So my sister had a male rat and her friend stole a female rat from the pet store and then put the two rats in the same cage and ended up ditching the female rat on her. Now my sister has moved back home and taken the two rats with her with the nine babies that resulted from them being together. We didn;t have any experience with rats breeding and kept the mom and litter in with the dad and she ended up giving birth again because we realized she was pregnant. 10 babies this time! She was only in there for a day before she was moved out with the second litter and now she's pregnant again! The babies are about four weeks. They've been eating and drinking by themselves for over a week so I've decided to put her by herself with one of the babies to keep her company until she gives birth. She is very young though and the two litters back to back have taken a toll on her(she has hair missing in places) and I'm worried if I should give the third litters babies away for reptile food and leave her with just two so she can recover.
My sister's rat..
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Wow! Okay first off, keep her separated from the male from now on you dont want momma to be having anymore babies, lol.
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Do Not keep the male with the female unless one or the other are fixed. Momma rat should be fine, I think she just needs to recover and take a break! You should keep momma rat by herself if the babies are eating and drinking on their own. You should look into getting momma a vet visit, they may even be able to do an e-spay on her. Either way there is no reason those babies should be considered Snake food at all! You can take the babies to a shelter or even a rescue, please dont give them away as food...
I would never mention this on this forum. People here are very against the feeding of rats to reptiles. Please consider other options. Craigslist, A shelter near you, google some rat rescues near your area...RainyDays said:
Your mommy rat is probably extremely tired now that she has a third litter on the way. You need to make sure you give her extra protein or else she could become ill and the pups will have bad nutrition. Eggs, chicken, even going out and getting formula and mixing it in with her food.
And, how the **** do you steal a rat from a pet store. I'm eyed like a hawk when I just wanna pet them..
http://www.ratfanclub.org/repro.html
http://www.ratsauce.com/breeding/index.php
http://www.spoiledratten.com/raisingpupscontent.html
http://www.worldofrats.com/ROUSBreedingFAQ5.html
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I think if they are eating on their own with no problem at all, then mom should be housed alone, untill she has her litter. Dont worry about her being lonely, Im she she would love the time for herself. Do Not keep the male with her or anywhere near her, even if its only for a min of play time. Keep the male in a different cage.
Even if shes not your rat, you are the one asking for our advise. You need to have your sister own up to her responsibilities and take care of her rats, which means getting her male or momma rat fixed. Its either that, keeping the two separate, or finding her male or the momma and babies new homes. Get yoru sister to talk on the forum, already its sounding like she really doesnt care whats going on...you seem to care more than her. How old is your sister? Does she have a job? Whos paying for the her rats food, bedding...stuff like that right now?
I dont know too much about rats this young so Im hoping someone will comment on how to care for these babies while momma is preparing for the new litter.
You said YOU were worried about letting these babies become Snake food...Does that mean YOU are responsible for these babies? It's sounding like your sisiter has given you ALL control of these rats, and if thats true then you need to take charge. Just becuase these are your "sisters" rats, doesnt mean you cant make a differance. Please try to get your sister involved in the forums!
Even if shes not your rat, you are the one asking for our advise. You need to have your sister own up to her responsibilities and take care of her rats, which means getting her male or momma rat fixed. Its either that, keeping the two separate, or finding her male or the momma and babies new homes. Get yoru sister to talk on the forum, already its sounding like she really doesnt care whats going on...you seem to care more than her. How old is your sister? Does she have a job? Whos paying for the her rats food, bedding...stuff like that right now?
I dont know too much about rats this young so Im hoping someone will comment on how to care for these babies while momma is preparing for the new litter.
You said YOU were worried about letting these babies become Snake food...Does that mean YOU are responsible for these babies? It's sounding like your sisiter has given you ALL control of these rats, and if thats true then you need to take charge. Just becuase these are your "sisters" rats, doesnt mean you cant make a differance. Please try to get your sister involved in the forums!
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Thank you hippy for all those links. I was just about too look for some to post as options.
My sister is 17, she has a full time job but won't pay the money to get her spayed.
When she moved out I refused to let her take her rat with her because I knew it wouldn't be properly cared for. She ended up buying the male and that's how this started.
She won't even buy a suitable cage for her male rat.
My mom pays for all of the rats food/bedding and I am the sole caregiver. My sister will give the rats food/water but I'm stuck cleaning ALL of the cages. She has cleaned the cage ONCE in two months.
I do not want the babies to be snake food but I don;t want the mom getting in worse condition that she already is.
