fenshae
Well-Known Member
EDIT: I found this site to be exceptionally helpful, probably the most accessible site I found on the topic especially because of the very detailed feeding amount tips and such. Figured I'd link it here in case this thread gets stumbled across by anybody in a similar situation.
Well. This has certainly been an exciting night.
Was heading to bed when someone knocked at the door. I open it to find my boyfriend's cousin with a shoebox in hand, begging for help for an emergency. In the shoebox? two pinkie rats.
I don't know a whole lot about them, apparently his brother found them in the parking lot of his work (Walmart). I don't know if they were dumped there or if they're wild or what the story is, but nevertheless, they ended up on my doorstep.
Not sure on age. no fur and eyes are closed but ears are open and they're fairly mobile. they're old enough that I can tell they'll be black berks. Or at least dark-furred berks. So I'm guessing around a week?
anyway. got some pedialyte and esbilac. they each ate .25cc of the pedialyte and I massaged em all over with a warm slightly damp cloth like i was grooming them, and induced both of them to pee. The site I saw said to start them on pedialyte then work up to formula so thats what I did. now they're in my hand so i'm tping one handed, hence the lousy punctuation lol.
I don't have a scale so not sure how much to aim at feeding them at a time. I'm also not sure he best way to try to feed them. the nipple on the bottle i have is for kittens so it's too big. i read they would suckle the corner of a damp cloth? For the pedialyte I fed them I just syringed it slowly into their mouth like I was giving meds but I know they really need to be able to suck in order to eat effectively and not swallow air. I've got a friend who's a paramedic so she's going to bring me some IV catheters I'll see if I can make nipples out of.
I've got them in my smallest carrier . I made a heating pad out of brown rice microwaved and put under a cloth, and then put that down on one half of the cage for them. They seem to like it, they're crawling around and trying to suckle at the floor which I think they think is mama. Guess that means I should try to feed them again...paramedic friend gets here with nipple soon. And that was a very strange sentence. Sorry, it's 5:30 AM and I'm a little out of it.
any help/guidance would be great. i'm not too optimistic about their chances wuith no foster mom but i can sure try.
oh, and pics.
Well. This has certainly been an exciting night.
Was heading to bed when someone knocked at the door. I open it to find my boyfriend's cousin with a shoebox in hand, begging for help for an emergency. In the shoebox? two pinkie rats.
I don't know a whole lot about them, apparently his brother found them in the parking lot of his work (Walmart). I don't know if they were dumped there or if they're wild or what the story is, but nevertheless, they ended up on my doorstep.
Not sure on age. no fur and eyes are closed but ears are open and they're fairly mobile. they're old enough that I can tell they'll be black berks. Or at least dark-furred berks. So I'm guessing around a week?
anyway. got some pedialyte and esbilac. they each ate .25cc of the pedialyte and I massaged em all over with a warm slightly damp cloth like i was grooming them, and induced both of them to pee. The site I saw said to start them on pedialyte then work up to formula so thats what I did. now they're in my hand so i'm tping one handed, hence the lousy punctuation lol.
I don't have a scale so not sure how much to aim at feeding them at a time. I'm also not sure he best way to try to feed them. the nipple on the bottle i have is for kittens so it's too big. i read they would suckle the corner of a damp cloth? For the pedialyte I fed them I just syringed it slowly into their mouth like I was giving meds but I know they really need to be able to suck in order to eat effectively and not swallow air. I've got a friend who's a paramedic so she's going to bring me some IV catheters I'll see if I can make nipples out of.
I've got them in my smallest carrier . I made a heating pad out of brown rice microwaved and put under a cloth, and then put that down on one half of the cage for them. They seem to like it, they're crawling around and trying to suckle at the floor which I think they think is mama. Guess that means I should try to feed them again...paramedic friend gets here with nipple soon. And that was a very strange sentence. Sorry, it's 5:30 AM and I'm a little out of it.
any help/guidance would be great. i'm not too optimistic about their chances wuith no foster mom but i can sure try.
oh, and pics.
I wish you the best of luck.
