What to Do About Broken Teeth in Bamboo Rats? Cause Analysis and Solutions
Many breeders, when raising bamboo rats, find that the rats' feed intake drops severely or they stop eating altogether. On closer observation, they discover that the rats' teeth are broken, causing gum inflammation and abscesses. If not observed carefully, the bamboo rats suddenly become emaciated and literally starve to death. This situation is not common, but it does happen. So what causes broken teeth in bamboo rats? And how should it be solved? Let's take a look at the detailed introduction from Qinnong Web below.
1. Gnawing on food that is too hard
This situation mainly occurs during the period when young rats have just started eating. At this time, the young rats' teeth have not yet fully developed. If they are fed food that is too hard, their teeth will break.
Once discovered, clean it up promptly. First clean with saline solution to prevent wound inflammation or further deterioration, then apply human-use watermelon frost powder for two consecutive days. If broken teeth occur throughout the entire farm, the breeding site must be disinfected, and feed with higher calcium content should be added. Some bamboo rats will stop eating after their teeth break, so we need to feed them liquid food or nutrient solution by hand. You can use milk powder mixed with glucose and feed it with a syringe.
2. Calcium deficiency
In order to reduce breeding costs, many breeders mix their own feed. These feeds are mainly based on common crops such as corn and wheat, combined with some vitamins and growth hormones. These feeds have low mineral content and are far from meeting the amount needed for bamboo rat growth, so they cause poor bone development, leading to broken teeth.
If you mix feed yourself, you must add mineral feed, with a mixing ratio of about 4%.
3. Long-term consumption of antibiotics
In order to improve the disease resistance of bamboo rats and enable them to grow faster, antibiotics are now added to many bamboo rat feeds. This is indeed correct. But there are two sides to everything. Long-term consumption of antibiotic feed will damage the digestive system of bamboo rats, causing them to be unable to digest coarse feed
, ultimately affecting bone development and leading to osteoporosis.
Feeding should be balanced. Try not to add antibiotics to the feed, and do not add them in excess. After broken teeth are discovered, promptly feed oxytetracycline to prevent and treat enteritis, then feed coarse feed such as sweet potato.
The above is the introduction from Qinnong Web on the causes of broken teeth in bamboo rats and the solutions. The editor has brought you three causes of broken teeth in bamboo rats, along with solutions, hoping to help you. In addition, if broken teeth occur in large batches, it may be caused by pathogens, so attention should be paid to disease prevention and control.