I gave her some mozzarella cheese tonight and tomorrow morning I'll cook the rats a few hard boiled eggs.
I am the one who is finding homes for these rats too. She found homes for three of them but I doubt they were good homes.
One of the girls was homeless a few months ago that took a rat while I wasn;t home so I couldn;t stop her.
I'm 16 by the way and I have a job but all the money from it goes to my horse.
Oh and I have NO clue how the girl stole the rats. At the petstore the rats are in a back room but can be seen through glass. The hamsters have a cage where you can pet them though so it'd be easy to steal one.
When she moved out I refused to let her take her rat with her because I knew it wouldn't be properly cared for. She ended up buying the male and that's how this started.
She won't even buy a suitable cage for her male rat.
My mom pays for all of the rats food/bedding and I am the sole caregiver. My sister will give the rats food/water but I'm stuck cleaning ALL of the cages. She has cleaned the cage ONCE in two months.
I do not want the babies to be snake food but I don;t want the mom getting in worse condition that she already is.
I gave her some mozzarella cheese tonight and tomorrow morning I'll cook the rats a few hard boiled eggs.
I am the one who is finding homes for these rats too. She found homes for three of them but I doubt they were good homes.
One of the girls was homeless a few months ago that took a rat while I wasn;t home so I couldn;t stop her.I'm 16 by the way and I have a job but all the money from it goes to my horse.
Oh and I have NO clue how the girl stole the rats. At the petstore the rats are in a back room but can be seen through glass. The hamsters have a cage where you can pet them though so it'd be easy to steal one.
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Well if your sister has nothing to do with the rats, and you even said that you are the sole caregiver than those rats your your responsibility, not your sisters...You said you have no control of what happends to them, but you do, beaucse you are the one taking care of them...Anyways, what you need to do is keep the male separated from the female FOR GOOD. No more putting them together or else you are going to get more babies, and thats not good for you or momma rat. If you arnt able to do that, at least get the male a good home and then all you have to deal with is the momma and the babies.
Are the babies eating alright by themselves now, good enough for momma to be alone?
Are the babies eating alright by themselves now, good enough for momma to be alone?
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What food is momma rat on?
I never said I have no control of what happens to them?
I try my best to ensure that they go to good homes, but if my sister gives rats away when I'm not home I can't do anything about it. I tell her not to give them to anyone unless they are competant of taking care of them but she doesn't always listen.
Why do you keep bringing up the father? He doesn't have any contact with the females ever now. We just didn't realize how fast rats can get pregnant.
I'm not sure. My mom buys it. Random pelleted foods. All of the bags are thrown away now too.
What should I recommend that she buy next?
I also feed them fresh food everyday and other random healthy food I eat.
I try my best to ensure that they go to good homes, but if my sister gives rats away when I'm not home I can't do anything about it. I tell her not to give them to anyone unless they are competant of taking care of them but she doesn't always listen.
Why do you keep bringing up the father? He doesn't have any contact with the females ever now. We just didn't realize how fast rats can get pregnant.
I'm not sure. My mom buys it. Random pelleted foods. All of the bags are thrown away now too.
What should I recommend that she buy next?
I also feed them fresh food everyday and other random healthy food I eat.
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Here you pretty much said you couldnt do anything about it.RainyDays said:
Stealing a rat. Wow. Guess she asked for it and then walked out without paying. Crazy.
The babies need to be separated male/female at 5 weeks. If you need help sexing, feel free to post pictures and we'll help. Theoretically the babies could live with Dad. If you don't know which babies are from which litter, you'll want to figure it out or mark them or something.
Look into a rat rescue to help, maybe have her pick a gender to keep and give the rest to the rescue or a no-kill shelter, once they're old enough (about 5/6 weeks for the babies).
Look for Esbilac (I think that's spelled right) or soy human formula to help the babies. Feed them and the mom lots of good protein foods. Get them off the pellet food, it's usually worthless. Make sure they aren't kept on pine or cedar and if they're in tanks they have to be cleaned daily.
Hope it all works out.
The babies need to be separated male/female at 5 weeks. If you need help sexing, feel free to post pictures and we'll help. Theoretically the babies could live with Dad. If you don't know which babies are from which litter, you'll want to figure it out or mark them or something.
Look into a rat rescue to help, maybe have her pick a gender to keep and give the rest to the rescue or a no-kill shelter, once they're old enough (about 5/6 weeks for the babies).
