how can i tell how far along my rat is with her pregnancy?

Question

my rat is pregnant i want to know how far along she is she is pregnant enough to where her nipples are starting to show and she is very aggressive she is taking the newspaper i put in the cage for her up to her hammock and is alway up there until she get hungry or wants to come down for more paper or water her belly is very big but no babies yet i don't know when she got pregnant she just really really started showing like a week ago

Answer 1

Since you are not quite sure as to when she got pregnant count 3 to 5 days from when she first started the frantic nest building. That should give you some idea as to when she might have her babies. No one can be right on with this, not even the professional breeder's. The babies will come when they are ready. She's showing all the signs of being very close; nest building, hormone aggressiveness (not common), hiding away, voracious appetite, big belly, prominant nipples, etc.

Clean out her cage soon so that you can leave the cage cleaning alone for about a week after she has the babies.

She will more then likely have her babies at night or in the wee hours of the morning.

Caring for pregnant rats:
http://www.boardmanweb.com/rattery/ratbreeding.htm
http://www.freewebs.com/gmt_26/index.htm
http://www.goosemoose.com/component/option,com_smf/Itemid,118/topic,4218.0

spazrats
"my life has gone to the Rats"

Answer 2

It is very hard to tell how far along rats are. I have a rat who had babies in July. I played with her every day and she wasn't any heavier than she was before. One night I came home and it looked like she had swallowed a softball and the next night she had 13 babies.
Just make sure that you keep an eye on her.

Answer 3

Well by the laws of nature it usually takes two different sexes to make youngsters. You do not say how old your rat is nor do you say how long you have had it ,nor if it had been in with other rats.

If you have had it for over three weeks and it has been kept alone with no other contact to other rats it is unlikely to be pregnant. However it could be having a phantom pregnancy. it will get over it but in the mean time let it alone ( it's under stress )

If I recall it has a gestation period of about 15 days .
Towards the birth date the rat will swell up at the belly area like a large light bulb, she can have up to 18 young but on a first litter it is around 6 young .

Like all rodents she can be re - fertilized when pregnant so if she was impregnated 10 days ago and you have only had her a few days she could also be carrying a second litter.

Aggressive behavior is typical of phantom pregnancies when they are nesting . A pregnant doe will be a little agressive but more often than not she is inqusitive to her owner . If she does produce young wait till they young are running around before you start cleaning that stinky cage as she will have a go at you ( to protect her young. ) Separate any young from the mother before they are 21 days old as some times they can be sexually mature around this time.

David

Answer 4

Once we adopted a rat who turned out to be pregnant & I didn't even suspect anything til about 3 days before the pups were born. Since your girl's belly is big, I would *guess* she should have them soon.
I hope you enjoy the pups as much as I did with ours!

Answer 5

hey can do a vaginal ultrasound and pick the fetus up on that at 6 weeks. 8 weeks they can see it in a regular ultrasound. If you do have a tubal pregnancy you won't be able to be pregnant - it will have to be aborted and you may loose your tube. Good luck!

Answer 6

gestation period 21-25 days,
90% born within this period.
count day one as the day after you put her with the male.
If no kits by day 25 and no dropped nipples, then likelyhood is shes reabsorbed, if blood shows within that 21-25 days and no eepers within 2 hours then vet intervention is needed to save lives
when they get to the latter stages of pregnancy they look like theyve swallowed an orange or tennis ball, nesting and nipple dropping only occur during the last 5-7 days. weighing her every day is the best and surest way to tell TBH with not knowing when she got pregnant 5-10g per day is normal for a pregnant rat
pictures of pregnant naked rat showing how pregnancy weight is carried under the 'waist' and before the hind legs NOT all over
http://www.fancy-rats.co.uk/community/viewtopic.php?t=79218&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=pregnancy+picture&start=0

If shes really started to show in the last 7 days then they could be imminant

she needs to be seperated from any other rats and placed in a tank enviroment [the only time any rat should be]
and by tank I mean something like

http://www.lamp-post.co.uk/proddetail.php?prod=CH4370

from day 18, with a good substrate[ hemp, cardboard, 100% paper cat litter def NO SHAVINGS OR SAWDUST!!!!!!!!] and plenty of shredded paper/cloth to make her nest
If you have an igloo type house for her,

http://www.pet-supermarket.co.uk/erol.html?gclid=CK6okMHp744CFQjUlAod1hJ8JQ#9601X24714

then just put in the top half, that way she feels safe, but you can easily lift it to check on progress of eepers
Make sure though there are no ledges or hammocks available as I have known many a daft female think these ARE the best places to make their nest 0_0

Once she has had the kits make sure youre feeding her a varied high protein diet along side her normal dry food, you will be amazed at how much she will eat. When mum comes out for food or a drink, gently lift the igloo half and do a quick count and check for milk bands[ look like white belts around their tummies] Do this twice a day, after day two you can start handling them WHEN MUM IS OUT, she will not eat/desert/abandon or attack them

Having said all of the above
Ifyouve had her for more than 3 weeks and in that time she has had absolutley NO CONTACT WITH ANY MALE [ even for a second,as thats all it takes] she absolutely CANNOT be pregnant as rats do not 'store' the sperm
IF that is the case and her her weight gain is 'all over' then its possibly just natural from a good diet and plenty of treats/love from you = -)

rats cannot be re impregnated whilst pregnant, thats marsupials
Male babies need to be seperated from mum/sisters at around 41/2 to 5 weeks as this is when they can become sexually mature, seperating before that causes all sorts of problems with failure to thrive, girls can be kept with mum indefinately

After 6 weeks you can start to rehome, please keep AT LEAST two girl babies with mum [ if mum is normally a lone rat] forever and only rehome the others in same sex pairs or trios. NEVER rehome single kits or mixed sex groupings

Answer 7

check out sites they have simpler non-story long answers to your question