Newborn rat care help

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MissRatkins

New Member
Joined
Jan 23, 2018
Messages
4
Location
UK
Hi everyone, one of my female rats gave birth this morning and I have a few questions that I cannot seem to find the answers to so I was hoping someone here could help.
As I've said, my rat has given birth today. It wasn't planned at all as she was supposed to be a male, so she was in definite contact with my other males until I realised the store told me the wrong sex and separated her.
Well her tummy got big, she started nesting, all the usual behaviours I had researched when I suspected of pregnancy. She had three babies, two of them has died and one is alive.
She seems to notice the baby, keeps it under her, hasn't left the nest yet and won't let me near it so she is aware and protective of it, but I haven't seen it feed yet.
How long should I wait until I intervene? What are the chances of survival of a lone baby? Is there anything I can do to help them both out? And what should i do with the babies that has passed? She's buried them under her nest. Thanks in advance

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The remaining baby sadly died. When would be a suitable time to put the mama back in with her cage mates? I don't want her to be on her own for longer than necessary

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You can try an out of cage introduction first to see if there will be any issues with her going back to her friends. Poor little momma. I assume she was very young? this is not unheard of :(

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Is she going to be fixed before going back to the boys? It seems like and obvious question, but I didn't see you mention it and nobody else asked.

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You can try an out of cage introduction first to see if there will be any issues with her going back to her friends. Poor little momma. I assume she was very young? this is not unheard of :(

I put her back in today with her friends after spending some time together in the bathtub and they're all happy now. She is young still, only about 12-13 weeks. She delivered another stillborn yesterday and all the placentas, so took her to the vet make sure all was good but got no answers to why she retained a baby for 2 days.

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Is she going to be fixed before going back to the boys? It seems like and obvious question, but I didn't see you mention it and nobody else asked.

She's in with girls. I have two male rats and bought two females after I found out she is a female.

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I am so very sorry that the babies died.
Good that you had her checked out and made sure she does not have any dead babies left inside of her

Just so you are aware, having 2 intact sexes in the same household is an accident waiting to happen because rats are very smart and very, very motivated when girls are in heat (every 3 to 4 days), and people are not perfect 100% of the time. (Neutering boys is usually less expensive but spaying girls has several important health benefits if a person has access to a good vet with the knowledge and experience to safely spay and neuter rats http://ratguide.com/health/reproductive/sp http://ratguide.com/health/reproductive/neuter.php )

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