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MY RAT HAD BABIES!! CAN SOMEONE PLEASE HELP?
I bought a rat from a pet store a few weeks ago and just this past week I realized she was pregnant. LAST NIGHT while I was out she had the babies. I came home this morning and went to feed her and heard the tell-tale squeaking and saw a few little pinkies. I'm really scared I'm going to do something wrong and the babies will die. I haven't done anything yet just put a little food in her cage and made sure there was still water in her bottle. I peeked in a couple times to get an idea of how many babies there were....There are A LOT more than I expected and it makes me think this might not have been her first litter like I thought. I did not put my hand in the cage at all except to put some food in the corner. I couldn't put it in her dish because she had moved her dish into her nesting area and I didn't want to disturb that. I intend on keeping one of the daughters because I was planning on buying her companion anyway. I have a few small tanks I can put the boys in when they turn 4wks I think I have 2-3 ten gallons and 1 fifteen gallon tall...which really has the same floor space as a ten about. TO BE CLEAR I UNKNOWINGLY BOUGHT HER PREGNANT. I had very little time to prepare for the babies, as soon as I realized she was preggo I started upping her protein and calcium. I fed her scrambled eggs with just a small spoonful of yogurt occasionally and some greens everyday and removed the left overs promptly. I know yogurt isn't THE BEST source of calcium but I didn't have any spinach on hand. I thought it would supply her with good fats and proteins and give her some calcium and not be too bad on her digestive system if I just gave her a little. it was PLAIN sugar-free yogurt. I'm trying to do research but I'm SO STRESSED OUT. I only had a few days to prepare for this essentially. I am sorry I am going on and on but I am just REALLY scared I'm going to do something wrong and that all the babies will die! I need some assurance here and I was really hoping maybe someone could possibly do e-mail correspondence with me while the babies are growing up. I have raised rodents for several combined years. But this is my FIRST rat and my FIRST time raising pups. Someone PLEASE help guide me through this. If you want to e-mail me do so at PA_horsie_girl@yahoo.com Also, I gave her bits of fleece as nesting material and she used it but the babies are in a pile off to the side of the nest not on the soft fleece. After how many days should I make an attempt to move them on the softer material if at all? I just know to definitely not handle them the first 24 hours. What are signs of stress in the mother? I only opened the cage a total of three times. When I first found out and fed her and checked her water. Then to peek in and get an idea of how many there were and what they looked like and then to peek in again out of sheer excitement. Two out of three times she was standing over her babies so I'm assuming she was nursing some of them then. the one other time she climbed up on top of her make shift hidey house and poked her head up at me. She did not SEEM stressed by me peeking at her. And what is this "milk belt/band" I read about on the babies? How do I tell where that is?? I know its for telling if they're nursing but I don't know what it looks like. There are A LOT of them. I haven't been able to count but I know rats can have 20+ pups. If I had to guess from the size of the pile of pinkies I'd say she had 10-15. I really don't know what to do. I don't know if I should keep an eye on them or just leave her be. PLEASE HELP!!!
Update: I try not to disturb her when I check on her. I just lift the lid open a little bit and peek in I sit very quietly though it's very difficult because finding the babies gave me some kind of huge adrenaline rush and I just drank half a pot of coffee. I just want to make sure she is nursing them. There are so many! Will she be able to nurse them all? and I will check out the links the one person posted, sorry was so excited I didn't catch your name before I went to update, but ty. I called the vet and he said all her behaviors I described were pretty normal and that she should be able to take care of them. I don't know HOW I'm going to find homes for that many babies though. I really only knew for sure she was preggo about three days ago when the final symptom, nesting, took place.
Sheena, thanks for the advice! I try to just peek in every couple of hours. I'm not really sure how to go about getting my girl Selena comfortable with me handling her little ones but I'm going to go at it slowly. I figure later tonight after I've had a nap I'll try hand feeding her some treats and bits of her protein and calcium rich dinner (egg spinach yogurt other greens, usually) so she thinks of me as safe and rewarding presence. I plan on trying to at least get her to let me pet her in her cage before touching the babies. I heard you should wash hands and then get moms scent on you before touching them so she doesn't reject them. She didn't want me touching her the last week of her pregnancy so we'll see if she acts aggressive now. When I first got her she was very calm and friendly and would always let me pick her up but she got nippy right when her tummy got big. and I snapped a quick pic of the little pinkies to put on fb I think I can see the
6 Answers
- ?Lv 78 years agoFavorite Answer
there's no need to avoid touching them in the first 24 hours. most breeders in fact, handle rat kittens as soon as mum is comfortable letting them, which is often when they are newborns.
however as this rat is new to you, she may be threatened by this as she doesn't know you well yet.
a milk band, when you see it, is quite an obvious thing. you know how earthworms have a band on them known as a saddle.. it looks a lot like that. it's where you can see the milk inside the baby rat through their skin, and helps to identify that they are being well fed.
in this picture, in the kittens facing towards the left side of the screen, you can see them clearly, the white lines on their sides and across their tummies. it's quite easy to recognise when you've seen what they should look like.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3139/2827387079_9a0...
so as she's new to you, I'd keep disturbing her to a minimum. when she's out of the nest, put your hand in the cage. if she doesn't react negatively, check the kittens over. if she's stressed, just try and get a little look. if she's fairly calm, you can take them out and give them a quick check over. preferably without removing them fully from the cage so mum knows you're not taking them away.
when she's reared the litter, keep one or two of the female kittens, as it's not good to keep rats on their own. this way she will have rattie company, and not have to go through quarantining and introducing a new rat.
- ?Lv 45 years ago
Ask your breeder if there may be any manner they'd be willing to preserve the berkshire boy that 2 weeks and intro them keen on you, so you dont must worry about it. Animals can select up on human emotion, and in the event you consider fearful doing it your self, it would make the rats frightened. And this way you additionally wont need to worry about quarantine systems. The cage linked in the prior reply is quality for 2-four adult rats, however a lot too giant bar spacing for younger rats. You'll need no greater than 1" x half" bar spacing unless your boys fill out slightly. Even a decently enormous tank (29 gallon might be) can be good enough briefly. Boys get gigantic beautiful fast and by 3-4months historic they will have to be competent to suit right into a ordinary rat/ferret/chinchilla cage with 1"x1" bar spacing, and by 6 months old they may be comfortable with 1"x2" spacing. Again, converse to your breeding, despite the fact that they are going to ask for a boarding price. I individually would ask anyone to pay perhaps $5/week for me to preserve their rat earlier weaning age for whatever like that. Expectantly your breeder will likely be accomodating :-) Linked to a couple excellent informational sites for you beneath.
- 8 years ago
Well, I don't know a lot about rat pregnancy's but no body else has commented yet, so I will add a little of what I know... You have to take the babies away from the mother after they reach a certain age, I know of someone where the mother ate her baby's foot off.. I am not quite sure of the age that needs to happen though, sorry but I just thought you should know just in case.
- 8 years ago
Just leave her be. Let nature take it's course.
Plus, opening her cage a lot may stress her out, so if you've gotta check on her, do it quietly and try not to disturb.
- LauraJeanLv 48 years ago
You can always sell them as feeders. Cruel, but its fast way to get rid of them
