As of 12:20pm Lily is a mommy!

Shop with us on Ebay
Advertise with us
Fins us on Amazon
The Rat Shack Forum

Help Support The Rat Shack Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
M

monkeymommy

Active Member
Joined
Sep 14, 2010
Messages
41
Location
Mississauga, ontario, canada
**UPDATE**
So since we brought Lily home she has been very sleepy. Since yesterday she just stays in her little nest that she has made. She had some spotting yesterday (I read that could be a sign of labour, but no babies yet). I noticed her poop seemed really soft, she is eating and drinking but just a little bit. I will try the pregnant mamas meal for her today and see how that goes.

We just brought home our two new girls yesterday and they are adjusting to us quite well!

My only concern is Lily....she seems really fat around her belly. They are both still pretty small (about 2mths). Are there any other signs I should be looking for to really tell, or does this just become a waiting game?

As soon as I get the batteries charged in the camera I will post a pic.

Thanks for help!
 
Did they come from a petstore where males and females were together? If so then she very well may be expecting. Get a scale and start weighing her everyday at about the same time and post the weights. She will increase in weight slowly, will even lose weight and then gain several grams in a day. Does her belly look like she swallowed a tennis ball?
 
Here are the pics of Lily...I tried to take some of Peaches, but WOW...she is a busy body!

They were seperated into male/female tanks

Our other Rats were sexed as males but later turned out to be two females, so I am wondering if there could be/have been a male(s) in there with them. They were the only two in there that were light coloured the rest were darker hooded rats.




 
Lots of rats coming from pet stores are pregnant, many with their third, fourth, fifth litter due to overbreeding at mills.

That looks like a preggo belly to me... Hope you have room for the possible 20 babies that could be born :( Unfortunately that's what you have to expect when buying from pet stores and supporting mills.
 
It is possible that she is pregnant.
But, baby rats do get chuby bellys from time to time as they are growing.
Keep an eye on her and keep weighing her at the same time each day as previously suggested.
A digital postal scale, weighing accurately to 1 gram is a good investment for rat owners.

Does she look pear shaped?
 
SQ said:
It is possible that she is pregnant.
But, baby rats do get chuby bellys from time to time as they are growing.
Keep an eye on her and keep weighing her at the same time each day as previously suggested.
A digital postal scale, weighing accurately to 1 gram is a good investment for rat owners.

Does she look pear shaped?
Click to expand...


I guess she kinda does look pear shaped....she really looks like a mini version of Lucky our white rat who is FAT!

Where could I get a scale like that?
 
xxchelle said:
Lots of rats coming from pet stores are pregnant, many with their third, fourth, fifth litter due to overbreeding at mills.

That looks like a preggo belly to me... Hope you have room for the possible 20 babies that could be born :( Unfortunately that's what you have to expect when buying from pet stores and supporting mills.
Click to expand...


I didn't have the intention of "supporting" mills. I just wanted to have baby ratties to bring home and join our family.

Wow, between this thread and the other I posted about getting two boys off of kijiji...I just can't seem to do the right thing. Isn't just bringing them home and having them not become food a good thing? Every animal I have EVER owned was a rescue...either hurt or abused by previous owners.
 
I guess I will just never understand why people support pet stores which are supplied by mills, or back yard breeders, when there's lots of ratties in need at humane societies, at SPCAs, privately owned rescues (of which there are three in Southern Ontario alone).

Congrats on your new additions, I hope Lily isn't pregnant.
 
Awwwww

Your Lily looks almost identical to my Lily!!!!

Hope she isn't expecting! But really time will tell... You could always take her to the vet for a check up if your are able to. But weighing is probably a good thing to do so you can take that information in with you when/if you go.

What about her sister/cage-mate? Whats her name? What does she look like? I looked through your other threads but there were no pictures of her.
 
crumbilina said:
Awwwww

Your Lily looks almost identical to my Lily!!!!

Hope she isn't expecting! But really time will tell... You could always take her to the vet for a check up if your are able to. But weighing is probably a good thing to do so you can take that information in with you when/if you go.

What about her sister/cage-mate? Whats her name? What does she look like? I looked through your other threads but there were no pictures of her.
Click to expand...


Her cage-mate is Peaches. I've tried to take a decent pic but she won't stay still long enough! She just wants to explore. They already get along so well with our other girls too!

BTW......I don't have the means of getting around to shelters, whether or not there are three in southern ontario. To me I did a good thing, they will not be somethings dinner tonight. Should I have left them there to be bought as food....because that would have been the right thing to do, right? I am really offended that I am made out to be a bad person. I love them with all my heart and will until they are no longer with us (even beyond that). If I could I would go back and buy every single other rat they had in the cage just so there won't be the chance of them being food!
 
No one said you were a bad person. I don't think anyone here thinks that at all.

