[SmittenRitten]

*sigh* This will probably be long, but I'll keep it as short as possible without leaving out the important stuff.

I now have a litter of 6 babies, just out of the blue. The worst part abt this is that this isnt the first time a litter just popped out of no where. My wife and I are extremely baffled. Our kids claim they know nothing abt it, but we cant really trust them lately ... they've been caught in several lies.

When it happened before, I was very angry and worried that we wouldnt be able to place the litter of 18. The rat baby gods were smiling upon us, and we had all gorgeous colors/types. They were fairly easy to place for the most part, but the last 3-4 were kinda tough. We ended up keeping them, even though we really couldnt afford it. What else could we do?

Now Im even more upset. We couldnt even place all the ones from the last "accident" and now we have yet another! I wanted to just find homes for the females since we have mostly males, but my wife would be crushed if she lost her precious girls. I feel like it's not fair to me and her to have to give up our beloved pets because of mistakes that arent our fault. We are extremely careful abt not letting them interract with each other. Having a long serious talk with them abt it obviously wasnt effective enough, since this happened again. Having all our females fixed would be possible if we did one at a time over the period of 4-5 months, but that seems like an eternity to me.

Im looking for help, I dont know what to do. We cant afford these accidents, but we love our animals. Anyone have any advice?

 

[fallinstar]

can you get rats 'the chop' i no u can for most other animals go and ask you vet and they might have some ideas

 

[Lexarius]

Yes, rats can be neutered or spayed. In fact, it is recommended to spay female rats because after they get too old to breed their ovaries have a high chance of becoming cancerous.

 

[FalconStorm]

Well, are you suspecting that it's the kids putting them together? If so, I recommend putting locks on the cages. You can get simple ones from any hardward store and keep the keys either hidden or with you at all times, or get combination locks. That will keep the kids out until you can get the females fixed, or indefinitely if you don't mind dealing with the locks permanently.

Also, you would only really have to lock one sex in. The other you wouldn't have to worry about. At that point, the only interaction they would have is under supervision, and really, if they're not fixed, your males and females probably shouldn't interact at all. I think it only takes, like, ten seconds for them to do the deed.

 

[Shar]

Males and females should both be locked up if that is the route you decide on...They can and will mate through the bars of their cages.