my rat had her babies on thursday the 21 of march..there were 8 of them and 2 of them already past away.. she doesnt look shes feeding them and i dont know wat to do.. i have 2 other rats 1 male ( which is the father) and 1 other female in the same tank also.. i havent seen the mother rat care for the pups for maybe a day and i havent seen milk in there bellies..as a matter of fact she doesnt even groom, stimulate urination, or warm them up anymore..i dont know wat to do please help...ASAP
2007-03-25 13:55:45 · 7 answers · asked by Anonymous in Pets ➔ Other - Pets
Your one best hope for the babies is to find a pet store or a breeder who presently has a female who is raising babies of her own. You could make arrangements with the owner to get the babies back when they are weaned.
I'm sure it's the intact male that is causing the problems right now. A female rat can get pregnant again within 24 hours of giving birth. The other female could also be pregnant. If he is harrassing the girls in his attempt to mate with them, then they are both too nervous to take care of the babies. So put him in another cage.
There is nothing wrong with leaving the other female with the mother rat. Maternal hormones can make mother rats cranky and If the mother has not ousted her by now then she welcomes the female's company. Can you see if the other female is taking any parental care of the babies. She may not be lactating but she will perform the duties of a mother rat. Her duties are what we call an Aunty Rat.
Rats usually make awesome parents and are not naturally nervous like other rodents, unless you have them in a high-traffic area of your home. Have you put them in a quiet, darker, place?
It's very difficult to raise orphan rats and the success rate is low, but here are some websites from people I know that might help you.
http://www.ratfanclub.org/orphans.html
http://www.rmca.org/Articles/orphans.htm
http://www.afrma.org/rminfo8.htm
More:
http://search.yahoo.com/search?search=Raising+orphaned+rats&ei=UTF-8&fr=ks-ans&ico-yahoo-search-value=http%3A%2F%2Frds.yahoo.com%2F_ylt%3DAqFmYLsucJ9Ju1A_wytuo5cazKIX%2FSIG%3D111gjvvgj%2F*-http%3A%2F%2Fsearch.yahoo.com%2Fsearch&ico-wikipedia-search-value=http%3A%2F%2Frds.yahoo.com%2F_ylt%3DAjrR1DDgyctRMOV346dKZz4azKIX%2FSIG%3D11ia1qo58%2F**http%253a%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FSpecial%253aSearch&p=Raising+orphaned+rats
My own breeding experiences:
I had a similar situation as you are having with a mom not being able to care for a single pup. I tried hand-raising Bingo, but she died.
http://spazrats.tripod.com/mischief.html
It's a myth that rat-breeding is so easy:
http://search.yahoo.com/search?search=Breeding+rats&ei=UTF-8&fr=ks-ans&ico-yahoo-search-value=http%3A%2F%2Frds.yahoo.com%2F_ylt%3DAqFmYLsucJ9Ju1A_wytuo5cazKIX%2FSIG%3D111gjvvgj%2F*-http%3A%2F%2Fsearch.yahoo.com%2Fsearch&ico-wikipedia-search-value=http%3A%2F%2Frds.yahoo.com%2F_ylt%3DAjrR1DDgyctRMOV346dKZz4azKIX%2FSIG%3D11ia1qo58%2F**http%253a%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FSpecial%253aSearch&p=Breeding+rats
Please do not rush out to get your male rat neutered. Rat surgeries and rat neuters are not the same as for cats and dogs. You need to read up on pre and post op care and have a rat-savvy vet.
spazrats
"my life has gone to the rats"
2007-03-28 20:48:38 · answer #1 · answered by spazrats 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
2 days since you posted this question is a lot of time..get your other female and male away from momma...seperate the female and the male..watch for babies in the other female and the momma since rats can breed in 24 hours after birth.
My other question WHY are you breeding rats?!!!!!!!! Shaz
2007-03-27 13:25:50 · answer #2 · answered by Shaz 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
The male rat shouldn't be in the same tank as the nursing mother and young. Nor should the other female, unless she's nursing young, as well.
Rats get stressed easily, and will not attend to their young, if they feel threatened.
Mother rats and their young should only be housed with other mother rats & young.
P.S. Please neuter your male, if you intend for him to live with the females. It's not easy to find homes for rats, therefore breeding is something that shouldn't be done, unless you are breeding for food (for a snake, etc.) It only costs $65 where I live, to neuter a male rat.
2007-03-25 13:59:36 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 2⤋
Remove the male and second female from the tank.
I'm sure she is nursing, you just don't see her.
Note for the idiot about the movie Willard. If rats weren't so damn smart and trainable they could never have made that movie.
2007-03-25 14:33:05 · answer #4 · answered by ? 5 · 2⤊ 1⤋
put the other rats separate. is there a possibility that shes feeding them when your not looking i thought mine wasnt looking after her babies either especially when 1 died but the babies grew healthy. also if you are handling the babies stop sometimes human nteraction can make them reject them if that happens you have a problem.
2007-03-25 17:41:49 · answer #5 · answered by ♥~*~♥ЌẮ§€¥♥~*~♥ 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
go to the vet and get formula for them and an eye dropper. you'll have to take over her job unless you can find a mother rat that will adopt them.
2007-03-26 06:05:48 · answer #6 · answered by MommyCaleb 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
A question for you. Have you ever seen a movie called Willard?
2007-03-25 13:59:35 · answer #7 · answered by Freddy F 4 · 0⤊ 6⤋