Can we say whoops----now we have eeps???

[lj]

Well, a week ago a friend of mine at work asked me what to do about a lump on a female rat. I told her that she needed to take it to the vet, as rats quite often develop abcesses and tumours, etc.

So today, she asked me what to do with babies. Well, she asked if I would be willing to take the rats in with their babies. :doh:

They are her son's rats and he was told by the store that he bought them from that they were both girls. They were about 5-6 weeks old. So now they are probably around 10-12 weeks. :gaah:

Anyways, I'm going to take them in and start trying to look for homes for the little eepers. The parents are both black selfs, and I haven't seen the babies yet. I think they are 3 days old.

I have never done this, so any help would be greatly appreciated. I'm going to go check older posts now.

 

[jorats]

Oh boy... this happens so often. Why can't pet stores get them straight?
There's really not much to do, except make sure the male and female are separated. Rats make amazing moms.

 

[Bronwyn]

Yeah you really don't need to stress. : ) As long as Mum has a nice place to hide her babies and is being well nourished herself, well, just enjoy!

And I really do wonder about pet stores. It's really difficult to ignore testes on 6 week old + rats.

 

[user 78]

If they didn't separate the male and female, the female could be pregnant again. She's fertile within hours of giving birth. So here's hoping they had enough sense to do that atleast!

As for taking care of them, just make sure they're safe and warm. You can give mom higher protein foods to help her keep her strength up. Chicken, eggs, soy milk, etc are all good options. Just lots of goodies to keep her pudgy and happy while she nurses.

Keep them either in a deep plastic base cage with no levels, a tote cage, or even an aquarium for now. The concern is that wriggling bubs can fit through most bar spacing, and can actually get stuck between the wire and pans. If there are levels, mom may feel a need to move the bubs to a new nest, and they could wriggle off whatever shelf she puts them on.

Handle the litter as soon as you get them. Hold them, rub them, talk to them. Even though they can't see, this will lessen the instinctual fear they have of humans since they'll know your sounds/smells before their eyes are even open. If mom tends to be nippy when you try and handle the litter, let her have some Out time while you clean the cage and handle the bubs. You want to keep their time apart limited while they're so young - so no longer than 5-10min if you're keeping the bubs warm while mom plays. As they get older, they can be apart for longer periods. Mom may even thank you for letting her escape the adorable little "parasites." :wink2:

 

[lj]

I asked and the dad was taken out as soon as the boys saw the babies. The same day. I will still keep an eye on mom just in case. They were born two days ago.

I'm hoping they come tonight. The weren't able to drop them off for me yesterday. I'm going to use a rubbermaid tub with holes in the sides (no lid) and have fleece blankies down for them. Is there anything special I should use in the litter pan for mom?

 

[Bronwyn]

The mum might make an escape...Grace used to take breaks from her kids and if she were in that container she would surely jump out.

Just lots of nesting material I think she would take advantage of. I tossed in a few washcloths, myself. There may be other preferred options?

 

[user 78]

Postpartum pregnancy is longer than the normal gestation, something like 26-28 days, I believe. Hopefully the father didn't...

I would really put the lid on the tote. If you have any hardware cloth, screening, or anything like it, you can cut out the center square of the lid and zip tie the wire mesh to the opening. Some instructions can be found on Dapper Rat. Unless it's a truly huge tote over 2' tall, there's a possibility the mom could jump out if she got spooked by something or just got a wild hair. I know, 1 in a million chance, but it could happen.

She's most likely going to take whatever you put in there and make a nest with it, so putting fleece strips along with the blankets may keep her from totally demolishing the blankets. Stay away from cloth that frays, though. Little strings can damage little toes, arms, tails, etc.. As for litter, I'd just stay away from aspen and I personally wouldn't use Carefresh. Carefresh smells horribly and you have to change it entirely too often to keep the ammonia down. I know lots of people who do use it for nursery cages, though, so it's really up to you. I like Yesterday's News or something comparable.

 

[lj]

So, they're home and they're adorable. I picked them up last night, snapped a couple of photos and let momma rest.

I will up load the pictures later today.

There are 7 little eepers.

 

[lilspaz68]

Awww...3 day old eepers.... :heart:

 

[user 78]

yay! Bub pics!!!!

 

[lj]

Now we've got photos.
:happydance:
Here's momma with babies underneath her.


And now for the babies. Sorry about photo quality. I'll have to use a better background colour and perhaps borrow my sister's camera instead of my dads.....




Hope I've added these right.

 

[user 78]

Aww! Just a whole bunch of berk babies!! And maybe a beige or a PEW? So cute!!

Momma's looking good, too. Poor little thing, having a litter so young.

 

[jorats]

Sweet!! You've got some blacks and some lighter ones too. :joy:

 

[user 78]

Ohh, maybe they're blues? I think the greyish color turns into a blue coat.. Now I can't remember..

 

[lj]

Day 3. I'm just on my way to Toronto, and will take more photos tonight. But these were from yesterday.

 

[user 78]

I want to kiss their little noses! And those precious little toeses! Aww!!!

 

[bruxxy]

CUTE!!!!! Are you keeping them or putting them up for adoption?

 

[lj]

Definately going to adopt them out.

Sorry folks, will have to update tomorrow. Forgot the camera at home.