Look for Esbilac (I think that's spelled right) or soy human formula to help the babies. Feed them and the mom lots of good protein foods. Get them off the pellet food, it's usually worthless. Make sure they aren't kept on pine or cedar and if they're in tanks they have to be cleaned daily.
Hope it all works out.
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Im asking about the Males because I wasn’t sure if you has 1 male or two, on your other post you had said you wanted to keep ANOTHER male, so that got me a bit confused, either way Im trying to help you here, so there is no need for attitude.
Now that you know that rats DO breed that fast...stop putting the males and females together in the future.
Rats like any other animal, need a certain type of diet...any type of random pellet food isn’t good enough. There are many threads on this forum that talk about what SHOULD be fed. I suggest you which over to a more appropriate food ASAP. Right now Im feeding mine, Nutro Light dog food, but again there are MANY more on other threads, just check them out.
As for your sister, I think you need to talk to her or have you, your mom and her all talk together about what responsibility means. She obviously doesn’t give a crap about what’s happening to these rats and if I were in your shoes I would tell her that if she’s not going to take proper care of them that you are going to take them from here-on-in and that she has no right in taking any of them to just randomly give out to people...that’s just stupid!
Now that you know that rats DO breed that fast...stop putting the males and females together in the future.
Rats like any other animal, need a certain type of diet...any type of random pellet food isn’t good enough. There are many threads on this forum that talk about what SHOULD be fed. I suggest you which over to a more appropriate food ASAP. Right now Im feeding mine, Nutro Light dog food, but again there are MANY more on other threads, just check them out.
As for your sister, I think you need to talk to her or have you, your mom and her all talk together about what responsibility means. She obviously doesn’t give a crap about what’s happening to these rats and if I were in your shoes I would tell her that if she’s not going to take proper care of them that you are going to take them from here-on-in and that she has no right in taking any of them to just randomly give out to people...that’s just stupid!
Why are you guys acting like I'm completely clueless?
I'll change their food.
I find it very easy to sex them even when the boys ball haven't dropped yet. There's 6 males and 4 females. They'll be seperated at 5 weeks. Which I knew already.
It's very easy to tell which rats are from which litter. There's a huge size difference.
They've never been on pine/cedar.
I use Yesterday's news, a horse pelleted bedding, and aspen shavings.
Unless I absolutely can't find good homes for the rats I won't be taking them to a shelter because that's irresponsible.
The males haven't had ANY contact with the mom or other females and won't be since the last accident.
I've already had some talks with my sister but I guess I need to have another one. I'm selling the babies because it isn't good to give them away for free(I'm just charging $3 per rat) and she expects some of the money. It's ridiculous.
I'll change their food.
I find it very easy to sex them even when the boys ball haven't dropped yet. There's 6 males and 4 females. They'll be seperated at 5 weeks. Which I knew already.
It's very easy to tell which rats are from which litter. There's a huge size difference.
They've never been on pine/cedar.
I use Yesterday's news, a horse pelleted bedding, and aspen shavings.
Unless I absolutely can't find good homes for the rats I won't be taking them to a shelter because that's irresponsible.
The males haven't had ANY contact with the mom or other females and won't be since the last accident.
I've already had some talks with my sister but I guess I need to have another one. I'm selling the babies because it isn't good to give them away for free(I'm just charging $3 per rat) and she expects some of the money. It's ridiculous.
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Wow, where did you get your info from... ? Nutro light is actually a very high quality gog food which IS good for rats to eat.......... :? maybe you should spend more time thinking about what experianced rat owners are telling you instead of secound guessing them.RainyDays said:
Ok if you sell the babies for 3 eahc then you are going to get alot of snake people that will simply tell you what you want to hear. I would charge 10 each to make sure. Also the Nutro Lite that Jennie is feeding her rats is a very good food for rats. Cat food is not very good for rats though. Are you offering momma baby food at all?
I think I might still have some... if not then I can probably get some tonight. I'm going to see if I can get my mom to take me to the grocery store to get proper rat food.
I'll try to get the person that told me that about Nutro to tell me why. I may be getting it mixed up with something else. Sorry if I am.
I've been careful about snake people. It's normally very easy to tell.
I'll try to get the person that told me that about Nutro to tell me why. I may be getting it mixed up with something else. Sorry if I am.
I've been careful about snake people. It's normally very easy to tell.
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Yeah, you prob have food mixed up, and selling babies for higher prices will not attrack snake owners like steph had talked about. I hope that everything goes well, and keep up updated.
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