. 

If you can get the optimal solutions suggested by others go for it... but if you can't, yogurt and soggy breakfast cerial even with cow's milk might work. In any event keep them hydrated.


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## mistymornings18 (Aug 13, 2012)

How are they doing?


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## graphite (Apr 6, 2011)

Unfortunately, the entire litter passed away, and so did their mother. The babies all died two nights after my last post, even though they were eating kitten milk replacer very well from a syringe, and were being kept warm. I don't know why they died, and I feel like a failure for not being able to keep them alive. These were my roommates rats, but she wanted to go party for like a week straight and left her animals with me without asking, because she knew I wouldnt just let them starve. The mom of the litter slowly wasted away to nothingness and passed away two nights ago, despite having NO other health problems at all. She even ate a little every day, but she still got super skinny and lethargic and died. My roommate finally came home and I at the very least am getting her to give all of her rats up for adoption. She apparently doesnt have the emotional capacity to care for animals, and I just can't do that for her anymore.


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## Gannyaan (Dec 7, 2012)

That's very responsible of you- please let us know how the adoption goes. The mother sounds like she got depressed, poor girl! You roommate is clearly not ready for pets. 


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## portkeytonowhere (Dec 24, 2007)

When I was younger I wanted rats but my mom at the time didn't like them. So she comprimised by getting me gerbils. Well I went to girl scout camp one week and she was taking care of them for me. When I got home I found out Sugar who was supposed to be a boy was a girl and had a litter of babies. They survived for a few days but then she ended up killing them all and finding half eaten babies is sooo disgusting! She was really young when this happened. After her first litter she was fine but I still remember seeing that half eaten gerbil baby. I'm sorry you had to go through that, it definitely is very traumatizing. Hopefully your friends remaining rats will find a happy home


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