Help With Very Young Rat

Hello,

I hate that my first real post is asking for help but I need help. If anyone can answer any of my questions I would be really thankful! I guess some of the questions are more of statements or concerns but please comment.

8 days ago my husband and I were helping a family friend with some out door work and to say it short, a rat nest got obliterated by a tractor. The mama and all but two babies died. We managed to keep the two alive for 7 days, but yesterday the boy baby died from some sort of respiratory ailment. The girl is doing great so far, though she is absolutely tiny. We think she is a Norway Rat.

We call her Ceader, or Little Girl. I have some questions that I have not been able to find answers to anywhere. I realise that she is quite young and lucky to be alive but I want to do my best to try and keep her healthy.

Age: I am not sure how old she is. We have had her for 8 days. Her eyes are still closed. She is not getting much bigger, however, she is developing. I will post a picture of the day we found her and one from two days ago on the 13th. In case it helps, her teeth are coming in and well defined. She grinds them together especially when sleeping/after eating.

Size: If our scale is correct she only weigs 8 grams. I thought I saw somewhere that baby rats hand raised are always tiny but catch up. Still, her size really worries me! Yes she is a rat not a mouse. At least I am 99.9% sure. I suppose I could be wrong.

Potty: First off, she is eating goat milk. I swear she poops the tinyset of poops. She also does not poop that much when she goes even when I massage her bottom. She pees a lot. Is this normal? I don't want her to get constipated. When I look at her belly near her tail it is visibly darker under the skin of her lower abdomen. I am not sure if that is constipation or developing organs. Her belly is not hard.

Food: I am so worried about feeding. I don't want any food to go into her lungs especially since her brother got sick. It keeps coming out her nose no matter how hard I try! I am now feeding her more often but less. This is not easy at night. I treid a paint brush but she latches on with all her mite and I can't add more milk to it. What is going on? How can I prevent it?

Behavior: Generally she is wild! She climbs all over the place, loves my hands, is very active, exploratory and sweet in a girl rat sort of way. I don't really have any questions about this though just wanted to tell you.


Any other advice, general care, experiences, stories etc.. is appreciated!

Get some nice paint brushes and use those for feedings. You can dip it in the formula and they suckle off that. We hand raised white footed mice here and that is how we fed them. As long as she is is pooping it should be fine. They wont go every tima and they dont go much. We use kmr for our wild mice. They are healthy and grown now.

Oh, boy, I didn't know you meant that young. I just saw your intro post. Are there any wildlife rescue near you? They would be equipped for this sort of thing and eventually release back into the wild.

That's upsetting. Would they be willing to at least give you some advice, since they won't help you?

I wonder if you could use a dropper to put more milk on the paint brush and it would migrate down the brush towards her mouth?

I don't know if goat milk is an appropriate replacement for momma's milk. I too had a couple of orphan mice and fed them KMR (Kitten Milk Replacement) that was purchased at the vet's.
It is amazing that she is still with you seeing how young she is! It's a good sign that she's active.
I hope she pulls through for you after all your hard work. Since she will be hand raised, she will be more tame than most wildings. Good luck with her!
There was someone who hand raised an orphan. Stand by.... KatTheHippie raised Rhydian.
http://www.ratshackforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=23622&highlight=Rhydian
I see she was older than your wee one.
Anyhow, positive vibes are being sent to your little one...

Please see
http://www.rmca.org/Articles/orphans.htm

http://www.afrma.org/orphanrm.htm
and
http://ratfanclub.org/orphans.html

http://www.ratshackforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=23622

for info.
This might be of interest:
http://www.afrma.org/babyratdevdaily.htm
http://ratgrowth.homestead.com/


I have heard good things about using kitten milk replacer from the vet
and organic soy infant formula (from baby section of grocery store or pharmacy) is the closest thing to a rat mama's milk

I have heard of various babies from different litters who were fed goat's milk and they died, although some siblings survived once switched to organic soy infant formula.

Baby can not be released in to the wild (rats live in groups, are territorial and she will not know how to survive) and as you said, wildlife rehabs usually use rodents as food for other animals.
Best thing would be to find a nursing mama rat, make baby smell like the litter and add her.
You could check with rescues in your area to see if you could foster a mama and babies or purchase a mama and babies ... but would end up keeping them if purchased as rats are difficult to find good homes for

You will need to get a same sex 6 week old baby to be put in with your baby when your baby is 3 or 4 weeks old

If taken to a pet store etc, baby will die horribly

Where are you? Country and prov or state are not given in your profile