CCRR's newest rescue craziness ---Just Got Waaaayyy Worse

[OldsGal]

I know I don't post much and it is typically because I am just so hectic with the rescue. But in any event I do like to keep everyone updated on the rescue and thought that I would tell you all about the newest intake.

I was contacted by a gentleman who needed to rehome two males and a female. He was moving and could not take them to his new apartment. He indicated that the female had been in contact with males and that she was possibly pregnant.

I agreed to take the three of them in. Then in further planning of our meeting I managed to get out of him that he was taking a litter of babies to the local shelter. Huh? No no no. Bring them to me as well. Turns out the female was still nursing a litter plus possiby preggos. Ok nothing new to me. Story of my life right?

So last night I go to meet him and :gaah: He has a huge 40 or 50 gallon tank with momma in it and all of her babies. But what I notice is that all of the babies are of different sizes and ages. So I ask him politely if there are any males in that tank and he says yep there sure are. He has a 12 week old male and an 8 week old male in with 5 8 week old females, momma, and 6 or 7 4 week old babies as well. :wallbang: So not only is momma probably preggos but the 8 week old have a very good chance at it as well.

E spays around here are ungodly expensive as no vets really want to do them. We are talking $300 a pop last time I checked around. The rescue just doesn't have the funds for that. So I guess we are on pregnancy watch right now. But until some rats get adopted the rescue has to flip on the no vacancy sign. We are packed full. Shortly before this I took in a large surrender of 30some rats. A good chunk of those have been adopted but I still have 20 plus rats needing homes before taking on this new group.

So yes CCRR is a busy place right now and if you know of anyone in the midwest looking to adopt send them my way! :happydance:

 

[SQ]

WOW !!!
You certainly have your hands full!!

 

[Adrienne]

Holy banana!!! I wish i could help you...

 

[Moon]

Oh WOW Staci, what a handful!

 

[jorats]

Oh my goodness... what the hell is wrong with that man? Thank god you came along!
Wow... all those babies in a tank, got a pic of it? That must be quite a picture.
Best of luck to you! If there's anything we can do to help let us know.

 

[mamarat]

Wow that's a lot of ratties. Hope that guy stays away from rats forever.

 

[Moon]

Hmm, you need to get some hammocks donated again so they can be bought up

 

[OldsGal]

Actually my hammock supplier is coming up to see me either this weekend or next and is bring a bunch with her. So I just might be doing that again. Although the rescues hammocks are starting to look shabby again so I might have to keep a bunch for myself!

Sorry Jo I don't know why I didn't take a picture. I typically always do document what the rescues looked like when they came in but for some crazy reason this time I didn't. I think it was because I got them so late in the evening that I crashed that night and then the next day I was frantically trying to seperate everyone into groups and figure out who might be preggos and who isn't. But I do have some pics from when I did that.

Moby who is massively huge male....All muscle too.

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f147/ ... CN2646.jpg

Avery who is Moby's buddy

Peach who apparently is a baby makin machine...She is the mother of all of the litters. Poor thing has lost her girlish figure forever!

And then 8 week/12 week old babies The agouti berk in the second pic down is the 12 week old and more than likely a father of someone's litter if we do have any.

And finally the itty bitty wee 4 week olds

And the only male out of the 4 week olds. I have him living with the 8 & 12 week old males

 

[henry's_mum]

:shock:
I'm not really suprised to be honest... Some people just don't know, or don't care to know...
It doesn't seem to matter where you look these days, the "no vacancy" light is on in most rescues, mine included...
:?

 

[jorats]

Completely adorable!!! I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they are all not pregnant.

 

[ryelle]

Fingers crossed here too! Avery is a little cutie :heart:

 

[Dahlas]

Oh they are all beautiful......I hope none are pregnant.

 

[OldsGal]

That is the totally weird thing about this guy and his girlfriend. Other than letting the rats breed. They are all in really good health. Their coats are all shiney. Their eyes are bright. All of them are super social. He bought copy paper and shred that for bedding for them. He fed them really well. They had large cages. And to make it even harder for me to hate them they were the nicest people I have ever met in my life. I mean seriously. Typically when people surrender to me they just really don't care and want to hand over their rats and get the hell out of there with not much information. They really could care less. But these two would have jabbered on to me for hours about their rats if I would have let them. And they asked me all kinds of questions about care and such. The only reason they were surrendering is because they are forced to move into a place that won't allow rats. I mean the guy even was crying when we left.

How they were so amazing in their care of them but overlooked the one tiny bit of info about how fast rats multiply I just don't know. I mean I can understand one escapee and and opps that way but over and over opps litters and not knowing at what age to seperate them. I just don't understand that aspect of it.

Staci

 

[Moon]

In this day and age with the internet that sort of ignorance is just unfathomable... and even though they're nice enough people it's probably for the best that they not have rats anymore

 

[OldsGal]

The guy admited to me that he was technologically illiterate and they don't own a computer. He barely knows how to use his e mail through work. When he told me that it blew me a way.

 

[ryelle]

I think if he had had the chance to have a bit of education when he first got a rat or two, then you wouldn't have the stress right now, wondering wether or not you're about to be bombarded with 100 baby rats.


I hope the same as Moon, that he has learnt his lesson and doesn't get any more

 

[Dewi]

Cripes! $300 per spey! Can you ask your vet if there are any medications that can terminate the pregnancy? The lady who ran the rescue where I am (Brisbane Rat Rescue) used something like a morning after pill (in injectable form) when a young male rat escaped and got into one of the female rat cages (sounds like one of my anxiety dreams). It doesn't work 100% of the time (much like the morning after pill), but it can still work. I know I'm being hopeful, but is there any chance that something like RU486 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RU-486) can be used by your vet on rats? If legal, available and safe for rats, it may be a viable alternative to e-speys. Worth exploring IMHO.

 

[wonderrodent]

Oh man, Staci! This is just awful. I mean, of course the ratties are incredibly cute but I feel so sorry for you. This guy is a freakin' idiot!

:hugs:

 

[OldsGal]

Well the good news is that we have already had our first adoption out of this group. The 12 week old Agouti boy went to his new home today. I also have someone who wants Moby and Avery and plans to have them neutered. However, she can't come get them until the end of May some time. So I am going to get them neutered for her ahead of time so they will be infirtile by the time she gets them home.

The beige berk girl is starting to look pudgy to me. And one of the Agouti hooded girls is looking pear shaped. Momma Peach isn't really showing in my opinion but then again she is so stretched out from having litter after litter after litter that she may not really show that well.

I just wish there was a good way to tell how far along they were so that I knew when to get them into their own nursery cages. They are just so young that I don't want to seperate them and leave them on their own until the last possible day.

Staci

 

[twitch]

perhaps separate the ones that you think are pregnant into one cage together. that gets them away from most of the others but gives each other company still. or, if you are concerned you would not be able to tell who was the momma or if they decide to have their babies all at once, maybe take a pregnant girl, and a girl you KNOW is not pregnant but kind to babies and pair them that way. there is a danger of stolen babies when you have mom in with another rat, but that doesn't mean its going to be gauranteed. rats take care of each other in their social groups, they bring food to the ill and soothe hurt feelings of others, i would suspect that their first instinct when seeing babies would be to help rather then steal. in any case the other girl doesn't have to stay with the momma once she goes into labor or if you wake up to find babies in there. at most the other girl would be there for maybe a day. and you can also always take her out if momma gets upset that she's there as she gets closer to her due date. but it would give mommas a bit more privacy adn security being with only one other rat rather then a big group.