Mama Rat eat babies?

Question

Will a mama rat eat her babies. My rat had baies last night and I didn't know she was pregnant. eeeek

Ok, three isn't a father rat I bought her and she was pregnant. I don't know if she has eaten them yet, I am just worried that she will. I don't even know how many she has because Im afraid to touch the house and check. So if they aren't sick and she isn't stressed the babies should be fine?

Answer 1

Rats are much less prone to eating their babies than hamsters. What feed is she on? Really, commercial rat diets are not adequate at all. Check out www.ratsrule.com for some great diet info and a great forum that can give you info on raising babies. Father rats are also usually good with babies, but will breed mom the day she gives birth, and she'll then be pregnant AND nursing, very hard on them. Granted you don't have the male, just wanted to menion this. Most rats will not mind you handling the babies,which is necessary for them to be socialized. But if due to her being new, or just her personality, if she is aggressive toward you with her babies or stressed it's better to leave her alone.

Answer 2

The father is more prone to be the cannibal. He should be housed separately while the mother still has her pups.

The mother will eat them if the diet is insufficient or if she's overstressed. This is why you shouldn't handle the babies. It's not the scent of your hand that triggers the baby eating and it usually doesn't occur either unless you're digging around in those babies and messing with them a lot. It's the stress--rats need to be left alone when they have very young pups. If you're concerned about the diet, which will occasionally trigger cannibalism if it's insufficient in fat and protein, add a teaspoon or two of a good high protein high fat cat food or dog food to the mother's diet each day until the babies start to eat on their own.

If you go to a good pet or feed store where they sell the better brands of cat and dog food you can nearly always get a freebie sample of Iams, Science Diet or the like for the asking, and this will more than feed mama as a supplement for a litter.

Answer 3

She may if you still have the father in the cage with her. If he's not in there, here's some info. Rats are extremely good mothers. They are social creatures by nature. I have 7 right now, 6 boys and 1 girl. 2 of my boys are from an accidental litter from a mama that was a first time mother. She was a wonderful mother. She even let me touch her babies from the day they were born, which is crutial if you want your babies to be hand tamed. I don't however recommend that you hold the babies if it stresses her out too much. If this happens, she may be aggressive to you, but it's not as common for rats to eat their baies as it is for hamsters. Good luck and congratulation, you're a grandparent! :o)

Also, if you are intending to give them away to good homes, there are two GREAT rat websites. One is RatRescue.com and the other is GooseMoose.com

Hope this helps. :o)

Answer 4

The best thing you can do is to give her as much privacy as possible. I wouldn't handle the babies for at least the first week. Usually after that it's pretty safe to handle them. Privacy is to ensure her of security. She needs to feel that her babies are safe. Put her in a dark spot for a few days and don't disturb her. It should work out fine. Hope all goes well :).

Answer 5

NEVER!! mother rats never eat their babies. actually when they squeek right after their born that actually prevents the mother from eating them. not even their dad will eat them. (but keep him separate unless hes been neutered) when my doe had her kittens i could touch them id have to say an hour and a half after birth. i didnt even have to remove the mother. i just reached under her and pulled out the babies that she was nursing to make sure they had the milk band. but it all depends on your doe's tolerence level and her overall liking and trusting of you. if she hates your guts and thinks your a threat. shes going to pierce your finger. LITERALLY (my doe never did that but a friends doe did) i checked on the babies every two hours to 1. check to see if there are any burryed, moved, or dead pups. 2. to turn on their heating pad. p.s. if you dont want to turn your house up to 95 degrees then get them a heating pad and put it under the cage floor. since i couldnt tell what the temp was i placed a very tiny thermometer under their bedding each time i went to check on them. so i could make sure they were at perfect incubation heat. its very important to keep their cage off the floor cause heat rises. plus up higher the mother will feel less stressed and more protected. and make sure no windows are open unless its humid out. rememeber rats dont eat their babies unless they're dead. hamsters eat their babies no matter what. ;D i hope i helped. ~Jessica

Answer 6

Maternal instinct will make the mama rat take care and feed its young, but if its under stress from human beings, she might end up eating them up. And that will be even mroe disgusting! yucks!

Young and unmature rats also will eats up its babies due to the fact they do not know how to take care of them.

Answer 7

well my brother had rats too and they had babies and soon they started eating them till there were only 3 out of 9 left so we took them bak to the store and the man said this was normal so then he took them and put them in a seperate box with all these other little babies and a mom.
good luck

Answer 8

I'm not sure about rats, but if they behave in the same way as mice she will eat any babies that you touch (as she can smell something 'foreign' on them)

Answer 9

Usually it's MALES of the rodent families that devour the young, and not the females. The young won't last very long without "mom" at this stage.

Answer 10

Sometimes if a mother is missing a particular nutrient she will eat the babies !!