pregnant rat? oh golly

hello everyone! this is my first time posting here so i apologize if i mess up or do anything wrong but ya know. i've just recently gotten a female rat (from petco, i couldn't help myself she is incredibly friendly and she was alone) she is my first female. i got her on the 10th, and i've started to notice that.. well, she's a bit round. she most definitely looks pregnant but i would like confirmation. i don't know how old she is either, they weren't sure but i don't think she's older than a year.

if she is definitely pregnant, how far along do you think she is? i'm a bit worried as my family is supposed to go out of town on friday and idk how that would work with the babies? i have been planning on bringing her anyway just.. yeah! thank you for any help, i really appreciate it. it's nice to have all these groups so i can consult the 'experts', lol. i may take her to the vet, although i'm not sure if it is absolutely necessary.



(also yeah the cage is small, it is a travel cage as i'm not home right now. i promise i have a big cage for her!)

Ummm, I dunno. She could be pregnant, yeah. Sometimes though the young ones just get little bellies on them as they are growing.

I’m not saying it isn’t possible, but it shouldn’t be. Pet smart and Petco both make it a point to keep the genders separate. That’s not to say accidents don’t happen.

It does look like she could definitely be pregnant. Apparently you can only really tell around 3 days before they have the babies, so you should expect them soon after the first day you noticed her size. If it's already been that long and nothing has happened yet, she is probably just growing like Sheldon said. Also, she does have the classic "pear shape" of a pregnant rat, but you'll find out soon enough. I have never travelled with babies before but I think as long as she's comfortable travelling and the bar spacing is small enough, you should be fine to travel with them. The bar spacing in the cage you have is too wide though, so you might be better off putting her in a plastic tote that is tall enough that she can't escape, or you could fashion some type of roof with breathing holes.

Oof, that’s a tough one.

You’ll probably not *really* know if she’s definitely pregnant until a few days prior to birth when she begins nesting and spending the entire day grooming! You could possibly look out for any obvious weight gain, but even that can’t really tell you much since in my own experience my previous girls never showed much sign of weight gain- although as Luna mentioned, their bodies do tend to look more pear like closer to birth.

Your best bet is to take a trip to the vet who will tell you if she’s pregnant or not!

Good luck and keep us updated xo

alright, thank you all so much! I noticed maybe two days ago, I’m not really certain. the hair around her nipples is gone now. also, I’ll make sure to do something about the cage and maybe take her to the vet. earlier today she was laying on some tissues and I noticed some.. fluids? on the tissues and I don’t know what the heck it was. I think it was coming from her vagina, here is the picture. It was on most of the tissues, just little spots here and there.

ahh this is all so stressful lol, I just want to make sure she’ll be okay and comfortable! she also seems to have a little bit of a runny nose and she’s been a little sneezy. ill have to ask my mother if we can go to the vet, I’ll let you know if it happens though.


Edit: I think she’s going to have her babies. she is grooming a ton and she seems to be bleeding a little. but she also is breathing hard?

she’s not doing anything right now.. she’s just sitting on top of her igloo. ‍

My mama rat breathed quite hard while she was pushing, but I can't quite remember if she did it before that. I wasn't home the morning that she had her babies and just happened to come home right before it happened in enough time to see the whole thing.

Make sure she's got lots of tissues/fabric/other comfy nestmaterial, because odds are good she'll go into Ultra-Nesting Mode shortly before giving birth.

Yeeeears ago, we had a wee girl who showed up full of other rats. She didn't start nesting until about a day before she popped; there were eleven pink squeaking jellybeans waiting when I got home from work that night.

You'll probably have your hands full. Good luck!

awesome! last night she built a nest, but i woke up this morning and it was gone. she's been grooming a whole lot and has sort of migrated to all the fleece she's pushed to one side of the cage lol. i'm also wondering if she's having some respiratory issues so we'll be taking her to the vet in a few days.

i will post again if anything drastic happens.

she's had 4 babies. there is blood all over her cage (and not just a little either, it is actually everywhere), i'm not sure if she will have any more but i believe she might. i'm worried but.. there are no vets close to where i am and she's acting really weird. i'll update when anything else happens.

