17 rats....momma is nuts... Updates on babies

[hopefloats]

I was contacted by a girl yesterday who has a momma and 16 babies. Of course she cannot keep them. The bad part is I went through a thing with her early summer. She had 3 girls who she wasn't sure if they were pregnant. She said her boy got out and in the girls cage. I hear she has since given up the boys that I tried to take from her and I told her then that this isnt her first litter. We set up a time and day to go get them, the night before she bailed. Telling me "they are my babies I love them and I am going to keep them" I ripped into her a bit about this and that allowing older girls to have babies isnt fair to them or safe.

Her history is to drop litters off with a chinchilla rescue that will take in rats if needed. She dropped her boys back off to her recently. This family is a chronic litter maker and it makes me furious.

Fast forward till now, now she calls me like I didnt rip her a new butt for doing this. She acts like she never spoke to me. I will remind her when I call her today that I spoke to her a few months ago and she said "she didnt need my help" and I told her that her attiude sucks and that she would need me far sooner than I needed her. Here we are, she wants me to take in 16 babies born on 10/18.

I am torn. I dont have room yet I dont want them to suffer and end up pregnant because she wont split them up. At the same time. I dont want to just take them in and clean up her mess. I talked to two other girls who know her one of which is the chin rescue and they suggest telling her to take it all or nothing. I cannot and will not enable her to have more if I make room and work on adopting these babies out but I am torn with what to do for them now..

any ideas or thoughts would be appreciated. This is one of those hard ones that you either have to leave them with her to suffer so she will learn or take them all and hope.

 

[kathleenford]

That's defiantly a hard decision. How old are the babies? Maybe a friend of yours could take them until you have the room to, or you could split the group up if the babies are old enough? This type of situation really upsets me because you wanna save the rat's, but you also wanna teach her a lesson, but if you teach her a lesson the rat's can possibly suffer.. Just follow your heart.

 

[hopefloats]

My big group has 25 in it now. THey are all aging and getting to be 2 years old. I have had an influx of mean boys so they are taking up small single cages. I am sure I could make room but It would require me to purchase another CN It just isnt in the funds I am trying to save for the neuters for the boys so i can get them in my groups since they are demons.

It is hard because I know if I dont take them they will end up pregnant or dropped at a shelter and who knows if they will survive there or not but How do i make her understand this is it? She will get no more help? and how do i stop this.

 

[Dahlas]

I know it would be very hard but I would say it is all or nothing....that this is a one time thing....You will take them all and to not contact you again. If you get them I would wait until after and then I would explain I am not bailing her out again...she was lucky to get the help this time and you hoped she learned from her mistakes...

 

[Joanne]

What if she will give you all the female rats, and you will let her have a couple of boys when they get old enough? If you can get the females away from her, maybe she won't have more babies?
It's a really tough decision, that's for sure.
Do you have any outside funding to help with cages, etc?

 

[dspch911]

I could probably take a couple boys for Sebastian - or does she only have girls now? Al will probably kill me, but I have some extra room. They have to be healthly though, I cannot afford any more vet bills at this time... Even if you take all the rats what is going to stop her from getting more??

 

[smilez_n_hugs]

Definitely a tough situation but if they don't get out of there now then I can only imagine how many there will be in a few months If you do decide to go for it you could take her cages as well (at least temp housing) and ask her for money towards their bills. She will probably say no but it doesn't hurt to ask. If you do decide to go for it and need funds toward a cage/vet bills please don't hesitate to PM me.

 

[clmntine]

Oh how frustrating!

 

[temblabamomo]

Could you offer to take just one sex? It would help with the problem of so many babies, and also prevent those babies from making more.

What a frustrating boat to be in.

 

[kathleenford]

I agree, just try taking all the females. That's a very good idea! And try to find a friend/family member willing to take the males so you're not concerned about them all the time. It might not stop her from getting any other rat's, maybe you could contact the local shelter and see what they can do about it? See if they can put her on a list or something? That's what we do here when people try to adopt animals from the shelters if we've had problems like this!

 

[victoria]

Dahlas has a point, that's one way to go about it. You can also charge her a surrender fee but that may deter her from finding a safe place for them.

 

[hopefloats]

her mom doesnt want any of the babies there. She claims she had 3 girls, one hung themself in a hammock first freak out moment for me.... So she purchased this girl from a pet store, she had 16 babies that she said. I talked to her today she said she had 14 babies, one got lost in the house.... I told her I wouldnt take 14 so she needs to make sure all 16 babies are accounted for. I am freaking out by the moment because she obviously cannot care for them or keep them safe.

She surrendered her boys to the chin rescue whom she adopted them from but I am at a loss. I gave her a bit of a talking to about this and told her this is alot for a rescue to take on. I would have to pay money out of my pocket for a critter nation because I cannot fit these guys in anything else. So I am at a loss right now. I will talk to her more tomorrow to see if those babis come up. I refuse to be lied to so if 16 babies is what it was then that is what I will get.

 

[dspch911]

I could take girls as long as your vet would spay them since your vet would cost me a whole lot less than mine!!! Mine want around $300 for a spay ridiculous!!!!!! Neuters are half that.

 

[jorats]

That is a tough situation. You have to follow your gut. Your heart will deceive you...lol so listen to your brain.

Sadly, there are a million of those girls all over the place. How much is a CN for you? I could send a little something.

 

[hopefloats]

Magically all babies appeared. So 16 littles and momma. I spoke with her and her mom and it is a train wreck there for sure. Mom is older, way older like grandma style. They have a mentally challenged 40 year old that is over ran by dwarf hamsters. I mean literally. I am going to try to get some rescues to take these in and hope we can get them all out of the house.

I spoke her about it. I told her that I can help with problems she has and so on but I wont help her if this is her path. I told her this is the only time I will take in babies from her. I decided to leave the 2 girls. They are healthy and well taken care of, If i was to take them she would probably go down and get 2 more and those could be pregnant. So it is the same concept as leaving them in a pet store sadly. I will keep in touch with her. Calling her and trying to reach out and help change her view points. I am unsure what else to do. But we now have 16 babies in a playpen for now that was born either on the eighth or the eighteenth

Momma attack one of the babies after I held it so she is pretty stressed so I dont want to stress her. I will let her settle then I will see about sexing and inspecting the little ones.

So say hello to the new littles who will need homes.

I can get one for 199.00 I have to check and see what I have to put towards the cage.....

 

[Dahlas]

ahhhhhh nothing like sweet little baby faces to melt your heart

 

[dspch911]

:heart: :heart: :heart: :thud: :thud: :thud: I think some girls might tame our boys :wink:

 

[hopefloats]

My daughter kinda gandered at the sexes it seems there are a lot of boys..... so I will hopefully be able to sex them more.

I am confused on the dates. she gave me two...10/8 and 10/18 if they were born on 10/8 then it is almost time to split them up.... I am not great with aging babies so help... at 10/8 i need to split them up soon at 10/18 they will have another week or two... Momma is still nursing them so I would almost guess that they are 10/18

 

[jorats]

They look to be about 4 weeks old. They have their "rat" face on. lol Younger, they look more like chubby hammies.
Even at 10/8... they are safe for another 5 to 10 days. I separated mine at 5.5 weeks.

 

[Joanne]

Do you have an address to send Paypal to, to help out with the cage?