PLEASE HELP: First Time Sexing Baby Rats!

Hello all! So, we got these baby rats a few days ago and we wanted to confirm the sex of each one, we have some speculations thanks to the internet but we’ve never had to sex rats for ourselves as we usually get them when they are already sexually mature (this is our first time ever dealing with baby rats!). We just want to take the necessary precautions and find out the gender of each one sooner so we can separate them, if need be, until we are able to get them fixed! You will find that the name of each rat is located on their picture. Thanks in advance!

We are super excited to find out!! These little babies have been a delightful addition to our household! It was love at first sight <3

Congrats on the new ratties
How old are the babies?

It is difficult to tell from the pictures … you might want to try again with clearer views of the genital area

Below are some pictures of 5 week old babies - pictures from Lilspaz68
(btw there is some good information in the Reference Thread https://www.ratshackforum.com/threads/reference-thread-read-only.35894/ )

Girl

Thank you very much! As for their ages, we estimate them to be about 3-4 weeks old. They are all very little! We were planning on taking them to the vet to get a more accurate calculation, as well as a health exam for each and have them sexed, but we figured we would skip all the anticipation and just ask around here first lol, seeing as our vet isn’t scheduled to be in until later this week. They are all very squirmy babies so it was a bit difficult to get clear pictures haha! But that’s okay, because they are just the cutest little things ever!

Higgins is the little champagne (?) hooded dumbo. Lasswell is the little black capped dumbo, with the white marking on their forehead. Friday is the other black hooded dumbo. Please correct us if we’re wrong but: Benny is what we suspect to be a blue (?) hooded dumbo, the one whose coloring is a mixture of brown and grey. And Shy is the little solid black standard.

Also, thank you very much for the reference thread as well as the information SQ! We appreciate your help!

All but shy look to me like girls. Hard to tell from the photos. Also, you may want to supplement with a little bit of organic infant formula, and some baby cereal. You can also soak their rat blocks in it. If they are really young, like around 3 weeks, they will still need the extra calories and stuff. They really should still be nursing on mom at least a little bit.

They are SO STINKING CUTE by the way!!

Boys should soon be dropping their testicles
Baby boys stay with their mama and sisters until 5 weeks old so you have a bit of time
(and baby girls are not separated from their mama until they are at least 6 weeks old)

so as mentioned above, it would be good to feed them organic infant soy formula thickened with baby cereal in a shallow dish a few times a day, their (good quality) rat blocks soaked in cool water to make mush,
and offer the normal (good quality) rat blocks and various types of vegs.
There is information about diet, nutrition, supplements etc in the Reference Thread

Babies normally are not completely weaned by their mama until sometime between 4 and 5 weeks old, and they learn many things from their mama including what foods are ok to eat.
Because rats do not vomit they are cautious about trying new foods - when presented with an unfamiliar food they will taste it and if it does not make them ill, then next time they may try a little bit more.

In the baby section of the Reference Thread there is some information, including 2 links showing baby development - that may be both interesting and helpful in figuring out approximate ages

It is nice that you were able to take a group of siblings so that they have one another.
Most look like girls to me but I can not be certain from the pictures

Great that you will be looking into neuters and spays …… as you are likely aware spays are important for health reasons if you have access to a good vet with the knowledge and experience to spay rats https://www.ratshackforum.com/threads/why-spay-or-neuter-rats.35402/

Thank you very much, Dena! They are all indeed very adorable, and very playful as well! Whenever we get the chance, we love to just sit by their cage and watch them all romp around or snooze in a cute pile on their hammock haha! We also had a hunch that Shy was male, but I guess we can’t be too sure until we get them properly sexed by our vet this week (we’re so excited!!). We’ll be sure to post the results when the time comes and keep you guys updated! Thanks for the information on their diet and nutrition, Dena and SQ! We are very much new to raising babies, so any and all help is much appreciated As for the lab blocks, would the Oxbow brand intended for rats under six months suffice? Unfortunately, these little guys were taken from their mother much too young to be sold as feeders. We have four older boys, all of which, excluding our Wizard, are over a year. Of course, these guys are housed separately from the babies. We actually stumbled upon the babies by accident. We were originally looking into getting ferrets, which we would only get after our boys passed, as a sort of change of pace and to satiate simple curiosity. We went to browse a place that seemed promising, but instead of finding any ferrets we naturally gravitated to where the rats were being kept, which we tend to do somehow (we are destined to forever be rat mothers! Lol). We fell in love with them, and instantly adopted a select few - we would’ve adopted the whole shelf, but you know how it is. Unfortunately, the baby I was originally looking into getting, instead of Friday, was sold to a snake right before our very eyes But I don’t regret choosing my Friday, I feel such a connection to them.

