# My rat is eating her dead babies



## raabzbaby89 (Oct 7, 2011)

Moocah had her litter yesterday just as I was leaving for class. So I only saw one pinkie out when I had to leave.

I came home and she only had four, one dead (maybe stillborn). I got rid of it.

Last night two more pinkies were dead and one was torn open. Got rid of it.

The other pinkie that wasn't torn open, I left in the cage. I guess a part of me was hoping it was still alive? 

Maybe an hour later I see Moocah eating it =(

Why is she eating her dead babies?

As I said in my other post, Moocah is a small rat, so maybe she just cannot take care of more than one pinkie. She HAS been letting them nurse. The one remaining pinkie has a milk band and seems fine.

Her mother Mar had 12 babies and could take care of five of them, and Mar and Moocah are both small rats and both very young when they had their litters. Mar was three months old and Moocah is five months old. So I'm thinking that Moocah is milk-deficient maybe?

I am still confused as to why she's eating her babies. She's got plenty of food in her cage!


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## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

Its a natural instinct from a rat's wild days. They eat the dead pup so the smell doesn't attract predators, just like big herbavores (like deer, wild horses, etc) eat the placenta, so prevent the smell from attracting predators to the herd/colony. Obviously there was something wrong with those babies.

I am sorry.


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## raabzbaby89 (Oct 7, 2011)

Oh! Gotcha. Thanks for clearing that up.

So it's day three and her single pinkie is currently doing fine. It's very active and squirmy. 

Is there any way my rat could still screw up and be left with no babies?


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## ratjes (Mar 26, 2011)

Trust her and don't disturb her too much. I would let her bond strongly for a few days without interfering or looking even.


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## GhostMouse (Sep 6, 2011)

I'm sorry for your loss. 

If you'd like to know, the other reason she's eating the babies is to get back the resources she spent producing them, since they didn't survive. This helps her take care of the remaining baby, and live on to produce more offspring (at least, it would if she were a wild rat).

Maybe you could offer her some high-protein foods like eggs to help her out?


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## binkyhoo (Sep 28, 2008)

ratjes said:


> Trust her and don't disturb her too much. I would let her bond strongly for a few days without interfering or looking even.


Peace and quiet. Never bad advice.


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## blenderpie (Sep 10, 2009)

ratjes said:


> Trust her and don't disturb her too much. I would let her bond strongly for a few days without interfering or looking even.


Don't wait too long, though. You'll miss out on important socialization for the baby to be a friendly rat when he gets bigger.


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## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

blenderpie said:


> Don't wait too long, though. You'll miss out on important socialization for the baby to be a friendly rat when he gets bigger.


If Mom is a frightened girl I often leave them for a bit over 24 hours, but if she's not then I handle babies from Day 1 to start socializing them. She will need to get out and run around every day or a couple/few times a day since she cannot stay away long, so handle the babies then


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