New little lady is Pregnant :/

[Joanne]

Rats make good mommas. Leave her be so she can clean and nurse them and get settled.
There's this big push to find milk bands, but when my girl Jazzy had babies I rarely saw milk bands. All ten survived just fine. So don't panic if you don't see any. Plus I don't really think there's much you can do anyway when they are this young.
Make sure momma has lots of nutritious food so she can keep her strength up.
Since she is new to you and may not trust you, be careful reaching in. I always got Jazzy out first before handling the babies.

 

[raticus]

what do milk bellies look like?? o.o

 

[Joanne]

Have a look at Jazzy's thread. You can see a whitish patch shining through their belly's skin. That is the milk in their bellies.

http://www.ratshackforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7290

 

[raticus]

alright thankyou I definitely just stalked that entire thread looking at the pictures. lol!
she had 11 babies total (but lost 1)
she's been a very good mother c: and I managed to get the water bottle to work any idea what I should use to let her make her nest in? right now she's got a tissue box but it's not working great.

 

[Joanne]

A shoebox is really great because the bottom of the box will help keep the babies in the nest, but you can remove the lid easily to check on the little family any time. Just cut a nice door in one end. She will decorate it herself. Provide lots of paper towel.

 

[raticus]

I'll go search for one, everyone seems to have the "milk belly" except for one of the rather small babies. she also seems to be cool to the touch, but is definitely still alive just not as lively as the others

 

[RatPack]

Congrats on your grand babies! glad momma and babies sound like they are doing good and no complications from her prior injuries..

 

[raticus]

heheheh thankyou c: very relieved everything went smoothly, and if it hadn't I might have been too late because when I got home that's when I found out she was having a birthing party! she's been a very good little mama, but she does not like any babies out of her nest!

 

[raticus]

here are some pictures

closer up c:

those toes

 

[maria-mar]

Healthy looking bubs <3

 

[Joanne]

Such sweet little things :heart:

 

[TheHermit]

Lil eepers! Itty bitty sweeties they look lovely!

Back to lurking until there's more pics to squeal over...

 

[RatPack]

Babies!!!! :love6:

 

[raticus]

hehehe they melt my heart :kisskiss:
I fixed up her home a bit and gave her a shoebox instead. which I do think works a million times better than the setup i had o-0 when will I be able to move them into a larger wire cage with multiple levels? also when I do move them into a bigger cage can I add hammocks? (1/2 in bar spacing)

 

[lilspaz68]

I move my babies to bigger. Cages at 2.5 o 3 weeks, once those eyes are open and the initial wobblies are over. I still do things like tuck hard objects like bowls etc under shelves so a baby cannot fall on them and hurt itself

 

[jorats]

I remember freaking out too a few years ago. lol But ya, mom does such a good job, just enjoy the baby TV.

 

[SQ]

:heart::heart:

 

[raticus]

she's got some fuz on her head!

 

[Joanne]

Cute little sausages :heart:

 

[RatPack]

Awww babies!