Apologies for this format. Please if you have it take the time to read and if you can I'd love any suggestions you'd have to offer.
Having babies is very stressful, I know all too well. But, you can do it! If that's what you Ultimately decide anyway. For us, we decided to commit to an unplanned pregnancy and almost 2 years later now, we have every born baby alive & well, healthy as ever and happy
But, its a lot of around-the-clock work, especially with TWO litters!
Our momma had 11 babies. For the most part, Bella handled everything from feeding, cleaning & keeping them warm. We just had to make sure she was getting the food & water she needed to keep nursing and step in to feed any babies that weren't getting to the nipple as much as he/she needed. We should then bottle feed them or, position them near the nipple to nurse. We also weighed them every day and kept a log of their weight gain, to confirm their growth. We also helped the babies pee & poo with massages, if Bella wasn't getting to them all as often as needed. Overall Bella did excellent but I could definitely see how babies tend to die, just by being the weaker, slower ones of the litter and basically missing out on nursing & stuff so I'm glad we were there to catch those things because ALL the babies lived.
I didn't finish your letter but if you did decide to take on this amazing task and you have any questions, I'd be happy to chat. Im not a vet but I do toot my own horn when considering myself a professional Rat owner & lover hahahaha.
Raising 11 Rattie babies, then 7 of them into adulthood now (we gifted 4 girls to a friend for Christmas that year), was the best experience of our lives and I recommend it to anyone who loves their Rats and has the time for it. But if its too much to take on, I completely agree that a rescue would be just as awesome for everyone involved
And ya, keeping some is always an option too!
Hope everyone is well!!!