How old do my rats look?

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MarleyBear

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May 16, 2017
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Hello everyone!
I recently got two baby rats, my first since my first two boys passed, and the person who gave them to me claimed they were five weeks old. I went with it, because I've never seen any babies, only adults, but today I've come across pictures of other babies at five weeks and younger, and I'm a little suspicious of their ages.
Behaviour wise, they're great, friendly and adventurous, but also very sleepy and they nap most of the day, but eat and drink great. One is a dumbo, and the other is I believe a fancy, both from the same litter. I'm not sure about the parents, as I didn't meet them, but I do know the mother was a rescue from a recent hoarding case and gave birth soon after.
Just wanted to see what other people thought! All of their siblings were the same size, very active and excited.
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Thanks! <3


 
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They look more like 3-4 weeks old and way too young to be away from mom. Make sure you give them some ensure or soy formula. They might be too young to sex too so you MAY NOT have two of the same sex.
 
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Their heads look a little big to me. I guess it's possible that they are five weeks old but then that means they are very under nourished. They did not get enough milk. The body confirmation is all wrong. See if you can supplement them with some high calorie foods.
 
They look like young babies, much too young to be away from their mama.
As others mentioned, feed a block (should be available at all times) as well as blocks soaked in cool water to make mush, some vegs and give a shallow dish of organic soy infant formula thickened with a bit of baby cereal (the kind that says add milk) twice (or more) times a day.

You will also want to provide them with a water dish that can not be upset (cleaned twice a day) as babies may look like they are getting water out of a water bottle but their tongues are not strong enough to move the ball bearing and therefore are unable to get any water out of them (as you are likely aware, rats need to have at least 2 sources of water in their cage (at least one source needs to be a water dish).

good luck
Hope you share updates with us on how they are doing
 
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Oh my goodness, thank you all so much for commenting.
I had a hunch they probably weren't five weeks, and everyone who has seen their pictures here and on other sites say they look younger than five weeks, so thank you for confirming my suspicions haha. I'm going to go out tomorrow and get enfamil for them, sadly my local pet store didn't have blocks, so they've got mix and fruit+veggies until it arrives.
Around how much enfamil should they drink a day, and also what is a healthy weight they should be?
Gonna be very tragic if they not only are the wrong age, but also gender, so fingers crossed things go smoother from here.

Edit;
I'll be sure to add baby cereal to my list, and I'll definitely try to keep this updated on how they're doing. We've been spending a couple of minutes each day holding them, and letting them explore a little, and they seem to be doing pretty well, although they do act like something is missing. I'd just assumed they missed their siblings, they had 13 sisters.
Since they aren't yet in their adult cage, they've currently got a small bowl of water that I've changed out about 3-5 times, and when we move them they'll still have that available, alongside the water bottle whenever they're ready :)
 
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If you can post a picture of their "private" area we can possibly tell you their genders. Just kept water and formula full. You need oxbow regal rat to soak in water or give dry. You can also grind it up to add to formula/ensure
 
I'll try to get a good shot of them, though I did compare how they look to some graphs I found online and they seem like they're both boys, which is great!
I did want to ask, is their urine supposed to be smelly? I can't quite remember from back when I had boys, it was about three-four years ago, but one of the babies has very strong smelling pee, it almost smells fishy.
It's a super hot day today, and they're quite sleepy, but they're still doing well! Their water has been changed about every hour, and they seem to be eating pretty well. My mom is currently on her way home with the forumla and baby cereal also, so they'll get that asap.
 
I currently have 3 - five weeks old boys and 4 - 9 weeks old boys in addition to my other boys that varie in age and none of them have smelly pee..... Could be a UTI, keep an eye on it. Might just be because they need fluids. Keep feeding them healthy food only - no more yogies like in the picture... lol
 
Keep feeding them healthy food only - no more yogies like in the picture... lol

Just so you are aware, the recommended diet for rats is :
a good quality block available at all times (Oxbow andHarlan Teklad 2014 are the best two)
daily vegs
and occasional healthy treats such as a piece of fruit, seeds such as organic pumpkin seeds, cooked cereals such as organic 12 grain cereal, cooked quinoa, etc

Avoid any foods containing added sugar, added salt or added fat
(among other things, sugar feeds cancer :( )

Here is one of many good, informative links on this site http://www.ratshackforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3708

good luck
 
JUst wanted to update everyone! Sadly I don't have pictures to show right now, but I'll try later!
In the last couple of weeks, they've been eating plenty of fruits and veg and also are eating tekloid growing blocks! We've also gotten them to use their water bottle now, and kept a close eye on them to make sure they were drinking it, and they're super healthy!
They've grown... considerably! Super big now, put on a decent amount of weight and have gotten more proportionate. They've also calmed down a bit, but are still kind of jittery and shaky when held. My boy is always trying to wiggle out of our hands and escape, while the lighter boy is very calm and cuddly. I've never had a boy that is so hyper and wants to run!
Also wanted to see what would be best in terms of litter boxes and toys; do you use ones with grates, or no grates? And also, are there any toys you could recommend? My local pet stores sell neither litter boxes or rat toys, but I have heard bird toys work just as well, and wanted to know what you guys could suggest!
 
What country are you in?

(You might want to add at least country and prov., or state to your profile)

There are many great sites online that sell things for ratties ...... many of us use them because we do not want to support stores that sell animals, or because we can get items from them not for sale locally

If your are in Canada, Flower Town Chinchilla is a great site for rat food, toys, litter boxes etc https://www.chinchilla.ca/

and many people make and sell hammocks online - often they are much better quality then the ones you can buy in stores. There are a few of us here in Canada who make hammocks, and I can refer you to a member who makes them in the USA
 
Sounds like they are doing quite well. For litter pans, I prefer without grates. You can use the rabbit or ferret littler pans. I like big ones and I use Yesterday's News in mine. It's recycled paper litter for cats but works great for rats. As for toys, cat balls are good and hanging bird toys. Even if the rats don't play with it, it's good to have colour and stuff in the cage to occupy their minds. Some rats love to tear up paper, toiler paper rolls, tissue paper like kleenex...they love boxes too to hide in. Rats love to climb so add ledges or big bird ropes up high.
 
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