Pregnant Rat?

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Rattastic

Active Member
Joined
Jan 27, 2014
Messages
39
Location
Ontario
Hello Everyone! :redbud:

I've recently rescued a female rat who may be pregnant. The woman I got her from couldn't afford the proper care for her and clearly lacked the proper knowledge.
She was housed with a male rat for two weeks before I got her. The woman apparently wanted to breed them but decided she couldn't afford it. She said that her behaviour changed and she had become nippy towards them.

I've had her for about four days now.
She is the sweetest little girl ever and hasn't bitten me at all!! She loves grooming my hand and doesn't mind being picked up! She enjoys being with me while out of her cage and will fall asleep right up against me. She is definitely rounder than normal around her belly and is eating like mad!
I have her on a diet of kitten & puppy food, along with an Oxbow Rat food mixture, and a diet for Rats that I've referenced from a Breeder's website.
I've also been giving her eggs every few days and a little tibit of cheese once a week because her previous owner said she loves it. :love1: (She definitely does haha)

Earlier tonight I noticed blood spotting on her bedding. There wasn't much at all and there's nothing coming from her female area. I've done a ton of research and apparently this points to the beginning of labour. She hasn't started contractions at all although she has been more interested in making a nest. How much longer after spotting should she give birth? It's only been a good four hours since there was spotting in her cage. If she had been with the male for only two weeks then she shouldn't be giving birth now, should she?

I know I may been overly worried but I haven't dealt with a pregnant rat before and I don't want her to be in harm. If there's any sight of more bleeding or heavy bleeding should I take her to the Vet? Would she possibly be having a miscarriage?

She doesn't seem to be in pain at all and I can pick her up/pet her no problem. She's still eating & drinking and being her little ol' self. :cookie1:

Any info or advice would be greatly appreciated!!
 
She's definitely going nuts with the nest building now. I guess all I can do for now is wait until morning and see if there's any little pinkies in it!!
 
Sounding like it. ..I've never had a litter but if you check around there are lots of threads including a few recent litters people have had including LilSpaz's girl Arabella

Good luck..just let her do her thing...seems a bit early and some people are less then honest about the conditions they've been keeping them in...maybe it was closer to 3 weeks
 
Sounding like it. ..I've never had a litter but if you check around there are lots of threads including a few recent litters people have had including LilSpaz's girl Arabella

Good luck..just let her do her thing...seems a bit early and some people are less then honest about the conditions they've been keeping them in...maybe it was closer to 3 weeks

Thank-you! I have checked out the other posts and they did help confirm it. Thankfully this girl rattie seems to be a good size & age. She seems to be about 8months old judging by her size and no baby face.
 
Can you post pics? Also, if she's near to the birthing date, you should be able to feel her babies in her belly. Spotting is another sign of reabsorption. And can also be all kinds of other issues. So it's best to be sure what's going on.
 
Can you post pics? Also, if she's near to the birthing date, you should be able to feel her babies in her belly. Spotting is another sign of reabsorption. And can also be all kinds of other issues. So it's best to be sure what's going on.

I tried to palapate her stomach but I can't seem to feel any babies; Her teats seem to be enlarged though. I got some pictures for you... Sorry theyre kind of blurry!! She kept moving around, wanting to see if I had food haha.
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She really doesn't seem that far along at all, not compared to the other pregnant rat pictures I've looked at!!
 
She does have bedding but she's pushed it all into her little nest that she went crazy building last night!!
 
There was some more spotting in her cage, the same amount as last night. She's staying in her nest now and it seems uncomortable for her to move around. She'll take food from me and munch on it so I'm guessing that's a good sign. She's a little lathergic and isn't too fond of me trying to palapate her stomach. I can sometimes feel something but I doubt she'll have a huge litter if she does end up having one.

I've been doing a ton of research and apparently some females will not give birth until 24hrs and even 48hrs after spotting. So hopefully there are no serious complications or she absorbs her litter fine if that's what's occuring right now.
 
She doesn't look preggo to me in those pics. How much blood is there when she's spotting?

I was thinking the same thing too!! There's about a good three or four drops of blood. I have a feeling that she's absorbing them. Probably because she was in such a new environment so soon into her pregnancy.
 
I was thinking the same thing too!! There's about a good three or four drops of blood. I have a feeling that she's absorbing them. Probably because she was in such a new environment so soon into her pregnancy.

The first spotting happened late last night at around 10/1030PM and the second notice of spotting occurred around probably about 9am this morning. It's not like she's bleeding to death, just drops here and there. She currently underneath all the tissue/toilet paper I've given her. I checked on her and she poked her head out to say hello and then pulled the tissues back over herself.
 
So I come home from work tonight and I go to check on my little rat. She's laying in her nest like she has been for the past couple days and I hear this weird squeeking noise. So my first thought is that she has a respiratory infection now!! But she comes over to the cage bars and there is a wee little baby!! Thank god nothing complicated was going on!! I'll keep you guys posted!!
 
Oh goodness, just one?!
How sweet!!!
But I would be worried that there may be more stuck inside...
 
Oh goodness, just one?!
How sweet!!!
But I would be worried that there may be more stuck inside...

She seems to be herself. Letting me pet her and she's eating food from my hands. I can even see that she's already fed the baby; there's a milk band on it's stomach. I believe the blood I noticed earlier was her absorbing the other kits and this one happened to be born.
 
She seems to be herself. Letting me pet her and she's eating food from my hands. I can even see that she's already fed the baby; there's a milk band on it's stomach. I believe the blood I noticed earlier was her absorbing the other kits and this one happened to be born.
Well then if everything seems all right, congratulations to you and the new momma!!! :tumkiss: :bliss: :cookie2:

:b-string:
 
Just keep an eye on your little girl for the next week or so, watch for lethargy, not eating, just looking off...hopefully she reabsorbed the other pups properly. I am glad the one baby got fed. Good luck to the very wee family!!
 
Just keep an eye on your little girl for the next week or so, watch for lethargy, not eating, just looking off...hopefully she reabsorbed the other pups properly. I am glad the one baby got fed. Good luck to the very wee family!!

She's doing great!! When come to to investigate her cage she'll leave the nest to go eat and let me touch her baby. She'll even come back over to see what I'm doing and then goes off to do what she wants to do! hahah it's like I'm babysitter. She even wanted to come adventure out of her cage for a couple minutes and then hopped back in to nurse her baby! There's no more blood spotting at all but I'll definitely keep you guys posted!
 
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