All I'm saying is that pet stores won't stop selling animals until people stop buying them. They're creating a supply to meet the demand. Lower the demand, and you lower the supply. By me not buying one rat from a pet store, that's one less rat that has to be bred, and $10 less that's in the pockets of pet stores.

Trust me, I want to save every single rat from every pet store out there, but it's not possible. Instead I try to educate the public about how inhumane pet stores are, to encourage people to stop buying from pet stores. That way maybe one day the pet stores will stop producing animals in awful mills.

Liz put it very well in another thread:
lizmo1221 said:
Think of what your money allows them to do, and get away with. I'm talking money not only from the sale of rats, but the sale of dog food, treats, igloos, toys, anything at all they sell. It's not so much what you buy, but its what your money is supporting.

By spending money on them, you are making a "vote" with your wallet that you support what they are doing, and encourage that they do it more. You may not mean to, but that is how they see it. Every dollar in the till at the petstore is another dollar they could give to a rat mill (or puppy mill, or whatever) to breed more animals extremely inhumanely.
Click to expand...

Finally, many rescues will deliver, including my own.
 
monkeymommy said:
BTW......I don't have the means of getting around to shelters, whether or not there are three in southern ontario.
Click to expand...

Sometimes others can drive as well ;) If I am travelling to Guelph (as I do every other weekend) I would have no problem transporting a rattie back from Guelph to my area which happens to be Hamilton, not too too far from Mississauga. I am going that way anyway. So if in future you want to get a rat from a shelter and they cant transport it, you could always post something on here. You never know what could happen, people travel all over the place on a regular basis.

You did the right thing to you and thats what matters. I bought my first rats in a pet store beucase I didn't know what I know now about the shear about of ratties in need out there. They are/were the most wonderful ratties ever (I'm biased beucase these are the 2 that started my rattie addiction) and I could NEVER EVER imagine them going as dreaded reptile food. So since I know I am a sucker like that, I avoid pet stores... That way I dont have to see them and feel guilty. I also realize that sometimes pet stores dont really know what they are doing - like what is happening with you and your unfortunate situation with Lily.

How is Lily? Is her weight constant? I really really hope she isnt expecting. That would suck.

And Peaches sounds like your typical girlie. My girls were like that. I kept trying to get a picture and looking back at the pictures, I only ever was able to get a handful... but I cherish those handful of pictures. Try and get the pics when they are sleeping ;) Unless they wake up on you. Hopefully you'll capture some. I'm sure lots of us would love to meet her and your other ratties too!
 
I do appreciate all the advice, it did come off a little mean....but I guess everyone means well...including me!

My first two were feeders and have always wanted to get two more, so when I saw Lily and Peaches my heart just exploded for them.

Lily just wants to sleep and rest which I think could be another clue that would make me think she is pregnant, My husband suggested contacting the petstore but I would hate for them to take her back and use the babies as food :sad3:


Thanks everyone again for your words of wisdom, I did only mean well.
 
You are right, no point in contacting the pet store.
Any babies would be live snake food and so would Lily, regardless of what you were told.

If you think Lily is pregnant, then you might want to suppliment her regular diet of a good quality lab block (80% of diet) and her daily veg. (20% of diet) with a shallow dish of baby cereal mixed up with soy infant formula once or twice a day, from now until a few weeks after babies are weaned.

If she is pregnant, I hope it is a small litter.
Babies are a lot of fun and grow so fast.
There are many threads on here that follow the development of rescue litters and their mamas.
You might want to check them out.
 
monkeymommy said:
I do appreciate all the advice, it did come off a little mean....but I guess everyone means well...including me!
Click to expand...

Thats the unfortunate thing about typing your words. Although you may not be trying to be mean, it may come off that way. Thats something I wish a lot of people would remember when they are typing online. I certainly would never want any of my comments to come off as rude, becuase I certainly don't mean it that way.
 
And now through all this you know that next time you are looking to adopt, very often rescues are willing to bring their rats to their new forever homes or rat trains can be arranged :) But most of us have given in to the sweet face at the pet store at some point or another so don't let our sometimes zealot-like behaviour turn you off!
 
Hmm the spotting and soft poops are definitely something to keep an eye on, they could be simply caused by the stress of moving or might be something more. Have you felt/seen the babies moving around yet?
 
At 12:20pm this afternoon Lily gave birth to her first baby....she has 6 so far. It's been about 30 mins since her sixth was born so maybe six is it.
I'll wait until tomorrow before I take any pics....I know the last thing I wanted was a camera in my face after giving birth.
 
Kisses to Lily! :heart: I hope that she is done. Looking forward to photos of her sweet little ones. Stupid pet shop for getting her into this predicament so young.

She will be healthy now, though, with your TLC for her and her babes.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top