My rat just gave birth to 12 babies and she is not producing milk. What can I use as a substitute?
2007-07-13 14:31:13 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous in Pets ➔ Other - Pets
I checked on them. They all have thick white milk bellies, so they are fine. I guess I was just worrying since this litter was so unexpected. Last night I noticed that she looked lumpy, now today I have 12 little rats to help look after!
2007-07-13 17:53:49 · update #1
Have you waited a period of time before intervening? Sometimes it could take up to 8 hours before the mother will nurse her young, especially if the labor was exhausting for her.
If the babies have nursed you will see a white band clearly through their skin on the left side of their abdoman. That's their little stomachs full of milk.
What you need is KMR puppy milk from the pet store, or soy infant human formula. That's the closest to rat milk that we can get. And you will need an eye-dropper, or better yet, an eye-liner brush that will soak up the milk and they can suckle the milk from the tiny brush end. This way there is no chance of them choking on too much milk. Milk bubbles coming out of the nostrils is a sign that the baby can't swallow the milk.
It's not going to be easy to raise the babies by hand. Some people have returned the babies to the pet store, or breeder if the store or breeder has a lactating mother.
Here are some links that will help you
http://search.yahoo.com/search?search=caring+for+orphaned+rats+and+mice&ei=UTF-8&fr=ks-ans&ico-yahoo-search-value=http%3A%2F%2Frds.yahoo.com%2F_ylt%3DAmrLvrRZp8SXPzB.OHL0vAIazKIX%2FSIG%3D11i7adq9m%2FEXP%3D1184474278%2F*-http%253A%2F%2Fsearch.yahoo.com%2Fsearch&ico-wikipedia-search-value=http%3A%2F%2Frds.yahoo.com%2F_ylt%3DAjxFo9BLape1bXCUKlhunhIazKIX%2FSIG%3D121gk5hhr%2FEXP%3D1184474278%2F*-http%253A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FSpecial%253aSearch&p=caring+for+orphaned+rats+and+mice
Note: it's very rare for a furred rat to not be able to produce milk for her babies.
E-mail me at spazrats@yahoo.ca if you need someone to talk to, even if it's just to give you some support through this period of time.
Edit:
I had a feeling that everything would be ok :) It does help when you have others to talk to when you're worried though, doesn't it? I know I sure depended on my forum friends with my first two rat litters.
Your first litter? ConRATulations!!!!
spazrats
"my life has gone to the rats"
2007-07-13 17:45:58 · answer #1 · answered by spazrats 6 · 3⤊ 0⤋
NO. In some international locations you may dedicate a criminal offence via offering a puppy on your care with an incorrect nutrition merchandise. Please telephone a vetinary service on your locale and take their suggestion on the problem - they won't charge you for suggestion in this sort of small remember.
2016-11-09 06:37:45 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
you can buy a mix at the store for small rodents
and i think its good you are careing for the baby rats
i have one myself
2007-07-13 14:34:51 · answer #3 · answered by omgimbeast 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
goats milk
2007-07-13 14:52:34 · answer #4 · answered by Kit_kat 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
use 2% FROM FOOD LION OR HALF AND HALF
2007-07-13 14:36:13 · answer #5 · answered by henna<3 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