-gruesome- no pics, dead rat

[ThreePrincesses]

So I have 3 female rats, or had and I’ve never seen them more than play fight. Anyway last night while feeding them they were all healthy and happy, but sometime during the night one of my girls,peach, died, I’m not sure if she died herself or if she was killed by her cage mates... anyway what I find disturbing is they... ate her... in the span of me sleeping there was just lower jaw and spine left... no my rats are not starved, they get fed every single day, twice a day and I give them oxbow garden select and oxbow essential adult rat food... do rats normally do this to each other? Are they lacking something nutritional that they’re trying to get from her, or is it just something they do?

 

[MinisterPumpkin]

I'm really sorry to hear about your girl!

I can't say anything with regard to what might have happened but I've heard of the cannibalization sort of behavior in some rats as an attempt to get rid of the body to ensure that it doesn't draw in predators. I think it may have just been instinctual on the part of your other girls to try to sort of clean up. I don't think it's a hard and fast rule -- not all rats do it but some do.

With regard to nutrition, Oxbow is a very good lab block! If you're concerned about diet though, I'd check out this thread as a starting point: https://www.ratshackforum.com/threads/food-dos-and-donts.22782/

 

[SQ]

She likely died and they followed their instincts and cleaned up the body so that it would not attract predators.
Not all rats will do this,
but it is not unusual for rats to eat the bodies of their cage mates
It is a normal instinct
and it is not an indication that anything is lacking in their diet

I am so very sorry that you found her like that {{hugs}}

(info on diet and nutrition can be found in the Reference Thread
https://www.ratshackforum.com/threads/reference-thread-read-only.35894/ )

 

[jorats]

I'm very sorry for that traumatic event. But it is actually quite normal for rats to do this but it's uncommon.