I'm so glad I found a rat community board!

[Tanaya]

Hi everyone! My name is Tanaya and I'm a soon-to-be rat owner! I live with my boyfriend of 4 1/2 years and we'll be raising our rats together.

I'm getting a rat on Sunday, and I wanted to make sure I'm going to know everything I need to know and more! The current owner says she's about two months old, but we're not certain. As soon as I can see how big she is, I'll be trying to guess her age and get her a cagemate that's about the same age as her. Seeing as she's still housed with her brother, I suspect she might be younger, but the owner doesn't know for sure. Her brother had bought them from somewhere to feed to her piranha, but she rescued them (though I don't think they were feeder rats), and is keeping two for herself, and adopting out the others.

We've already decided on a name for her, and I'm really excited for the chance to be a rat owner (this will be my first time owning one). Hopefully you'll hear more from me on here as I try to do the best I can for Ellie and her future (but not too far future!) cage-mate!

 

[Godmother]

:welcomewagon: to the Shack! Looking forward to seeing photos of little Ellie. Glad you're getting her a friend, too.

It's a concern that she's still housed with her brother. I hope that she is not pregnant!

 

[dspch911]

:exactly: If she is over 5 weeks you better be on baby watch. Welcome!

 

[Joanne]

Hi and welcome!
Rats are wonderful pets and I'm sure you will fall in love immediately.
And yup, like the others said, she may be pregnant if she is two months old. Rats start very young, probably one of the reasons they are so successful.
So be aware that if you take her home, you may end up with 5 - 15 babies in a few weeks.

 

[Tanaya]

I suspect that the current owner is wrong about her age, but we're definitely prepared for the possibility. This is the picture we got of her last week.

I don't know how old she actually is, does anyone have a guess?

 

[Tanaya]

Also, this is a picture of her brother

 

[hopefloats]

my girls are 7 weeks old and I seen one wth a heat cycle already, once they do that they can become pregnant. If she has two girls I would get her a friend rats are social and need friends. That person needs slapped a fish you can find other food sources.

 

[Joanne]

Well, they look about the right size for two months...
:/

 

[SterlingRats0408]

Ya they look just over 6-7 weeks will want to give her a 3 week pregnancy watch. Hopefully its not happened she's so young. I just had a young mom. Her babies are 5 weeks today and her son is nearly as big as her. She'll just be 17 weeks old!