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 #2001739


Sasquatcho
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 My feeder rats are killing each other help!

one day i checked on my colony of feeder rats and one was completly dead and deystroyed can anyone tell me why and what i can do to prevent this in the future
05/10/09  09:34am

 #2001814


EvilTrailMix
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   Message To: Sasquatcho   In reference to Message Id: 2001739


 My feeder rats are killing each other help!

How many rats do you have living together, and how large is their cage? Too many rats in a small cage could easily cause fighting. Also, if they don’t have proper food they could be resorting to cannibalism.
05/10/09  12:25pm

 #2001913


Sasquatcho
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   Message To: EvilTrailMix   In reference to Message Id: 2001814


 My feeder rats are killing each other help!

there was 4 in a 35 gallon rat cage/hamster cage and i feed them special vitamin rat food bought from the pet store.wich is why i am so suprised that they would do that
05/10/09  03:41pm

 #2002016


Rebecca Wright
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   Message To: Sasquatcho   In reference to Message Id: 2001913


 My feeder rats are killing each other help!

in the time i was taking care of rats the thing i kept coming across is my rats would die for no particular reason (that i was aware of) or sometimes one would die from an illness and the other rats in the cage would "dispose" of the body by eating the dead animal... its perfectly normal for this to happen.... but if it wasnt that other things that can cause rats to fight in my experience are, not enough space (I am not sure if this is an issue for you as I dont know exactly how big 35 is lol and how big your rats are), being territorial/agressive.... I had a male once that could not be kept with anyone (including girls) because he was very agressive about his cage and he killed the first cage mate he had and injured the second, I would make sure everyone is perfectly healthy, clean the cage really well and keep an eye on them... see if anyone is being a bully or what not... may not be anything you can do...
05/10/09  07:02pm

 #2002155


Tefoe
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   Message To: Sasquatcho   In reference to Message Id: 2001739


 My feeder rats are killing each other help!

Its very rare for rats to kill each other when they fight. They get nasty gashes on their backs sometimes, but rats are tough.....

Your rats, like already said, probably died because of something else, then the other rats, acting normally, ate the dead rats... Its just what they do, it stops disease from spreading and keeps things clean....

If you just got these rats, or if you’ve added new rats recently, they likely died from some disease....
There are quite a few rat disease that are deadly. But some rats have built up immune systems to certain diseases, and others don’t. That’s where the trouble comes.........

Just remember to always quarantine new animals.....



05/10/09  10:43pm


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