Rat pup deaths...

[Zhakrin]

What temperature should I keep my rat pups at?

I buy a few at a time for my BP and within the next couple days they keep dying on me.

They have food and water, so I think that it maybe the temp at night, but I have checked it stays around 22C...should it be warmer?

thanks

[rattekonigin]

hmm, the temp seems fine...how old are these pups? If they're too young they might be dying because they haven't been weaned yet and can't eat the food you give them...ask how old they are next time, if they are younger than 3 weeks that's probably the reason they're dying on you...

[rattekonigin]

p.s. you only really need to worry about the temperature if the pups don't have their hair yet...but if they don't have their hair yet, they definitely aren't weaned.

[Linds]

Your rat pups keep dying becasue they are way too young to leave their mother. You can't just buy them in advance, if you aren't going to use them they need to either be killed and freezered or put back with their mother. You could try to keep them alive but you would have to nurse them with forumla, etc. Even then the success rate isn't great and it's just not worth it IMO.

[Zhakrin]

thanks everyone,

I thought they had been weaned...their eyes were open and the were eating the food. Oh well I will get them a little bigger next time.

thx,
Joseph

[Linds]

They were eating? Were they rat pups or were they pre-weanlings? I'm not sure what the everyone else perceives as rat pups, but what I consider a rat pup to be it wouldn't be feeding on its own yet..........

[Christina]

Yes linds normally rat pup is referred to the still suckling off mom stage and not weaned yet. After aproximately 3 weeks they are in the middle of starting to eat but still suckling on mommy but less. To safely remove rats from mom it should be done at 5 weeks to have a higher success rate of survival.
3 weeks old is iffy but if they are going to be fed within a few days the worst that will happen is they will get a little dehydrated but will not last longer than a week.
Christina

[Syst3m]

Make sure they are drinking, I bet thats why they are dying. I've noticed that my mice eat solid food but are they are to stupid to figure out that water comes out of the steel tube in the side of the cage.

[Kathy]

Or just buy mommy rat and pups. Get her a boyfriend and you'll be set!

[Iguanalady]

Rats open their eyes and start to nibble on food a bit at two weeks old but they still mostly depend on mom for another 1-2 weeks. I have taken babies away from mom at 3 weeks old (only because she had another litter really fast) Typically though I dont seperate them from mom till 4 weeks. At this poit the moms are usually playing keep away from the babies and I take pity on their poor suckled to death selves and give them a break. I always leave the babies together with their litter mates however until they are 5 weeks old...as this completes their socialization. Of course few of my rats end up as anything but food but I like to give them as rich an full a life as I can before its over. Besides if I decide to keep one or sell it as a pet then at least I know its well socialized.

[mykee]

try to keep them at about 80 or so, to simulate the heat that they would have gotten from their mother.