HELP! Is my rat pregnant??

She accidentally got out with a boy rat and they both were behind the cage for a minute or so without me being able to reach them. I was positive that she wasn't pregnant because I did not think they had time to do anything back there, and it was a very small space. But now, about 10-11 days later her stomach seems to be bigger. She has always been the bigger rat of the two but now her stomach is beginning to protrude more that usual. Is she pregnant? :wow4:

Here is another pic

She does seem to have the pregnancy belly. With her rearing up like that, it is very obvious she's carrying little ones.

Make sure you start looking for homes as soon as she delivers, or even before. Rats are sometimes hard to rehome. Goodluck! Keep updated with pics

She sure is and you better start making all the arrangements she is going to need to deliver. Start weighing her everyday at the same time and keep track of her weight gains. You need to make sure your day calculations are correct. I believe a rat gestation period is around 21-24 days.

http://ratguide.com/

Go to the breeding section (which we don't encourage) for pregnancy information.

Some useful reading if she is pregnant
http://www.ratshackforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13691

You will need a cage with small bar spacing for her and the babies.
A shoe box with a doorway in the side makes a good nest box - gives mama privacy and makes it easy to check on the babies without bothering things as you can just remove the lid.
You will not want to use any bedding that contains threads as threads can wind around limbs or necks - strips of paper towel make good nesting material

There are many threads on this forum about raising litters that you might find interesting to read.
Lilspaz68 has quite a few, I have some and others have also posted about raising rescue litters

Make sure mama is getting a good diet of good quality blocks ( Harlan Teklad 2014, Oxbow Regal Rat, or Living World hamster extrusion blocks) available at all times.
and daily vegs and occasional fruit

Please keep us posted as to how things are going

How old is your girl? This can also make a difference. if she's young and growing they can develop these little pot bellies. But if she's full grown and gaining weight like this, you have babies on the way.

Do you have a digital scale? Daily weighing at the same time each day and recording the weight is the best way to determine pregnancy and often can tell you the health of the pregnancy.

She is almost 10 months old so im pretty sure that she's not growing. Is my rats age a good age to have babies or should I be worried? Also, if she is pregnant, what are the best ways to find homes for the little ones? Thank you everyone for all your help!!

Awich: Imma let you know some very startling info on rats. They can breed in 2 seconds :/

Goodluck though with the babies! I've never had baby babies or a litter before so I can't offer much advice, just moral support.

I rescued some rats and neutered the boys. After three weeks I introduced the boys to the girls. The full grown male bred several of the females over the next few months until he settled down. (No babies though!) It takes literally one second for a rat to have sex! So, unfortunately, your rats had lots of time.
Good luck - I'm sure there are several threads on pregnancies and babies here. Reading them through will give you an idea of what to expect and help you plan.

Awich said:

She is almost 10 months old so im pretty sure that she's not growing. Is my rats age a good age to have babies or should I be worried? Also, if she is pregnant, what are the best ways to find homes for the little ones? Thank you everyone for all your help!!

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Here is some info on rehoming rats
http://www.ratshackforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=23041
It is very difficult to find good homes for rats so be prepared to keep all of the babies if necessary.

At 10 months mama should be ok, but you never know .... usually things go ok but have a good rat vet lined up in case you need an emergency caesarian etc

Baby boys are separated from mom and sisters at 5 weeks. Baby girls stay with mom until at least 6 weeks and never need to be separated. Babies do not go to new homes until at least 6 weeks old.
Rats need to be adopted in same sex pairs or same sex larger groups.

As you discovered, unless people plan to have their rats neutered or spayed ( spayed is best because of the health benefits) people should never have more then one sex of rat in the same household .... so only adopt out accordingly. Rats are very smart, very motivated, and people are not perfect 100% of the time. Having 2 unaltered sexes of rats in the same household is an accident waiting to happen and a huge risk. Average litter size is 12 to 14 babies but litters can be as large as 26 babies. Since mama only has 12 nipples, you may need to intervene if there are more then 12 babies.

Hope this info helps

I think intervening/helping out is only if the mom is having trouble feeding a larger litter. Most mom's with more than 12 babies just shift feed, have one group in a pile, and a smaller group in a different pile and she goes from one to the other to feed them.

Here's the story of my most recent rescue litter...you might want to skip past the rescue part and get to the pregnancy etc part LOL

http://www.ratshackforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=29536

I do not have a scale right now so I am still unsure if she is pregnant. It would be two weeks today so i guess I will know pretty soon if she is pregnant. Just in case I will set up a bin to get ready if she is pregnant! I will keep you guys updated! Thanks everyone!

She will start to show A LOT very quickly towards the end. I woke up one morning and my girl Peach looked huge. I put her in the small cage that day and she had the babies that night.

Good luck!

Belly update pics- still unsure if she is pregnant or not... Today would mark the 15th day of her pregnancy. I can see her top two nipples but other than that she is not showing. She has a much bigger belly than her sister but like I said, she has always been the bigger of the two. She has been pretty shy during playtime recently and will go under the blanket to stick her head out and watch her sister run around. I gave her and her sister a hard boiled egg to share just in case she is pregnant and needs the extra protein. I also gave them some scrambled eggs. Any tips for what I should be feeding her, how to set up her birthing bin, how to find homes for the babies, ect ect?

A more relaxed picture-

Def looks pregnant to me.

HartRat said:

Def looks pregnant to me.

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Ahhh! Fingers crossed for a small litter!! mg:

Ditto
................

She looks very pregnant. Rats can mate in the blink of an eye unfortunately.

Any chance you can get your males neutered so this can't happen again?

As far as rehoming, you may want to contact Rattie Tattie Rescue to see if they can help you or at the very least do a courtesy posting. You should try to screen adopters and charge a small adoption fee. You should only adopt out same sex rats to same sex households (unless they are altered) so that your rats' babies aren't bred again continuing this cycle.

If you're 100% sure that the day your rats got out at the same time is the only time they had contact you can hold out, but otherwise I would move her to the bin cage soon so there is no chance of her giving birth in her regular cage and having the babies get injured.

What are you feeding for a regular diet? Also, legumes (cooked, of course) and beans are also a good source of protein.

For the birthing bin, no hammocks or anything they could fall from or get crushed by.