Female rat suddenly died while nursing her babies

Question
Hi there

I bought a female Himalayan rat and she mustve already been pregnant when I bought her. She had 8 little pinkies about 4wks ago. Mum and babies were well taken care of, happy and healthy.

I came home from work last night to find mom and babies all dead :(

What could have caused this? I'm very upset that they couldve suffered or maybe I did something wrong? The female rat had plenty water and food and a big clean cage :(

Regards

Wendy

Answer
Oh that is just awful. I cant understand why the babies died as well as the mother and all at the same time, too.  It is just too difficult for me to say what caused this. If it was mom alone, it could have been cardiac related or an aneurysm or possibly bleeding internally from something that may have occurred during her labor, but for the pups to all die at the same time, I am unsure of the cause.  The pups, if they were 4 weeks old, should already have been eating solid foods and drinking water from the water bottle and using a litter box. In fact, I adopted three baby male rats last month who were just 4 weeks old and were weaned etc...  so unless mom had something that was toxic in her body that her pups received via nursing, I do not know how else they passed away.  I think I may ask a few of my vet friends, see if they have any ideas. I am thinking that they will be as unsure as I am, though.  This is a real mystery. I feel sorry for what you may be feeling. Believe me, I know all too well how painful it is to lose rats esp suddenly like that!