i think my rat is pregnant please help and im new as well

[raticus]

hello uhm i am new here and my rat she is very large.. it looks like she has large hips and seems to only get bigger and bigger... i got my rats as a christmas presents (i did lots of research) and i spent everything in my budget for the rats. they have the double critter nation. i did get them from the pet store which i know was bad but... anyway i need advice she had been stealing food from the other rats and has made a nest with the toilet paper we gave her she would come back time after time for more.. she seems big but she is still active and climbs all the time... advice? sorry if this is a mess of words im just worried OH and she even tried to pull the fleece from her cage liners to make the nest with

 

[lilspaz68]

hello uhm i am new here and my rat she is very large.. it looks like she has large hips and seems to only get bigger and bigger... i got my rats as a christmas presents (i did lots of research) and i spent everything in my budget for the rats. they have the double critter nation. i did get them from the pet store which i know was bad but... anyway i need advice she had been stealing food from the other rats and has made a nest with the toilet paper we gave her she would come back time after time for more.. she seems big but she is still active and climbs all the time... advice? sorry if this is a mess of words im just worried OH and she even tried to pull the fleece from her cage liners to make the nest with

Hmmm...first make sure all your other rats are females? If so, did you see males in the cage where you got them from? How long ago did you get her?

 

[raticus]

Hmmm...first make sure all your other rats are females? If so, did you see males in the cage where you got them from? How long ago did you get her?

yes im positive everyone is a girl. and no the petstore said everyone in the cage was a girl. i got my rats from 2 different stores one from a family owned pet store or whatever because i wanted hairless rats as well. and then the girl i think might be pregnant i got from petsmart. ive only had her for about 5 days.

 

[Velo]

Can you get us some pictures? Especially of the belly area, maybe a view of her up on her hind legs?
The first thing you would want to do is weigh her everyday at the same time. Then we can get a better idea of what's going on. You can get a food/kitchen scale for under $20. Or you can look for a postage scale.
If she wasn't around a male then it's impossible for her to be pregnant. You may want to go investigate the stores again for yourself and see if they lied to you, that does happen.
Rats do like to make "nests" and chew up fleece, it's not a characteristic that only pregnant rats possess. Is she being aggressive at all? Like defending herself?

 

[raticus]

how do I add pictures? and no she is still very sweet and gives lots of kisses and loves to get on your shoulder. i also think i have a kitchen scale ill try and find it

 

[dspch911]

My boys build nests with tp, kleenex, and fleece all the time. Oh, and welcome to the shack!

 

[Velo]

Are you using the "Tapatalk" mobile app on your phone or are you on the website?

If you are on the website, you can go to the very top, click My Account, click My Gallery, click Upload Photos, click the "Rats" category, create a new album to put the pictures in, then click the Choose Files buttons to find the photo on your computer. You don't have to fill in the other blanks, just hit Upload. You will see a preview of the picture, click Upload. Then you will be brought back to the main photo page and you'll see your Personal Album that you made, click that.
When you click the pictures in the album, you will see three boxes that say
Linked Thumbnail:
BB Code:
Direct link:
Then just click in the BB Code box and copy/paste the link into a new post, post it and we will see it. C:

 

[raticus]

okay i will do that in just a moment also any advice on how to weigh a rat? i found the scale but miss raticus doesnt want to stay still

 

[Velo]

Haha that can be tricky. The best bet is to put a tupperware or some kind of bowl/container on the scale and "zero it out" then put the rat into it. At my vet they do that and also have a lid with holes in it so they can keep them still for a minute.

Like this:

This person gave the rat a little treat to keep it distracted.

 

[raticus]

i hope this worked.. the last picture is just one of her that i thought was cute
my mother thinks she is for sure pregnant but i disagree. i will try weighing her again but she just hops out.
also thankyou very much for all the help oh and the first picture was taken after the second picture where it shows that i think she is growing

 

[lilspaz68]

How old is she?

 

[Velo]

Wow that is a super cute picture, I love it! ^_^

Hm wow that's quite a belly haha!
She looks really young too!
We just recently had a rattie on here who looked pregnant but it ended up being a false pregnancy.
I'm thinking your best bet is to see how much weight she is gaining per day but that may be confusing seeing as she looks sooo young (and thus is still growing)
It may also be well worth your while to go back to the pet store she came from and do some thorough investigating as to whether there are males there or not.

 

[Noka]

Yeah. My Snow had a big belly and she gained daily but it ended up being a false pregnancy. The best bet is to investigate the store and weigh daily as the others have said before.

This is what Snow looked like for a while before she went back to normal! This is why we thought she looked pregnant.

 

[raticus]

I was able to weigh her and she weighs 145 g and the store said she is a little over 3 months old

 

[Noka]

Ok. So she weighed about the same as my Snow. Try to weigh her daily around the same time and then we can tell from there! My Snow was two months when this scare happened with us! At just around five weeks, a female rat can get pregnant. Fingers crossed it's a false alarm.

 

[raticus]

ill try to go back to the pet store and investigate! when we first got her we thought she was chunky but didnt think anything of it. ill also make sure to weigh her everyday. should i be writing down her weight each day to keep? and snow did have a big belly very cute tho! and im trying to reply to everyone in this one chat thing but im not postive if im doing this right or not!:hug4:

 

[raticus]

also im wondering if what im feeding my rats is right im feeding them the oxbow baby rat blocks (not sure the actual name) also ratgirl44's seed mix she posted on youtube and then fruits and veggies every day. is that good or should i change some stuff?

 

[Noka]

I actually feed my girls oxbow rat foods. At the time, I fed Snow young rat and move oxbow food. I do give seed and veggie supplements so I think you're fine. But I'm still pretty new so make sure to get a second opinion! And yes, keep track of her weight gain! Write it down!

 

[raticus]

so does anyone have an idea on if she is pregnant or not? or would i need to track her weight for awhile longer to have an idea? and if you think she is any idea how far along she might be? sorry for all the questions!

 

[Velo]

also im wondering if what im feeding my rats is right im feeding them the oxbow baby rat blocks (not sure the actual name) also ratgirl44's seed mix she posted on youtube and then fruits and veggies every day. is that good or should i change some stuff?

I would recommend just buying the Oxbow Regal Rat from now on, there's really no need to ever use the baby formula and the adult one is healthier. C:
I guess if you are following ratgirl44's suggestion of one tablespoon of that seed mix per rat per day it's okay. Honestly it is "junk food" and I wouldn't give it everyday (although I might give some cereal, etc when I am working on trust and training), especially when you already have a nice quality lab block. Fruits and veggies everyday is good, I think the rule of thumb is about 1/4 cup per rat per day.

As for knowing if she's pregnant:
No one here will be able to tell you a definite yes or no as of this stage. The only way we can say no for sure is if she has undoubtedly not been with a male even for ten seconds in the past 28 days or so.
With her weight, you only have a baseline to go off of right now. The weight watch will take time, you observe how much she gains over multiple days. You will be looking for a steady increase, in large numbers, around 8-12 grams a day I believe (someone correct me if I am wrong) but even that may be a hard way to tell, as she is so young.
Gestation is typically 21 days... You have had her for 5.

Oh that reminds me, has she gone into heat?
Unaltered females who are not pregnant go into heat roughly every 5 days. They get really hyper and their ears might twitch. There are some videos on YouTube that show it, like this one: http://youtu.be/hCQnjxE6vpI