Expectations: 2 mommies

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Willow Bean

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 25, 2007
Messages
1,579
Location
Fargo, ND
On February 6th I walked into Petco to take a look at the adoptions tank as I do every so often and saw two lovely ladies who were VERY pregnant. I told the sales person that I would be taking them home with me, I would not be paying for them and that I wanted them right now. He was familiar with me and knew that I often take in rats because they are harder to place in HOMES rather than the *shudder* alternative.

I got the little ladies home and named them Grace (A PEW) and Alice (A Black Hoodie). I will try to get some pictures taken but my camera isn't a fan of working for me lately =(

Anyhow, At the store it was easy to tell that they were pregnant by their having groomed the hair from their teets and being quite fat. I started them immediately on HT2018 and baby cereal with Chocolate Soymilk and Strawberry ensure and chicken and steak. They both gained weight VERY quickly.

Grace looked ready to pop by the second day. She continued to gain and began making us a bit nervous by her HUGE belly. She began nest building yesterday and this morning I awoke to the first Eeeps of the first baby at 8AM. By 10AM we have 12 or 13 babies. Grace isn't socialized so it has been tough trying to get a good look at babies. When bf gets home tonight we will have to work together to get a good look at the wee ones and to clean out the bloody paper towels

Alice is getting nearly as large as her friend and has been very sweet. She likes being held and especially likes being a shoulder rat. She falls asleep in my hands as I talk to her and stroke her face and cheeks. She has begun nest building today and I suspect that we will have more Eeepers by tomorrow.

They were separated before birthing :wink2:

My questions are:
1. Since I don't know what Mommies ate before I got them and they were thin for expecting Mommas with HUGE litters (well Grace's litter is huge anyhow), should I expect to lose any babies? :panic: They are quite small... I've had a litter of 14 in the past that were nice, big, plump babies, these seem quite a bit smaller...
2. What colors should I expect? Daddy came into the store at the same time and was a H-U-G-E Dark, Dark Agouti (mostly black with large patches of Brownish hair) berk with one micro-eye. (VERY sweet boggley boy)

Unfortunately I don't think I'll be able to keep any of the babies so that sooner I can figure out colors and whatnot the faster I can start setting up homes. The store has agreed to let me post all kinds of pictures on the adoption board to help out once they are big enough to leave mom. Knowing colors may help pique interest :thumbup:

Thanks in advance guys!!
 
Grace being a pew, you'll never be able to tell what the litter will be until their colors come through.
12-13 is an average size litter so no worries about the babies dying, they should do just fine if she's being a good mom. Unfortunately, the babies could have micro eye as well.
Dad doesn't sound like an agouti, rather a mink merle? They are the only ones that can have patches of dark. Or he could be a black with rusting patches.
Good luck with the babies and good for you for finding them good homes.
 
Take a look at Ginnys litter. The parents were black berks or agouti's, so i think we all presumed the babies would be dark - and i think she had one of pretty much every colour =)
 
Wow, I'm surprised they let pregnant rats go, the pet stores I've talked to over the years refuse to sell let alone give them away as they see the babies as more animals to sell.

I wouldn't worry too much about the nest Grace is in. Stressing her out may not be best at this time if she's nervous around people...I'm sure she's taking excellent care of her babies. :nod: Just my opinion.

Agouti is the wild type (dominant) so I wouldn't expect too much variation in the babies. There are much more knowledgeable members when it comes to rat genetics, though. My foster litter had an agouti hooded father with a beige mother and no baby looked the same (fawn, agouti, black hooded, beige, beige hooded, so I really don't know, lol.

I wouldn't expect to lose any, particularly if you're supplementing their diets, but things do happen and it may not even be diet related.

Edit: In the time it take to write this you got responses, lol, sorry. ;)
 
Jorats:
It IS possible that he was rusty... That's what I was thinking and I originally had said that he was a black rat with brown patches that looked like rusting but I read the post to my bf on the phone and he said that he looked more Agouti to him... So it's hard to say. I calledover to Petco to see if I could get another good look at Daddy rat and they said that a little girl came with her dad and picked him up (as a pet complete with all kinds of accessories) :happydance: and, as good as that is, it doesn't help me with the color problem :giggle:

Ryelle:
I looked through the pictures of the other recent litters on this site, EVERYONE has such CUTE babies!!!!

