4 wee orphan wildies! Found me just in time

So...while doing laundry today I happened to be going through all my sorting bins and in my sock bin I see these four wee baby rats (wild ones)


They are skin and bone...look 4-6 weeks old. I have a live trap out in case momma comes back. But they look like they've been alone. Not sure how they got into the 3ft high bin on their own, why I think Mom has been involved to some extent. Not aure whether she left them for me to find knowing there are other rats around??

Would it be ok to allow Aggie to surrogate these guys? In a separate cage from her own babies or right with hers?

So 3/4 already took off on me. Found a weak spot in the cage. But the wee-est one didn't have the energy. Its so hungry.


Here's how I found them


Closeup in the bin


Wee girl who is sticking around for lots of food already drank 4.5 ml of formula. She's so boney!

She's bitten me to the point of blood but it was a slow bite like she was just looking for food. Not an attack bite. She's not sure what she wants; sleep, food or to run away...but she doesn't go far before turning around to look for the food. Now she's half asleep on my tummy curled into my hand.

I put a live trap inside a cage with food and water. Maybe Mom will bring the babies in there and get herself caught in the live trap. The babies will be able to come and go from the live trap but it'll catch Mom if she's around.
Wee girl is now eating some solid food so will guess 5-6 weeks old though she's quite tiny, barely bigger then Aggie's babies.

I have a safe place to release them so they can stay wild and safe. My friend owns a large area and has a shed they can live in/around where cats can't get in. She has seen other rat families in there so should be a good spot for them.

If she remains alone she is unlikely to survive if released later.
Rats are territorial, live in family groups and will kill unfamiliar rats

Personally, given the info if you have shared, I would make her smell like the other babies and add her to the litter.
And I would socialize her so that she will be happy in captivity with her surrogate siblings and new mama

If you were able to catch mama and other siblings, then she could go back with them,
but at this point I think her best bet is a new family and life as a well socialized pet rat

Hope the other babies find their mama and survive, or else are caught by you

So you think it would be safe to put her with Aggie right away? Or slowly have her hang out with Aggie's bubs and then give her to Aggie after she's had time to smell like them?

I have never added a baby to a litter, but I would think you would want to remove mama, make baby smell like them and add her to the others and then return mama
I think nursing mama's are supposed to be pretty good at accepting new babies

But you might want to ask Hopefloats, Lilspaz68 and Jorats as they likely have some experience in this area

Does baby seem healthy and buggie free?

It’s very difficult to hand raise a baby rat (or mouse) who is less than a week old (a pinkie who doesn’t have any hair yet). The best option is to find a nursing rat to serve as a foster mother. As long as the babies are about the same age as her own, mother rats are almost always willing to adopt orphans. The best way to locate a foster mother is to contact local breeders, pet shops, or rat rescues.

The best way to introduce new babies to a foster mom is to take the mom out of the cage, then put the orphans in with her own babies, rubbing them all together to get the scent of her own babies on the orphans.

Click to expand...

http://ratfanclub.org/orphans.html

Since wild rats develop more slowly then domestic rats, and she is about their size it would likely be ok.

Info re adding mouse orphans to a litter (mice & rats are similar so ... ) http://www.thefunmouse.com/info/orphanedmice.cfm

Occasionally you will find babies who have lost their mom. The best thing to do is to try and find another nursing female with babies the same age and a small family of her own so she can accept the foster babies. If you do have another mom able to accept the orphans, take her out, take all the babies and rub them all together in your hands so they all smell the same or place the new babies in with the others and roll them around and leave for a few minutes or rub a bit of soiled litter on the new babies. If you are unable to find a foster mom (you can put orphan mice on a nursing rat mom and vice versa; rats are excellent mothers and will nurse about anything), .................

Click to expand...

http://www.afrma.org/orphanrm.htm

I hope these links will help

I did that and the baby is terrified of Aggie. Whenever Aggie tries to pull her into bed she whines and fights back.
I put her on her own again for now. Will try again later when she's full and more settled

Here is the thread about Rhydian
http://www.ratshackforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=23622&highlight=Wild+baby

SQ said:

Here is the thread about Rhydian
http://www.ratshackforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=23622&highlight=Wild+baby

Click to expand...

I was going to say the same Kat the Hippie will help you. I'm send her a fb message.

