she is my first pet rat i've ever had or handled and i got her not to long ago but not recently. right now im leaving her alone in her cage with the babies it looks to me that she is nursing them just fine. i've also put a normal lamp over the cage for wormth. please if you have an ansewr please add in detales im 13 and have never had a rat before. so please tell me if im doing somthing wrong or if theres more i need to do or what ever. thanks alot! :)
2006-10-17 09:21:52 · 19 answers · asked by Guns go bangxbang 1 in Pets ➔ Other - Pets
Run an ad and sell them. But first, check to see what is a safe age for you to take them from momma rat.
2006-10-17 09:26:52 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Make sure that Momma is getting plenty of nutrition, she will need extra food and plenty of water for nursing. Also, give her plenty of attention. The first few days she may or may not want the attention because she is very busy with her new little ones. But as the time goes on, she will need some time away from the babies.
Depending on her personality and trust of you, she may become teritorial. So please be careful. Some females will bite if they fear for their children's saftey. That said, if you can get her out of the cage for a short time, have someone else hold her and inspect the nest. Make sure that the babies are not tangled up in bedding. Check to see that everyone is okay and in the nest. Mom will not care that you've handled them. Just make sure that they all get back to the nest. It is really good for the babies to be handled from birth to make them more social.
Make sure that there is plenty of nesting material. If the room is realativly warm, you will not need the heat lamp. The heat lamp can actually cause problems. Especially if the air is dry. Baby rats are prone to ring-tail, which happens when the air is hot and dry. Their tail will actually start to dry up and will eventully fall off, it is somewhat painful too. Also, the heat lamp can cause heat-stroke if it is already warm enough. Mom will provide a lot of the warmth for the babies until their fuzz comes in.
One more thing...remember to seperate the babies by sex, once they are weaned. Or else you will have many, many more babies!
Good luck. Check out the following links for more info.
2006-10-17 09:36:01 · answer #2 · answered by Cyndi B 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Make sure to give her extra protein, like a high quality kitten food, along with her regular diet. Take out the males at 5 weeks because you don't want mom pregnant or the sisters pregnant. Handle the babies once they are around 2 weeks old so they are well socialized, it will make it easier to find homes if they are friendly. I don't know what kind of cage you have them in, but I do hope the wire spacing isn't so big the babies fall out, or get stuck. If you have a wheel it might be a good idea to take that out too. Here is a very good site for rat info. http://www.ratfanclub.org/repro.html Also www.goosemoose.com is a good forum for rat info and they have an adoption section you can post one to try to find the babies homes.
2006-10-17 09:36:36 · answer #3 · answered by crazy_assky_chic 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Leave her alone for now, provide a nesting box with soft cloth or toilet tissue in it. She and the babies need peace and quiet. Do not disturb the nest for the first 2-3 days, keep the mother well-supplied with food and water; you can add extra sunflower seeds to whatever you're feeding her, as well as cooked unseasoned chicken or beef or cooked egg. She can use the extra calories. After 2-3 days, you can start handling the babies. I don't know what you're planning to do once they are old enough to be separated - are you going to keep them, find them homes, or take them to the pet store? Keep in mind that the pet store will most likely sell them as snake food. You will need to separate boys and girls at 4-5 weeks of age, otherwise you'll have more babies you can shake a stick at. By that time, it will be pretty obvious who is who.
Good luck, feel free to e-mail me if you need more help. There are a lot of good sites online that deal with rat breeding, you can find a ton of good information there.
2006-10-17 12:23:32 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Your doing fine. If you don't want eleven rats, you could keep one or none and give the rest to a pet store nearby once their old enough to leave their mother.
As long as your feeding the mother well and keeping the cage clean, she'll do the rest for her young.
Don't be surprised if you notice one less or so. When I had a pet mouse and she had babies, she ate about three of them. I guess they were sick or something.
2006-10-17 09:28:38 · answer #5 · answered by pixiedustplease 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The most important thing to know is not to count the babies for a few days. The parents will "take care of" any weak or ill offspring and it will disturb you if you suddenly notice that some are missing. In the meantime, just let the parents do what they instinctively do best.
2006-10-17 09:30:14 · answer #6 · answered by yumyum 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
no you are fine, just leave her be there is nothing else for you to do. i breed rats and when they give birth you don't need to do anything for them, they do it all alone. just make sure that you keep food with her all the time and water, she will drink alot of it. also keep an eye on the light, you don't want it to get to hot for her. at night dim it down to low so she doesn't burn. good luck and enjoy your new babies.
2006-10-17 13:30:35 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
No cheese... but your job is the following: keep the cage clean and provide food and clean water for her at all times. She will take care of them all by herself. Start asking your local pet store and friends, if they want the babies later on.
2006-10-17 09:26:11 · answer #8 · answered by justmemimi 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you have the father, don't put him with the babies, he will eat them. Just keep an eye on them. Some might not make it due to suffocation or hunger (because there are so many of them). Only 3 of my 6 hamsters made it through...
2006-10-17 09:24:55 · answer #9 · answered by cary_bell_2002 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
keep the cage clean and make sure she has plenty of food and water. keep the cage out of draughts. if you have the father don't put him in with the babies as he will eat their heads. the mother will do all the rest of the nurturing
2006-10-17 09:48:35 · answer #10 · answered by pcdo_universe 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