Bron:
I think that they let me take them because they were in the adoptions tank and because it would "save time if we kept them alive" :gaah: :wallbang: They apparently can't "sell" any rats that they don't *shudder* order. so they would have either kept them alive and put them into the adoptions tank when they were old enough (and believe me they don't believe in either keeping them with mom long enough or in separating the sexes when they reach the age they need to be separated :wallbang: ) or they would have "put them to sleep" in the freezer :sad3: . It would be GREAT if the babies were all different... I expect that Alice's litter will have a lot of hoodies in it but hoodie markings can differ so much that I doubt that litter will be too tough.

Piper, Ryelle, Bron and lj:
As far as I know it just means that they eye opening is abnormally small... I don't think that it causes any discomfort (although I could be wrong). It just looks a little strange. As far as blindness, a rat's eyesight is pretty crummy anyhow, so if it does cause blindness it wouldn't bother the little dear too much =)

Thanks everyone for your help!!
 
Really I give my rats chocolate all the time. They especially love chocolate ensure...I think the no chocolate is a myth....


:joy: to you for taking two pregger rats!!! Thats a lot to take on. I am bad with rat genetics, so your guess is as good (probably better :giggle: , then mine)...Can't wait for PICS!!!!
 
Agreed, SQ, but it's too bad in small amounts like in the soy milk is it? :shock: I hope not... I've been treating my ratties to nana mash with a bit of chocolate soy milk to thin it for years :oops: I always thought it was the unsweetened chocolate that was bad.. I know that it's really bad for other animals. :gaah:

Quick update, although I'm sure it was already expected, Some of Grace's babies have dar eyes and some have light! This means there will be at least two different colors of rats (or at least I'll be able to tell them apart if they are all beige or white, :giggle: . I got Grace to eat a bit of egg along with her mid-day supplement and I noticed something great!! Grace is a VERY pale-beige capped rat! Her eyes look really pink to me, not the ruby that is usually seen in Beiges... could I be seeing things?

BF is going to help with pics tonight so I can post them.

Alice is going crazy with nest building and I think I spotted some spots :giggle: Looks like babies tonight or tomorrow morning ^_^
 
Actually, dark chocolate is the only one that would help in a respiratory distress situation.

I do not think that chocolate in small amounts like what you're feeding is to be worried about.
 
lilratsy43 said:
Really I give my rats chocolate all the time. They especially love chocolate ensure...I think the no chocolate is a myth...
Click to expand...

It is not a myth.

It contains stimulants that can lead to heart failure or neurological poisoning in high quantities. A bit of chocolate is okay and can actually temporarily alleviate respiratory distress
Click to expand...

A very small amount of DARK chocolate can help keep airways open until you can get to a vet in a respiratory emergency.
Otherwise, rats should not be given chocolate ...
What is a small amount of chocolate to you, may be a large amount to a rat ...
with all their health problems, why would anyone want to give their rat a stimulant?
 
But the link doesn't define what a "high quantity" is either.

The chocolate in soy milk would be further diluted, also. So, again, doubting it is a problem. But next time you buy it maybe go for a different flavour to be safe ;)
 
I know its Soy Milk, but pretty much every animal is lactose intolerant - which is probably why Dark Chocolate is ok to give in resp. emergencys (milk chocolate would just go straight through them). Also, because chocolate is deadly to some animals (a full Yorkie chocolate bar can kill a Yorkshire Terrier - although why on EARTH you would give a dog a chocolate bar thats almost bigger than it i dont know) i dont give my boys any - except the milk drops you can get as a treat. So yea, chocolate = bad.. but i imagine the amount in the milk would be small. I think id be more worried about additives, preservatives etc. =) =P
 
So switching to Ensure only (Check) :thumbup: I hope tummies are feeling okay!


I added a new thread to the pics and tails section. I will try to keep things up-to-date for you guys!
 
No, it's because dark chocolate is the only one that has the chemical that helps resp. issues in high enough amounts to actually do anything. It's not due to rats being lactose intolerant.

Ryelle, many of us on here will never have come into contact with a Yorkie bar before, LOL.

For dogs, one ounce of chocolate is lethal to one pound of dog. So a 50 lb dog would have to eat 50 ounces of chocolate for it to be lethal. But best to stay away from it all the same.
 

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