Soon-to-be momma - Suggestions?

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J

Jae

Member
Joined
Mar 4, 2009
Messages
9
Location
North Carolina
My girl Cupcake is very pregnant and we're expecing her to deliver soon.
Mom #2 and I have left our university for spring break and travled to seperate towns; she took the boys and I took the girls. Since our cage is too big for easy transportation, we keep our rats in 10-gallon tanks (I know this is a no-no) for weekend trips home.
Today I cleaned out their cage and replaced the usual bedding with lots of shredded white paper towels. I even boiled both girls an egg this morning for breakfast (I heard that this was good for protein and also very fun to eat.) I keep my girls on a diet of lab blocks and veggies from the table, but I know an expecting and nursing mommy needs a better diet, any suggestions?
Cupcake and her cage mate have always gotten along great, but I've prepared a "just in case" cage just in case Muffin gets too grabby with the babies.
Since both Cupcake and I are first timers and this pregnancy was an accident, I'm not sure on her due date at all. We weren't aware of her pregnancy until over a week ago when she really started showing. I'll post pictures so those of you who are experienced can help me out with this. I would love some advise and pointers on the things to do leading up to the birth and what to do for the following 5 weeks the babies are with their momma.

(I'm really sorry that the pictures aren't clear, my phone isn't very fond of me :giggle: )
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Just incase anyone is wondering, we did not expect our girl to get pregnant, and although we are excited and happy for the babies, we are regretful for bringing little ones into the world where there are already so many without good homes. We're planning on getting our girls spayed soon and we've already began looking into getting our boys neutered soon as we're getting a larger cage this month so everyone can be together and happy.
 
Muffin really should be separated when Cupcake starts nesting and showing signs of pregnancy.

Boiled egg is a good way to go.. you could also give some tuna or other meats. Cupcake should be the only one getting it, Muffin doesn't need the extra protein.
 
I dont really understand why you would have the boys in with the girls anyway if they are all intact :p

From what i've learnt on this forum, they need to be seperated. Even if they are best buddies.

Has she started nesting at all?
 
Agreed, Moon. Separate Muffin and Cupcake.

The girls can still have play times after the first few days that the babies have been out of Mom. During the first few days after birth offer her things that are easy, fast, delicious and somewhat fatty. I prefer Organic baby cereal, Soy milk and Veggie baby foods. Put them in a dish that's easy to eat out of. Mix it to a consistency like oatmeal with milk stirred in. You can also do lab blocks dissolved in some water. My girls have found that to not be very tasty so I add it into some soy milk. Continue giving lab blocks in case she decides she wants them throughout the day as well. After the first few days, offer her the baby cereal every couple of days or so along with lab blocks. Also give her veggies and fruits and scrambled egg. The scrambling makes sure that the yolk doesn't get stuck in her mouth or throat and it also makes sure that she's eating the fats with the protein.

Don't let any other rats near her babies until they are about 4 weeks old at the earliest. Some rats make great aunts and uncles but it's often too late that you find out which ones don't make good aunts and uncles. When you do the Neuters remember to keep the boys away for a LONG time. Just because they don't have the stuff doesn't mean that they aren't still fully stocked for several weeks.

It's never a good or safe idea to have boys and girls in the same space if they're unaltered. That's how I ended up with a litter of 14 almost a year ago. :wallbang: And NEVER let them play with eachother. There's just too much of a risk.

Good luck! If you do it right it won't be easy but it will be rewarding. Watch for mood changes too. Your sweet girl that used to kiss you and sit in your lap for hours is now fully loaded with all kinds of fun hormones and she may bite you. It might be a soft bite or she may go for blood and slice your hand open. It's best to try to coax her from the cage than to stick your hand in after her. My BF's hand can attest to that. Alice put a good 1 inch gash on his finger.

Also, don't bug mom for a while after the babies are born. If it's her first litter she may not know what to do and they could get scattered, unfed, unwarmed and die :( . Good luck!
 
ryelle said:
I dont really understand why you would have the boys in with the girls anyway if they are all intact :p

From what i've learnt on this forum, they need to be seperated. Even if they are best buddies.

Has she started nesting at all?
Click to expand...

We've never kept the boys and girls together. They both have seperate cages, but we did introduce the girls and boys several times to make sure they would get along well when we do plan on putting them together.

As for nesting, I'm not sure exactly what that looks like. Before today both girls prefered to sleep in a big red bandana together, but I've taken that out because it could fray and I don't want the babies to choke. The entire cage is covered in shredded paper towels, and for now when she goes to lay down she just goes to a corner and curls up.
What sorts of things should I be looking for?

I have them seperated now :]
 
When she starts nesting you will know. Some rats will some rats won't...and next time you will know, you can never put boys and girls together unless they are spayed and neutered. PS spaying girls is much more benifical then neutering boys so if you can, do the girls first!
 
I had no idea that boys were still potent for weeks after a neuter, thank you so much for alerting me to that Willow Bean.

I thought I already knew so much about rats, but I'm learning so much more. It shows that there's always something new to learn!
Thank you everyone for the help!
 
I think you can never know everything when it comes to animals. They seem to surprise you with new things every day.

I thought from what you wrote that you had them all in the same cage together. Sorry, my misunderstanding. Still, you can't put them together. There will always be a risk. Some people won't even have intact males and females in the same house incase something happens e.g an escapee
 
Unfortunately, rats can act SO fast, it's safest to NEVER let males and females interact, unless they're 100% sterilized.
 
Good news, bad news, terrible news, and scary news.

First off, Cupcake is officially nesting. It's rather cute. She's moving all of the paper towel bits into a corner of the cage and messing with it alot.

Secondly, I got some rather scary news from mom #2 (my girlfriend) shortly ago: the house she was staying on caught fire. Her little cousin was trapped in the kitchen which is where the fire got started. Jenn went into the kitchen to get the little girl and made it out safely with her. Everyone is okay and Jenn is in the hospital with 3rd degree burns on her arms, but she's such a trooper and isn't even complaining about the pain.
Also, our boys were in that house and they're still in there. Jenn said the fire didn't spread that far and the room they are in had the door closed before the fire started, but no one has gone in the house yet to see if they're okay.

I'm really thankful though that she and everyone else is alive.
 

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