Ideas on Still -born rats

jwsporty · 07-12-03, 08:55 PM

Hi folks,
I am curious as to what could cause an entire litter of rat babies to be still-born.. my guess is possible high temperature. This has not happened to me, but it came up in an msn conversation this evening. Otherwise it is my understanding that every else is o.k.

Ideas?

Jim

unknownclown · 07-13-03, 12:59 AM

Thanks for posting this Jim

Unless it happened to someone else you talked to tonight Im going to assume that you're referring to our conversation.

Let me give some extra details here. I was gone all day and when I came home I did a few things around the house and chatted with Jim durring our conversation I went into my room and as always checked everyones water bottles. I looked into my pregnant females cage and seen what looked like a massacre scattered all over the cage. At first I assumed that she had killed them but after looking at them they werent at all touched by the mother. They had been born and some still had the sacs (they were broken not covering the heads) and others the umbilical cord and placentas attached. 2 were still alive she is nursing one the other was on its way out so I just put it in the freezer with the others after washing them off ( there was bedding stuck to some cause of the blood) and closely checking for any hint that could explain this.

Jim had asked the temps in the room its pretty much 75F give or take. My room window is shaded by a tree and theres a fan in it which regulates the temp.

I had taken the mother away from the colony and put her in her old tank for room issues almost a week ago. This is her second litter with me (I dont know if she had any before) and last time she did well in the tank I had put her back into. Also my room is not at all a high traffic area.

Im stumped If anyone could even suggest what went wrong that would be cool otherwise Im just going to have to chalk it up as one of them freak things rodents do.

jwsporty · 07-13-03, 02:21 AM

Lisa · 07-13-03, 02:37 AM

we had this happen, we noticed one of the males that was kept with her was often beating up on her and another that lost most of her litter too. he would have them on their backs and be power grooming them even though they were squeaking submission. the third female in the cage with him fought back and had a good litter.

unknownclown · 07-13-03, 12:22 PM

Hm... well Im not going to rule that out, he is pretty dominant, but would that be a factor if she was moved into a separate cage other than the one he was in? Or are you implying that maybe he damaged them while still in the mother?

jwsporty · 07-14-03, 01:14 AM

I wonder if that is what happened to me. Yesterday I noticed that one of the girls was giving birth, then I noticed that the first two babies were dead. Well I let her alone for the day and when I check last night,

, I discovered that she had died.

RIP, Betty, you were a good producer..

shelly · 07-14-03, 07:09 AM

heehee : )

jwsporty · 07-14-03, 07:51 AM

Shelly,

May I ask what you found funny?

Pixie · 07-14-03, 08:42 AM

jwsporty: I had exactly the same thing happen to me last week! One of my female rats had started giving birth but I noticed that she seemed to be having some trouble with her delivery. After a couple of hours she only had popped out two babies and she didn't look well at all.

I didn't know what to do, I don't think anything could have been done... A few hours later she passed...

She had produced a few good litters for me so I was sad to see her go. She also had a really sweet personality and was funny looking. She seemed to have a neck deformation or an old neck injury that never healed right so her head was always crooked, half twisted to the left permanently.

We miss our "crooked-head" (the name we had given her!!!)

I presume something went wrong with the delivery and that is what caused her death. I have no idea how old she was... I've had older breeder mice have the same problem at the end of their production lives, maybe it was just her time to go?

Pixie

jwsporty · 07-14-03, 10:35 AM

Hey Pixie,

She was one of our original three and hence she was both a pet and good breeder and had a name. Your situation sounds identical to what happened. two still births and a few hours later..game over.. I got her as a sub adult only in February of this year. She gave me no indication that there was a problem, as she was active right up to her birthing. As you said, maybe it was just her time to go. RIP..Betty

Jim