Make sure there is no material with threads in the cage. fleece is ok
Strips of paper towel make excellent nest building material

Make sure she has a healthy diet of a good rat block (oxbow or Harlan Teklad) and daily vegs

make sure there are no levels or hammocks in the cage as babies could fall from heights
make sure the cage has small bar spacing so babies can not go through them or become stuck.

After awhile, you can check the babies for milk bellies, a white strip on their abdomens is milk in their stomachs

Congrats, it sounds like you have a small litter ( average litter size is 12 to 14 babies)
Hope mama and babies are all well

Video?
How is she acting weird?
Can you find a good vet that is knowledgeable about rats that you can take her to if necessary?
Even if you have to drive a few hours, look for one now just in case

hi! i believe shes okay now, she has plenty of food (oxbow) and ive taken out her hammock etc. she's not acting strange anymore i think she was just hurting i dunno, she had one more baby (dead) and i think it was a stillborn. they are all nursing. we will most likely take them to the vet sometime soon, maybe tomorrow or on sunday.

i have one more concern though. we are leaving tomorrow to travel, and i have never travelled with her before. its only a 3-3 1/2 hour drive but will it stress her out to the point of cannibalizing her litter??

She should be ok as long as you make sure that she and her babies are ok and comfortable.
Several years ago I had to drive a rescued rat 5 hours to see a vet. The next day during the return trip, she gave birth to a large litter in the backseat of my car. Her and the babies were fine and all the babies grew up to be wonderful, healthy ratties.

Glad to hear that mama is doing ok and the babies are ok. Hopefully all the babies have been born.

Good that you removed her hammock because if she decided that would be a good place to take her babies they could fall out
btw, you remove everything with threads because threads can tighten around little limbs or necks

looking forward to lots of updates and pics

thank you so so so much! there aren't really words to express how much i appreciate it lol, i don't know what i'd do without you all!! there is nothing with threads so i think we're good, i only have fleece.

here's what the babies looked like when i found them! (blood warning)




i was so shocked when i found them, i don't know why but i sure was! super glad they seem to be doing okay with their mother (i also forgot to mention, her name is el/eleanor)

i've attached hardware cloth to her cage so the babies are unable to escape got it done just in time, i finished it earlier today.

Here is some info from the ratguide (a medical site for rat owners that is vet approved) that may be helpful
Labour and birth http://ratguide.com/breeding/birth/labor_and_birth.php
Labour emergencies http://ratguide.com/breeding/birth/labor_emergencies.php
Postpartum http://ratguide.com/breeding/postpartum/
Birth abnormalities http://ratguide.com/breeding/birth_abnormalities/
and Baby Development http://ratguide.com/breeding/baby_development/birth_to_weaning.php

Do you have any pics of how Eleanor and her babies are doing now?

Rats make great moms. She'll do all the work for them. Just keep her well fed and in a quiet space for her and her babies.

Congratulations Grandma! Well, the timing is awful, but fortunately it's a small litter. I hope Eleanor is alright.
I don't expect she'll be thrilled about being in a car but she'll cope, a light covering over the cage should help her comfort long as it isn't trapping in too much heat. Just be very careful about temperature & drafts as the babies will be so delicate..

I was asked to pass on this comment from our medical contributor/Admin Lilspaz68
Quote:
It is good that the bleeding has stopped and mom is eating/drinking and nursing. Feed iron and vitamin k for the blood loss (dark leafy greens, broccoli etc)

I totally forgot about this but the blood reminded me that rats eat the placentas after the babies are born. It's possible that she left a few placentas behind or let them move around for a while before she ate them and that's why there's so much blood, but it's definitely good to provide some foods rich in iron just in case. How did Eleanor (beautiful name!) and the babies do on the trip?

hi guys! eleanor is doing very well and we've got her on some medicine for her nose. it seems to have cleared up. she had 3 males and 1 female.


we plan on keeping maxine (the female) but.. we may just end up keeping them all! cedric and remus have curly/wavy coats, it is really cool lol. i love them all so much!! they all opened their eyes about 2 days ago, but remus was the first.