[rraaa]

I bred my 2 fancy rats with a great background; there were 15 babies born; 5 died. Seperated them after 5 weeks. Very small for their age (haven't taken pictures or weighed them, but they were approximately the size that a normal baby rat would be at 3 or 4 weeks).

About a week later 2 females and 1 male died without showing any signs of illness.

(originally 6 females, 4 males -- 4, 3)

3 weeks (9 weeks at this point) later I sold all my rats including the adults but 2 male babies; couldn't take care of too many at a time. (all the babies were small for their age)

Almost 2 weeks later one of the males died ( 3 days ago), the day after the other died. Both showed no signs of illness. Both were extra small for their size, still the size of a 3 or 4 week old.

All the rats had their aspen bedding changed every 3 days, changed their water every day (bottled) and were fed a weighed amount of food twice daily so they wouldn't get hungry, or fat.

Completely confused about all of this; anybody know what this could've been?

 

[reachthestars]

When you say fancy rats, do you mean ones you got from a petstore? I've never heard any NARR breeders refer to them as 'fancy rats'. What kind of a background did they have? Are the parents both pedigreed rats? What kind of markings do the parents have? If they carry high white, it's possibe the babies had what's know as Megacolon, which is 100% fatal.

 

[lilspaz68]

Sounds like Failure to Thrive or bad genetics. Its unlikely to be MC since early onset is as soon as they start eating solids and they go fast at that age, not one at a time like this. Late onset is 4 months plus as well.


THIS is the reason we tell people not to breed their "fancy" rats.

Btw fancy is just a term for people owning rats...its a pet rat fancy, not the rats themselves. All pet rats are technically fancy.

Umm...great background? do you know the health, temperament and causes of death, incidences of illness of your rat parents back at least 3 generations?

 

[rraaa]

When you say fancy rats, do you mean ones you got from a petstore? I've never heard any NARR breeders refer to them as 'fancy rats'. What kind of a background did they have? Are the parents both pedigreed rats? What kind of markings do the parents have? If they carry high white, it's possibe the babies had what's know as Megacolon, which is 100% fatal.

Dono - got them at a petstore who told me they selectively breed them in the back - so I assumed they have a great background, unless they were selectively bred for mutations and the like -- both male and female were PEW, however, the babies started forming markings of white hooded and dalmation type rats after they lost their baby fluff. I suppose after reading the above replies, I'm wrong.

 

[reachthestars]

When you say fancy rats, do you mean ones you got from a petstore? I've never heard any NARR breeders refer to them as 'fancy rats'. What kind of a background did they have? Are the parents both pedigreed rats? What kind of markings do the parents have? If they carry high white, it's possibe the babies had what's know as Megacolon, which is 100% fatal.

Dono - got them at a petstore who told me they selectively breed them in the back - so I assumed they have a great background, unless they were selectively bred for mutations and the like -- both male and female were PEW, however, the babies started forming markings of white hooded and dalmation type rats after they lost their baby fluff. I suppose after reading the above replies, I'm wrong.

I don't know how you could assume they have a 'great genetic background' if you have no clue about their genetics. All you know is that a petstore bred them in their back room - hardly a measure of greatness. It sounds as though they had something wrong genetically, and their passing was probably a blessing in disguise. I'm very sorry for your loss, and sorry you had to learn about the downfalls of breeding petstore rats the hard way .

I know people get mad at us when we suggest they don't breed petstore/rescue rats, but it is for reasons like this. We don't give advice to be mean, but to prevent the suffering of helpless babies.

 

[rraaa]

I know people get mad at us when we suggest they don't breed petstore/rescue rats, but it is for reasons like this. We don't give advice to be mean, but to prevent the suffering of helpless babies.

Completely understandable; I guess it could be compared to buying a dog or any other animal from an inexperienced breeder...