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WTf...My buck ate my doe!

Allalaskan

Allalaskan

The Crazy Alaskan
So went to check on my female rat today to see if she had her pups since she was ready to pop any day, and what I found floored me. Inside all that I found left of the doe was the entire front skeleton and her rear legs with her skin rolled back almost like she was butchered! And my males mouth was all covered in blood! I swear this looked like something out of a horror movie! Both have had plenty of food and water and I have no idea why this happened. Just yesterday when I checked on them she was panting and looked like she was ready to give birth so this morning I expected to find pups not this! Her last litter she had the male was in with her and both were fine so im just shocked at what I found.

Have any of you had this problem? Should I even bother putting another female with him? I mean im afraid to because im afraid he might EAT her too! I got rats mostly for my bps but since one of the two bps are not eating Im half tempted to go get some mice but after this im really thinking about it. I mean I know it can happen with mice also but this just took me by surprise.
 
Wow, thats shocking. I dont breed my own mice, but i'd say you should remove the female once you know she's pregnant so this wont happen again. Just my two cents :)
 
Well these were rats not mice, but I have heard from so many that they keep the bucks in with the does when they give birth so I thought nothing about it. After this though I think I will be removing the bucks when I find out the doe is prego.
 
While I keep them as pets only, I do know a little bit about them.
There is a real good chance that your female died giving birth.
Rats will eat the bodies of dead cagemates because instinct tells them that the smell of a dead body will draw predators to the nest.
 
starsevol said:
While I keep them as pets only, I do know a little bit about them.
There is a real good chance that your female died giving birth.
Rats will eat the bodies of dead cagemates because instinct tells them that the smell of a dead body will draw predators to the nest.
Click to expand...

Ok, My wife and I were talking and she mentioned that it could have been maybe because she died while giving birth too. And that makes lots of sence. I was just shocked at HOW MUCH of her he ate! I meen this female was almost as big as he is and he ate a good 2/3 or 3/4 of her, just shocked the heck out of me.
 
I have a friend who breeds his own rodents and he keeps his males and females together even when the females are about to have babies. Do you have more than one male? More than one female maybe?

I had a problem when raising mice where the female would eat the babies (she got culled). I never did get that colony working right and have since sworn off raising rodents.

Sorry to hear about this... Is it possible the female was preventing him from eating? Or perhaps another rat was hogging the food? :shrugs:

EDIT:

Well I was posting while you guys were and what Bethany said makes a lot of sense.
 
im not sure, I made sure there was plenty of food.

I do have 2 other males but they are in separate racks from him (waiting till the other 2 females were old enough before I introduced the males to their future mates) so yes I do but not together. THey are how ever below him and it is possible he can smell them.
 
Sorry to hear that Charlie, I have three rat colonies at the moment and will be four soon. I have to agree with the rest that she probably died during labor. Best of luck with the rest of them.
 
starsevol said:
While I keep them as pets only, I do know a little bit about them.
There is a real good chance that your female died giving birth.
Rats will eat the bodies of dead cagemates because instinct tells them that the smell of a dead body will draw predators to the nest.
Click to expand...
Really?? I've got to post this on the "What I learned this week" thread!!! :)
 
WTF? I've had pups die that have not been eaten for days (up to 2 before I toss 'em), so I think this is really weird.

Get a new 1.2/3 group and get that male a new female and see what happens... I would be cautious with him. My rats have also never shown an interest in thawed mice, so either your male is a monster, or my rats are ridiculous.
 
ShenziSixaxis said:
WTF? I've had pups die that have not been eaten for days (up to 2 before I toss 'em), so I think this is really weird.

Get a new 1.2/3 group and get that male a new female and see what happens... I would be cautious with him. My rats have also never shown an interest in thawed mice, so either your male is a monster, or my rats are ridiculous.
Click to expand...

Ya, im hoping hes not a monster because thats what it looked like when I found her. I was literally in shock when I found her!
 
starsevol said:
While I keep them as pets only, I do know a little bit about them.
There is a real good chance that your female died giving birth.
Rats will eat the bodies of dead cagemates because instinct tells them that the smell of a dead body will draw predators to the nest.
Click to expand...

I agree with this. Though it's possible he killed her, I find it more probable that she died and he ate her body, along with the unborn pups.
 
now he was actually a few weeks younger then the doe was, at least im pretty sure. I got them from the pet store so I cant say for sure but she was most definitely bigger then he was when I first got them.
 
I would agree with she was probably giving birth and may have had trouble. How many females do you have, since rats and mice will breed right after they give birth, it may be he was anxious. She may have given off phermones that caused him to think she was ready to breed again. just a thought
 
well she was about ready to pop. At the moment I have 1 male to 1 female in 3 different bins, or atleast I will I had him and a female then I have 2 males in one and 2 females in another to let the females have enough time to mature before breeding. So he only had 1 female in with him.
 
I remember reading a one 1:2-1:4 ratio is better as it keeps the male from constantly bothering the female. I always kept at least 1:3. I had an occasional problem but for the most part if I kept that colony together/establshed I had more pups then I could deal with. I stopped breeding rats as it was just to hard they have such great personalities.
 
1.2 AT LEAST is a must; all males want to do is mate, eat, and sleep. Literally. Try figuring it this way: if you're trying to pop 10 babies out, do you want some tard adding some insult to injury?

I've also found that if males can huddle with another female who's pregnant and isn't nursing or is weaning older pups, he'll leave a birthing female alone. Other wise, he's all up there, right in the middle of the action. Sometimes females without someone to huddle with will also do this, but generally they don't get as 'up in the face' like males and will leave once they know what's happening (except for pups... they generally get clawed in the face a bit and then never do it again).
 
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