Not all births go well

One of my moms had 4 babies today. I found them this evening....all 4 were decapitated. *sigh* This wasn't her first litter, so I don't have any idea why she freaked out and decided to kill them. I am speculating that maybe it was a difficult birth, the babies were huge and she was past her due date (actually I thought she had timed out and she was almost ready to go back in the group cage). I'm really bummed about it. I was looking foreword to this litter a little more then usual. The parents were a nice match and the babies should have been stunning. Those of you who regularly follow this blog know that this entry was belated and that I took a break from blogging. It's not easy talking about destroyed litters, but the fact is that they do happen and if you want to breed hedgehogs, it's something you will have to deal with at some point.

The mom will go back into the breeding cycle after a short break. Hopefully she won't try to kill her next litter, but now I know to keep a really close eye on her when she is due. If she tries to go after the babies, hopefully I will be able to stop her and foster then to another mom (and get a daughter from her so I can retire mom). One