Hello! SQ already directed you to my thread, on my personal experience raising a wild baby rat. She's also right in saying that a baby raised by you will most likely be unable to be released into the wild, she'll grow too attached to you and won't know how to fend for herself against predators, or find food.

Your little one looks to be about 5 weeks. Wild rats don't reach sexual maturity until 8 weeks, so you might not be able to tell if it's male or female yet. Since it's that old, though, and has teeth, it doesn't necessarily need to nurse. If they do calm down and accept Aggie, then that's fine, but make sure that they have access to regular food. Honestly, in my opinion, it would be easier to feed the little one yourself, with soy infant formula thickened with baby cereal. The hand feeding creates a bond, I hand fed Rhydian through her whole life, specifically to keep her tame with me.

For help in finding mom and the other babies, take some bedding or cloth that smells like the baby you still have, and put that in the live trap you have, with food and water. It'll hopefully draw them in.


Keep us updated on the little one, and let us know if you find the siblings, or mom! I hope you do.

It's too bad the babies took off - hopefully they are old enough to find food on their own. If they are skin and bones, I would think something has happened to the mother. I'm glad you found them while they were still alive! At least they have a small chance now, which was more than they had at the bottom of the bucket.
I hope you can win over your little feisty one. Does s/he have a name yet?

I found one of the babies today in the laundry bin again, sadly she'd passed away. The one I have is full of energy today and finally has accepted being part of Aggie's crew. Though she does prefer the syringe of formula and HT14 mushed. I don't mind
She definitely needed the food and sleep. Now she needs to have company. And she's decided Aggie isn't so scary and that she makes a pretty good surrogate momma.

It makes me wonder if there is not a whole litter of babies in the area of your bin that have lost their momma and are leaving the nest out of desperation and that it may be a different baby in the bin. Have you given the area a good going over?
I am glad your little one is thriving and is starting to bond with her new family.

It's tough cuz its our basement and its quite cluttered.
I have followed the path of poops into a loose wall panel. I am wondering as well if there are more and Momma is gonem the food bowl was empty by lunch time and I think I saw one run off again.
Just hope they find their way outside or me before more pass away. Aggie is more then happy to have more babies and the babies love her. They were grooming her and she started bruxxing

Maybe if you leave a cage in both places that has thickened formula in a dish, a water dish and a box with warm bedding that smells like babies,
maybe they will decide it is a safe place and you will be able to catch the missing 3 as well as any others still alive. You might want to put formula or mush in the bottom of your sock bin, with soft bedding and check it frequently.

Glad the baby is doing so well and has a new family
As you likely know, you will need to handle and cuddle any wild babies excessively so that they bond closely with you

Hope all the babies are soon safe

Good luck

EDIT: I hope you can find the nest

Baby girl somehow escaped through the night. There's a slight gap where the door locks. I had a feeling when I went in that she had moved on. I will still work to catch them all if I can. No sign of anyone in the basement cage or laundry basket.
Obviously she got some strength back. I hope she finds safety somewhere. I will do all I can to find these wee things.

Oh no I'm sad to hear that one baby passed, and the one you had went missing like it's siblings. I hope you can find them.. I agree with SQ, put down some soft food they can't carry off, so they have to stay and eat, and you'll have a better chance at catching them.

Also, you might want to fix up your cage as best you can, so that when Aggie's babies start wandering around they don't get out.

I have fixed the weak spot in Aggie's cage. I am using mushed HT2014 with org. Soy infant formula. So they would have to chill to eat. No sign of anyone today set s few more spots with hamster cages so that I might be able to close the door without them escaping. They're quick little bubs.

I found where one of the wildies is camping out. I believe its the one I had caught as she's in the rat room in the back of a shelf. She made herself a nice nest with paper she found and bedding scraps as well as a LOT of food stashed. She ran out while I was cleaning cages today. I thought I had seen something scurrying across the floor a few times this week. Thought I was just seeing things but seems she's stayed close to the familiar rat smell and where she has clearly found food. Either someone (a rat of mine) is throwing her food or she's coming and going from a cage and taking food because its block food not random garbage!
I set it so she can get in but I might be able to catch her on her way out. Made it safe for her to stay there. And hopefully I can catch her and get her to a safe place. She seems to be coping and thriving now. No sign of anyone else. Food and water bowls in the basement went untouched for a few days but this morning were signs of someone visiting so I set it back up and hope to catch them early tomorrow morning. Before they take off for the day.