Washington State Breeders

[Shelley and Don]

Hello List .... I'm pretty new to this game, and have just lost our first litter of pups and not sure why? We've gotten two other litters from this pair and were very successful in that they all made it, except for 1 pup from the first litter of 6 each time :o) However, the female (Dotty) is a "vicious bitter" so we won't breed her any longer, even though all the pups are wonderful and AREN'T bitters. Well, as soon as she had her "third and last" litter of 6, last week, we took the male (Stripe) out and placed him with two of his 6 week old sons, hoping that Dot would or could manage to raise the new ones alone  :o(  Well, NO, she didn't do to well, there's only 1 left, and it doesn't seem too big for a 1 week old, so it may not make it either. I guess this is a tough question, but does anyone know if it's common to lose a litter to "splitting the pair up" Another thing is that of the 5 lost, we only found 2 and 1/2 of them this time. The 1 lost in her first litter she just put it out front for us to dispose of, and this time she eat them  :o(  One last question, we live in "Clearview Washington" and are just wondering if there are any Breeders in the greater Seattle area we could visit now and then? ......... Thanks for your time, list   Don & Shelley "Gerbilview"