and why do they have so many in the first place?
2007-01-14 07:26:12 · 4 answers · asked by briyana j 1 in Pets ➔ Other - Pets
I've had several litters of babies, around 9 now. The litter sizes have been 12, 9, 7, and 4 babies. Other rat-keepers in the Fancy have had averages of 14 to 18 babies. The grand-daddy of all litter sizes though has got to be the 22 babies born to a breeder on the West Coast. Sadly not all of them lived.
Does only have 10 nipples so in the large litters mothers have a tendency to put their babies into two separate groups and feed them alternately.
It's a throwback to the wild, the instinct to have so many babies, so often. Rats are prey animals. They are food for so many different animals that with a large litter there is the chance that at least a few babies will survive the onslaught to grow into adulthood and reproduce themselves.
spazrats
http://spazrats.tripod.com
Rat Slave at 38
Specializing in the care of pet rats since 1997
2007-01-16 08:53:12 · answer #1 · answered by spazrats 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
My rat had NINE BABIES, unexpected as well, she was pregnant when I got her from the pet store, actually she was supposed to be a feeder rat for my burmese python, but I got attached to her and kept her as a pet instead. One day I was watching her, thinking I must have been feeding her a lot more than they did at the pet store cause she was looking a little rounder, and the next thing I know a little slimy pink baby rat came out. An hour later there were eight more. They can have anywhere from 3 to 12 is what I hear. They have so many because in the wild not all of the babies survive. Make sure if you have baby rats you seperate the males and females before they reach 5 weeks old or they will breed and you will have even more.
2007-01-14 16:25:58 · answer #2 · answered by cjincbus 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Rats can have anywhere between 1 and 30+ babies. I've had a rat that had 30, one that had 4, and two that had 13. It all depends on how many of the females eggs were fertilized.
2007-01-15 01:41:56 · answer #3 · answered by superexotica1 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I bought 4 rats from a pet store once. I was told I had 4 males.....I had 3 males, and one female. I found this out when I went upstairs and "cornelius" my fat rat...had a bunch of pink babies under HER. I counted them and she ended up having 22 babies. So it varies but they can have quite a few..atleast 22 :P. Im not sure why they have so many but once they grew eyelids and fur.....they were adorable.
2007-01-14 17:50:09 · answer #4 · answered by Dani 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