does she appear pregnant?

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bigcityrats

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 27, 2013
Messages
65
Location
Virginia
hello! i adopted two females who 'may or may not' have been housed with males.

i dont have a kitchen scale at the moment, but im going to run out to walmart tonight hopefully to get one. the pictures are very blurry because ive only had her for less than a week and she isnt very fond of me or friendly. but her nipples are very prominent, and she does have a pear shape. ive never owned female rats before, so im not sure if having nipples this noticeable is normal.

i realize the pictures are horrible and i apologize for the gloves, i really did not want to get bit and i havent had her long and she is VERY skittish, but i need to know whether she appears pregnant. thanks!

here is the album:
http://imgur.com/a/btphd
 
You don't normally see the nipples on a female rat. Where her's are so visible, she may be due to have a litter any time. She is not really big, but hey, don't knock a small litter! LOL
I would be watching her VERY closely, and if she has her babies, she will need to be in her own, baby-safe cage. Watch for nesting behaviors. I adopted one girl who had babies a week after I got her. I suspected she was pregnant, and moved her into her own cage in the evening, and she had her babies that night!
Make sure she has lots of nutritious food available, just in case.
Good luck!
 
It does because the nipples are more prominent and she has a slight bulge. How long has she been with you? The best way to find out is if she continues to gain weight. Try and weigh her at the same time every day, keep us posted!
Oh, I just thought of something, a rat who had a litter recently would also appear like her.
 
ive had her for less than a week. i gave her a bunch of ripped up paper towels, and she seems very excited LOL. shes grabbing them, putting them in the corner, and pushing the bedding all around. i'm going to get her a little 'hut', just in case. is ripped up paper towels and scraps of tshirt fabric ok nesting material? i'm doing lots of research right now. also - if her nipples are this prominent, does that mean shes very close to birth?
 
Paper towels is good nesting material for babies. Ripped up T-shirts are not. The reason is, the threads in the material can actually get wrapped around a baby's leg or neck, causing so much damage the leg needs to be amputated or the baby dies.
And yes, the nipples don't become prominent until she is close to giving birth. Or like Jo said, she just came from nursing babies (which would be great!)
 
ok, thats good to keep in mind! hopefully thats the case, but either way she's going to be well taken care of :)

i have her in an average size bin-style cage on her own, and its 'baby safe'. as well as a huge pile of oxbow regal. shes making a nest now with the paper towels (at least shes piling all of them into the corner). her water bottle was leaking so we're running out to walmart now to get a replacement, along with checking out the kitchen scales. also thanks for the tip on the fabric, i wont put any in there!
 
shes also shredding the paper into tiny bits with her mouth and moving it all over the place with her front paws. its very interesting to watch this behavior!
 
She will need a box that she can hide under if she dont have one and a glass tank will work well for the momma till her babies move around or a very high based cage with very small bars. Is she a biter? I see someone wearing gloves with her.
 
I actually prefer no box or hut or hide for my rescue momma's, its easier to see if there's trouble and instead of having to disturb the house each time, you can hopefully just look in and see if everyone seems well.

My preggy momma's get boring cages with no wood that could splinter and hurt a tiny baby, just foam and soft things and good qualrity paper towel for nesting.
Extra protein for her diet, and record the weights for us and post them, we'll determine her state of pregnancy if we can. Offer the back of your hand to her so if she's going to nip its much harder for her to grip on. Work very hard on socializing her now, before the babies come.
 
Hey guys, thanks for all the responses. I'm wearing gloves in the pictures because she is extra shy, and has lashed out at me once before, so I didnt want to take the chance of getting bit. She has warmed up to me this morning though, surprisingly - it was the first time she let me pick her up. Maybe I will be able to get better pictures soon.

Walmart didn't have a scale under $30, so I'm ordering one off of amazon. It will be here by Monday.

Like I said before, I've had her less than a week....so I've been slowly trying to socialize her without stressing her out. Its going well so far. She is in a bin-style cage by herself, with high sides and paper towels. I'm going to throw in some ferret food (high protein and high fat) to supplement her regular oxbow, since I know the oxbow is very low protein. I'll keep you guys updated, and any advice you have is totally welcome! Thank you all for the input so far :)
 
This nice lady actually rescued this girl recently, think it was a pet store with horrible conditions? I know it's not wise to buy rats from a petstore but can't blame people when you see an animal in bad conditions (yes I know it will only mean more will replace it.) That said oh my gosh this is so nerve wrecking and exciting at once, let us know when/if she had those babies! And so glad she's starting to warm up to you!
 
When my rat that I had for a week was about to have babies, I stuck my hand in there and she gave me a warning nip. I didn't listen, and put my hand back in there and she bit me. I had her three years after that, and that was the only time she ever bit me. It was my own damn fault for not listening. So be aware of her body language, and if she pushes your hand away, don't push your luck! Mammas about to give birth are kind of short tempered. How she reacts now though doesn't mean she will be like this in the future, so don't get discouraged. Good luck!!!!
 
A shoebox with a hole in the side is an excellent nest box for mamas.
A thin layer of paper towels on the "floor" and shedded paper towel for her to build a nest with, are good to use.

A shoebox makes a great nest box because you can just open the lid when you need to check on mama and babies or see if th e babies have good milk bellies. Just opening the lid means you don't need to disturb things and get the mama upset.
If you can not find a shoe box to use, another small box would be the second best place for her to build a nest.

Here are some links in the reference section you may find interesting
viewtopic.php?f=26&t=17673

looking forward to lots of pics
 
Thank you all for the support! I'm doing a lot of research right now, and I took more pictures of her from many angles. She now will come up to me directly and sniff me/walk around, and she tolerates being handled although ive been keeping that to a minimum.

I'm uploading more pictures now, but I was wondering if it appears she is 'recovering' from a litter, or might still be pregnant. My bf is a doctor, and he said in humans the uterus shrinks down fairly quickly after birth, so the fact that her sides are protruded may mean shes pregnant? Like I said, I'm waiting for the photos to upload, but in the meantime I took a video of her sort of strange walk - its almost like she waddles a bit!

the video of her gait:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-3Act1YKgc
 

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