Pregnant...?

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Jherek

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 22, 2008
Messages
216
Location
KW Ontario
I'm a little confused about three of the new little girls I have (PICTURES SOON OMFACKINGGOD :0). They're very, very tiny. The lady told me they were full grown but they look like babies still- still babies or perhaps dwarfs? But two of them are bulgin' a bit. I don't know if it's because of malnutrition perhaps, if there's something wrong or... are they possibly pregnant? I have no idea what the situation was with them before, all I know is that she had two other rats. She hasn't responded yet- I asked just to be sure, if they've been in contact with males at all in the past few weeks.

Edit- Whoops, Photobucket resized it. Here's a larger one:
my.php
http://img517.imageshack.us/my.php?imag ... opyrs8.jpg

So yeah, two of them have this bulge thing going on on their tummies and out to the sides. Please put my mind to ease... :lol:
 
Pics of each girl from above as well as a tummy pic of each might help.
You can also start weighing them daily.
They may just be chubby, not pregnant.
 
Yeah, that was the best I can do for now. The poor girls are terrified and won't let me touch them at all. I don't want to stress them even more right now.

I also considered the baby belly thing, the only reason I'm thinking it's not is because of this group of three, two were sisters, and it's only one of the sisters whose tummy is like this. Also, I'm not positive they're babies- we're kind of thinking the size is due to malnutrition or that they're possibly dwarfs, I don't know.

Also, added a large photo- Photobucket resized the other one. But it won't show up, so I had to link.
 
Young girls can look preggy...my 7 weekers had big round bellies I was sure were preggy bellies. They had been living with their dad, mom and brother until 6 weeks...

They had nice little pot bellies just from being babies. But if you are worried get a scale (I have the Pelouze postal scale, make sure it weighs in grams) and weigh her every day at the same time. Having a scale is invaluable in the end, think of it as an investment. If you do get the weighing thing going I will post Bronwen's weight gain over the last 11 days of her pregnancy...its very apparent to be pregnancy not regular young girl growth.
 
All the lady said was: "I am not sure they could be dwarfs. As for the rats its just the good food. all my rodents are big and healthy." eh... (ironic considering Sarah and I were commenting on how tiny they were, like they haven't had a proper diet). The bellies are also firm- it's not chubbiness.

I wish I knew if they were dwarfs or not. These two sisters look VERY different from any rats I've ever had. They're very "petite," have larger eyes and smaller, shorter faces. They just look very different. Hmm...

God I hope they just have really bad gas :lol: I'm crossing my fingers that they're just really weird lookin babies :giggle: and not dwarfs, and it's just the baby belliness going on.
 
Dwarf rats are very very rare and almost impossible to get in Canada. Small rats are genetically small or they were malnourished or failure-to-thrive babies who made it to adulthood, or stunted growth girls like my Sweetie.

Check out Sweetie, in my Sweetie and her Sugarbabies post...she is still teeny, but has gained a LOT since the birth.

Get us pics and we'll see from there. :)
 
In those pics, I would say they look normal size. Some of my rats have bellies like that too, it's not really that big. Time will tell though...
 
I've been trying and trying to get a good picture of ANY of these three but they're still completely terrified (two of them pretty much sit in a corner still). I don't think it's a matter of them not being handled, I think they may have been treated roughly- they're so jumpy, they're scared of everything. Anyway, I got a crappy picture but it finally shows the bump I've been noticing on this girl. Now that I've seen it better, it's protruding only to one side (it shows more than this sometimes, but this was the best I could do right now).

belly.jpg
 
Sorry I forgot to say- it's not solid, it doesn't feel like a tumour although I wondered that. It feels like any other part of her belly although I'm afraid to push too hard to really feel it well. It also doesn't stay firm in place if I touch it.
 
Is that lumpiness on both sides? You could start weighing her, any dramatic weight gain will tell you if they are pregnant.
Anyone know if this woman had males?
 
I think she has females. But I also think these girls are young, don't know where she got them, or how long she had them. Here're a few more pictures (on of the lump, which appears to be on only one side, and one of the tummies in general). I'm trying to get my hands on a scale.




Also I know that only time will tell. I've started feeding these two as if they were pregnant just in case. But I just thought someone might be able to tell from pictures. :) I'll watch them over the next few days.

EDIT - Wait! My bad. I must be disoriented lol :p It IS on both sides of little Tofu, according to the pictures. This makes me feel a little better- I'd much rather she be pregnant than it be a tumour...
 
It's hard to tell, it doesn't look like pregnancy but it could be early yet. If the previous owners didn't have any males, then you know for sure it can't be pregnancy. But we all know how easily it is to lie about such things. :roll: My parents picked up two girls and the ended up giving birth.
 
Definitely keep a close eye on her - Mine looked like that and I thought she was just fat until I came home to three babies!

If it's a small litter, it's definitely harder to tell if she's pregnant...

Not to freak you out, but never hurts to be ready! I definitely wasn't!!
 
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