My rats are pregnant! HELP!!!?

Question

I have 3 female rats whom I thing are pregnant. I was petsitting my friends male rat. I was playing with all four of them in the playpen. My phone rang so I ran out to go get it. I was on the phone for only like 12 minutes and I came back and everything seemed fine. My friend came to pick up her rat yesterday and this morning I started noticing that my rats are gaining wieght and eating more and dont seem to want to be held so much! It was only a week ago that they were left alone (i was petsitting for a month). If they are pregnant, I need to know a few things!

Should they be seperated?

Do I need to change their diet?

How long until the babies are born?

All 17 friends of mine that want pets (if you read my previous question) said they would love having a rat or two, so when should I give them to them for adoption?

What is everything I can do to make my 3 rats as comfortable as possible until the babies are born?

When should I seperate males from females?
pleez hlp!!

Answer 1

In addition to what C K said, not all female rats aren't cut out to be moms, so if you find one neglecting her babies, you might have to let one of the other rats become their foster mom. The way you do this is to somehow get the mom away from her babies long enough for you to take the neglected babies and put them in with hers. Let the babies mingle a couple minutes so that their scent will all be the same. Be sure you keep them warm too. When you let the mom rat get back to her babies, she won't know which ones are and aren't her own babies, so she'll just takes care of all of them.

Also, since there's a possibility of them having large litters, you might have to split the litter in half. Half to one foster mom rat, the other half to the other rat. Or you can alternate it by letting half the litter be with the mom and the other half you handfeed. Each day you switch.
Now if you want to handraise them, it can get to be a little hard work, especially in the early stages of the babies' development. You'll need a heating pad, something to keep the babies in (an aquarium works good), something soft to bundle them up in like an old towel (make sure there's no rips or anything like that so they don't get wound up or choke). You'll also need powdered milk from the pet store, a syringe with a removable plastic tip thing (forgot what it's called), and some cotton balls. Baby rats can't use the bathroom on their own so you have you use the cotton ball dipped in warm water to help stimulate them to go. Just rub around their bottoms a few seconds until you don't see anything else coming out. The best times for that is before and after feeding. Newborns are the trickiest to feed because you could accidentally overfeed them. Use the syringe to let them get what they want, but keep an eye out on their stomachs. When you can see the milk in their stomach through their skin and can tell they're pretty full, that's when to stop for time being. Then give them a little massage around their sides (be gentle), stomachs and backs. Not only does it help with their digestion, but it also keeps their circulation healthy. Be sure to wipe any milk residue off their mouths too. Oh and make sure you keep them warm. A cold baby won't eat. Keep the heating pad under the container you've chosen to keep the babies in and keep it's setting to low. Any higher than that you risk burning the babies. I can't remember the feeding times but it's something like every 2-3 hours for newborns up to 2 weeks. then every 3-4 hours for 3-4 weeks. By then they should also be ready for some solid foods, so make sure you have something there for them in between feedings in case they want to try nibbling on something. Also as the baby gets older, it'll let you know when it's had enough milk by either pushing the syringe away or by ignoring it.
Hope this was of some help and good luck with your rats. =)

Answer 2

The gestation period of a rat is 21 to 23 days. But rats don't usually start gaining weight or showing until the last 7 days of the pregnancy and they don't tend to build their nest until the last day.

Your rats will need extra food and nutrients while they are pregnant and nursing. You may want to pick up some soluable vitamins to put in their water.

They may also become more aggressive towards eachother so you might want to keep them in seperate cages. Nursing moms should be kept in seperate cages also.

The average litter for a rat is 12 so you could be looking at 36 or more babies.

The babies should be ready to be adopted out once they are 5 weeks old.

The rats will reach sexual maturity at about 6 weeks so you will want to seperate the boys and girls before then.

Good Luck!

Answer 3

Don't worry too much about seperation, if they start fighting, split em up

nope

i think its a month, but I don't know, its not that important though.

when the babies open their eyes, grow fur, and begin to move away from the nest (if you try grabbing them before then, the mother will give you a nasty bite.) oh and also, each rats going to have about 8 to 10 babies, so you might need a few more friends.

Leave them as they were, dont handle them as much though.

rats dont mate till they are fully grown, so dont seperate the males from the females unless you are keeping them.

Answer 4

This proves 2 things:
1.) All men are RATS!
2.) It NEVER takes them longer than 12 minutes!

Answer 5

I would ask a veterinarian... I've never had pet rats. They may not be pregnant; have you had a veterinarian check that they are?

Sorry I couldn't be more help, but I don't know much about rats.

Answer 6

Hmm find a friend with a pet snake.

Answer 7

what in the world??

Answer 8

I have a pet snake???!!!!