Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My mother rat has died today with babies only 6 days old. I go to school for 5 hours every day so feeding every 2-3 hours is impossible. There was 9 babies but one has died and another is very very thin. I want these little guys to live. My other female is pregnant and due any day now, but their age difference will be a week or more. Should I buy a female rat with babies from a pet store? Depending if I could find any. Anyone successfully raised orphans this young? I have experience rasing baby birds, but these guys are tiny and so young I don't know how successful I will be.

I'd try putting them with the mother who's due to have pups...It might work.. you'll just have to watch it...My females will adopt or steal anything that looks or smells like a baby...Even my gerbils.. I had 3 orphan gerbils who I adopted out to one of my female rats....she did agreat job with them...

Oh dear!! If they can make it until the new mother delivers, I'm sure she'll happily adopt those babies.

I doubt you'll be able to find someone who will sell a mom rat and her babies...but if they have a lactating mother, they make take your babies in.

>>Oh dear!! If they can make it until the new mother delivers, I'm sure she'll happily adopt those babies.
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>>I doubt you'll be able to find someone who will sell a mom rat and her babies...but if they have a lactating mother, they make take your babies in.

Hi: I had a rat in extreme grave condition (see thread a few days ago of the "exteme grave condition". I am sorry to hear of you plight.

I hate losing babies. I lost both mom and babies. I froze both mom and babies.

Yesterday, another rat had 13 babies.

Other people correct me if I am incorrect, but I think that pregnant moms will have milk even before delivery.

best of luck to you.

bang.
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Longtang. I like snakes and rats.

Thanks for your replies. Just my luck that I found a breeder who was willing to sell me a mother with babies to me. He had too many rats so I was able to get a female who's babies are just a day or two younger than my babies. I just picked her up. Took an hour to get there and an hour to get back but it was worth it. So far it looks like she has accepted the new babies. But since she has 9 of her own and 8 new ones, I will help her feed some with soy baby formula. Do you think 17 is too much for just 1 mother? Probably. My new girl is a siamese dumbo (lightly colored) and I named her Nana.

17 isnt too many. I've got a couple of high producers and 17 is a cake walk to them. If the new mom (the one about to give birth) has a low litter number why not pawn some of the older babies off on her also. That way neither one will have too many.
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Tegan

No, 17 isn't too many...and I agree with the last person that posted. If your other girl delivers soon, you can divide the litter again then if you think one mom is being overloaded.

In fact, I keep all my mother rats together and they all take turns feeding and caring for the babies. Usually, they steal them move them into their pile, only to have them be stolen back again. It's really funny!

Please don't try to give the babies any formula. I made that mistake once years ago and the baby died. It ended up with such severe gas that the poor thing looked like a water balloon. I tried giving it some simethicon but it didn't make it. The babies are better off skipping a meal or two than making the risk of giving them something their systems cannot handle.

Some caresheet I have seen on websites about caring for orphan rats suggested giving them some soy-based baby food. Is this what you used or regular baby food with lactose?

Years ago, the family vet gave my mom and I a recipe for home made puppy/kitten/etc formula. I used that and yes, it is cow's milk based. :/ It's an "old school" method that I have long since retired.

Knowing what I know now, if I had to feed a rat pup, I'd use commercial the puppy formula, Esbilac, since rodent milk is closer to that than kitten or human forumla.

That doesn't usually happen with first time mothers but it easily can with later pregnancies.

>>That doesn't usually happen with first time mothers but it easily can with later pregnancies.

Yes. that was what I was thinking (I am the guy who mentioned it earlier in an earlier reply in this thread). Thanks for confirming it. I was pretty sure that moms would have milk before delivery. I have seen that with mice. Mice who are pregnant have milk to feed surrogate babies.

so to the thread originator: you may try pawning off some babies even now--even before your other rat has babies.

cheers. and good luck. I am sorry for your dire situation.

signed: a guy who had a rat who had a grave condition a few days ago.
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Longtang. I like snakes and rats.

There's actually quite a few animals who have milk before birth of their offspring.. several can even lactate 2 different kinds of milk at the same time.. Kangaroos are one example.. they can have a joey outside the pouch still be nursing and another just be born who will be taking in Colustrum for its first meal...and a higher protein and fat milk after that for a while... its actually quite interesting..

The one preganant now that I am still waiting to have her babies has had one litter before. But it is a good or bad idea to put her and this new rat that I bought together in one cage to share the burden?

In a few days I will be feeding off 2 babies everyday (except for those who are colors I like to be used in future breeding and to be my pets). I have one small and one adult ball python that need to be fed. So the new mother should not be burdened for very long with 17 babies. But maybe this time I might decide to hold back many of them to sell as pets since I handle favorites early to hand tame them....

...anyways... I am unsure of putting two rat strangers together who are females and one with babies and one about to have them. For one thing, I think the new one needs to be quarentined to make sure she won't give my colony anything hazardous.

A strange sight is seeing a mother spread out trying to feed 17 babies at once. I have finally seen her trying to feed her new expanded litter.

I had one female rat who insisted she could feed 29 pups all by herself.. *L* It took her 2 days to figure out she couldn't handle it and allow the other mother's back into the nesting area... It was kinda funny but then again, I lost 5 out of the 29 during the process but there was little I could do about it..Eventually life settled down again... everyone took turns taking care of all the pups and we raised them all up to the size I needed.

If you bought the new mom and babies from a reputable source, I wouldn't worry too much about quarantine. Unless you have reason to worry...?

Rats are very social animals and normally share their space happily, groom eachother and more. There are a few exceptions though. If they have been alone for so long that they forgot how to share, you have more than one male, or you are trying to introduce two adults that have never been around eachother, it may not work.

Depending on how old your girls are, you may still be able to stick them in the same cage. I keep all mine together from the start so I'm not trying to reintroduce adults, as that doesn't always work. If I were you and wanted to put them together, I would take half the bedding material from each cage and put it in eachother's cage, so they will smell the same, then put them both in a new cage together...so neither will be territorial.