Glad these babies are safe
Oxbow for babies and oxbow for adults are both fine for baby rats

There is also good info on intros in the Reference Thread (babies need to be at least 8 weeks old, 10 weeks is safer before starting physical intros with rats over 12 weeks old. In addition baby rats do not smell like rats and can be mistaken for prey by older rats)

They grow and learn so quickly, so enjoy the baby stage! Also, I have fed my mice and my rats oxbow for adult rats since they were babies. Just for babies, I soaked the blocks in cool infant formula, and fed them that. As well as infant formula with baby cereal for the youngest, or sick ones.

Those testicles will be dropping very soon. So keep an eye out With the anogenital distance method of sexing (those were my pics and diagrams above) the boys will have twice the width between the anus and the genitals than the girls...this is where the testes develop. Here's pics of 20 day old babies to show the difference.

girl



boy (even here you can see the testes are starting to descend a little)

LOL Lilspaz, those babies look like they want nothing to do with you looking at their goodies! Haha!

UPDATE: So, we just returned from our first visit to the vet! We are happy to report that the babies are all in good health, aside from a little case of the sniffles because they need to adjust to their new environment, and we also had them sexed! As expected, Shy is a male while the rest of the little mischief are females! Also, the vet informed us that she estimates Higgins to be a bit older than everyone else, around six weeks, meanwhile the other babies are no more than four weeks old! How exciting! Time to go get Shy his own little cage, as well as some buddies to share it with!

Also, our vet informed us that everyone wanted to pet them! Even this one intern who wasn’t a fan of rats was swayed by their irresistible cuteness! Haha!

Glad that everyone is healthy

Having two intact sexes in the same household is an accident waiting to happen.
Rats are very smart and very motivated and people are not perfect 100% of the time.
Having two intact sexes in the same household will also be very stressful for males and can impact their behaviour. (Girls go into heat every 4 to 5 days, average litter is 12 to 14, but rats can have as many as 26 babies in a litter)
Also, I know of a rats who get out of their cages in the basement TV room and got to the opposite sex in a 3rd floor bedroom - resulting in several pregnancies

Baby boys are separated from mom and sisters at 5 weeks so you have a bit of time.

If you have access to a good vet with the knowledge and experience to safely spay and neuter rats then that is something you should consider.
Boys can be neutered younger then girls can be spayed, and then after 2 to 3 weeks can safely live with girls.
If possible, it is important to spay girls for health reasons.
https://www.ratshackforum.com/threads/why-spay-or-neuter-rats.35402/

Rats need large cages so Shy will need a large cage too
Shy will need a cage with at least 4 cubic feet in size with a base at least 30 inches by 18 inches and height with large levels. The 4 girls will need a cage at east 8 cubic feet in size, with a base at least 30 inches by 18 inches and height with large levels.
I would suggest a double critter nation. - can be divided into 2 cages by putting up the ladder
- It is Essential to cover the bars on both the upper floor and lower floor each with one solid sheet of coroplast cut to fit and to use the full pan on the top level and the cut out pan on the bottom level - because babies trying to see the rats below them have crawled under the cut out pan, become trapped in the bars and died. Half of a plastic rectangle (pencil case or drawer sorter) can be inserted into the cut out pan and used as a small litter box (I can provide pictures & more details)

It can be divided in half, and after at least 1 sex has been spayed or neutered, then the cage can be made into one large cage instead of two cages. and they can all live together. Or after Shy is old enough to be introed to your other boys (he needs to be at least 8 weeks old, 10 weeks is safer, before physical intros start) then the girls will be able to have the entire cage.