Why Do Bamboo Rats Eat Their Young? Causes and Solutions
Bamboo rat farming is a livestock industry that has emerged in recent years. Thanks to media news reports, it has attracted many people to take up farming, but many beginners have just entered this industry and have little experience in this area, so many problems arise that they do not know how to solve. Among these, beginners often encounter the problem of a female bamboo rat eating her young after giving birth. So what is going on here? And how should it be solved? Follow along with Qinnong Web to take a look.
1. External noise
Bamboo rats are timid and easily startled. Their living environment is generally quite quiet, and ordinary natural sounds will not affect them. But if they are disturbed by sounds from outside movements, causing them to be startled, the female rat will eat her young. This is also the reason why farmers raise bamboo rats in mountain forest environments.
2. Sanitary environment
Bamboo rats mainly eat bamboo and grasses, and they are quite clean-loving. If the farming environment is poor in hygiene, especially if it is not cleaned for a long time, large amounts of excrement accumulate, and the gas produced makes the bamboo rats feel uneasy, so they will bite the young to death or ignore them, ultimately leading to the death of the young. Therefore, the sanitary environment of the farming area must be cleaned frequently and ventilation strengthened.
3. Smell
Many animals rely on smell to identify their own young. If the young are contaminated with the smell of other bamboo rats or humans, the mother may reject them or directly bite them to death. So when farming, we should observe the young and try to wear gloves and other tools that block smell. If for some reason the female bamboo rat that gave birth dies, and the young need to be nursed by another female rat, you can smear the young all over with the feces of the bamboo rat that will foster them. This can deceive the bamboo rat. After a period of time, once the smell has been absorbed sufficiently, she will regard them as her own young.
4. Malnutrition
After giving birth, a bamboo rat consumes too much nutrition from its body. If the nutrition cannot be replenished in time, it will eat its young. This is because, due to the lack of nutrition, the milk supply is insufficient, while the young constantly nurse, causing the female rat extreme discomfort, so she will ignore or bite the young to death and then eat them. Therefore, after the female rat gives birth, nutrition must be replenished in time. The concentrate feed should be half or one-third more than usual, and it must be balanced in combination.
The above is what Qinnong Web brings you regarding the causes and solutions for bamboo rats eating their young. The reasons why female rats eat their young are the several listed above. Mastering good farming techniques is the key point for improving the economic benefits of bamboo rat farming.