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Vicki

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 7, 2014
Messages
209
Location
Orangeville, Ontario
Well we got a large amount of rats in the shelter yesterday and one of the females was ready to pop (first of many I'm sure) so I brought her home to foster. She had the babies last night. I really haven't had a chance to bond with this momma and she is pretty nervous of me. Any suggestions how to make her more comfortable? And should I bother checking the babies or just work on trust training with her for now?

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Oh so sweet!!! Did you guys get a bunch of rats from that North Bay craziness? They pulled out 600 rats from a one bedroom apartment and the SPCAs and shelters from all over Ontario are helping out. I was so tempted to take in a pregnant female if I had more room.
Those babies are adorable!!! And mom is so lovely with her black and white coat.
 
Majority that we got were black and white and tan and white with a few blue and white! A little nervous of being picked up but not as unsocial as I was expecting! I feel bad that I should be fostering more of the mommas but 13 will keep me pretty busy!
The babies are doing well so far!
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I'm a bit concerned about the runt/failure to thrive. She is much smaller then the others but getting milk and energetic so just a waiting game now.
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It's crazy what happened! It can get out of hand so fast. And the misinformation continues. In one newspaper they write: rats can reproduce as young as 3 months and every 33 days. Where do these people get their info?!?!?!?
I heard that many of the rats were indeed more social and not feral like we all feared. That's good news! Those babies sure are adorable.
 
Nice to see how well they are doing Vicki, under the loving care of you and their mama.

Runt is tiny but looks well fed and plump.
Sweet babies, hope they all do well

Yes, you are right, there is so much misinformation out there, that is one of many reasons this forum has always been so important to me ..... good, reliable info., rescue oriented, and a community of people who are good pet owners wanting to learn, share and support one another.
 
The babies are getting busy and hard to photograph, lol... but everyone is doing well. The little runt is strong and seems healthy. It still half the size.
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And... I was a little naughty and brought home two more fosters to add to the ratty nursery [emoji20] poor little babies are 2-3 months old and also from the large removal. We were hoping that there was enough older females that these two wouldn't be pregnant but unfortunately it looks like they are. I hate babies having babies and ended up caving and bringing them home.
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Unfortunately it's not my call as I'm just fostering for the shelter, but no, they won't spend the money to spay when they are adopted for 5-10 dollars.
They both had litters of 3 babies yesterday, everyone is doing fine and I'm very happy with the small litter size!
 
Your little runt looks good compared to a lot I have seen. She was just at the squishy end of the uterus but should catch up well :) Gorgeous little crew. its too bad the shelter cannot get their vet to give them a prescription for bromocriptine which can interrupt pregnancies if given for a week or so. Some rescues in the US use this when there are multiple females or a spay is not an option.
 
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