Ok everyone, I am in a PANIC right now, so if this doesn't make much sense, I do apologize...I'll do my best...this really could have been posted in caring for unintentional litters OR rat health, so I just put it in "general."
Anyways, when my babies were 4 and 1/2 weeks old, I weened them and separtated the males from the females. This was easy, because by this age the males have definite, prominent testicles.
So today, I picked up Luna, and I noticed that she has a definite lump by her bottom right leg, which looks and feels frighteningly similar to a testicle. I looked at her vagina, and there is something red coming out of it. It looks really, really similar to a "dropped" uterus (I apologize, this is far from the real term for it, but I can't remember what it is), which is usually easily remedied by a spay. If it [/i]is a penis, it is not a healthy, developed one.
Here are some issues:
She (he?) appears to have a right testicle...however, it has just shown up in the past couple of days...and there is no left one. Could this lump simply be the uterus?
She does not have nipples, while the other female babies now do. If she does have them, I could not find them. They are 9 weeks old, but maybe she is a "late bloomer." She is actually smaller than the other females and not even close to the size of my male babies.
She (he?) has been exposed to 7 females in the past 4 1/2 weeks. Nobody has gotten pregnant thus far, but they babies have only been sexually mature for 3-4 weeks. (Assuming they reach maturity at 5-6 weeks). The females aren't showing any signs of pregnancy except for Eleanor, whose nipples are showing. However, her nipples have shown since we've had her, for over a year.
My last question is, at what age is it generally considered safe to get a female spayed? I could potentially have 7 pregnant females here, worst case scenario. I was actually seriously considering getting them all spayed in the near future because of the health benefits, but I may need to bump it up and even could possibly have some e-spays on my hands. But the little ones are only 9 weeks old, and I just want to make sure that that isn't too young.
Here are some pictures of Luna (or Larry... :wink: )
See what you think, underdeveloped male, or female with a dropped uterus...
![Image]()
![Image]()
Anyways, when my babies were 4 and 1/2 weeks old, I weened them and separtated the males from the females. This was easy, because by this age the males have definite, prominent testicles.
So today, I picked up Luna, and I noticed that she has a definite lump by her bottom right leg, which looks and feels frighteningly similar to a testicle. I looked at her vagina, and there is something red coming out of it. It looks really, really similar to a "dropped" uterus (I apologize, this is far from the real term for it, but I can't remember what it is), which is usually easily remedied by a spay. If it [/i]is a penis, it is not a healthy, developed one.
Here are some issues:
She (he?) appears to have a right testicle...however, it has just shown up in the past couple of days...and there is no left one. Could this lump simply be the uterus?
She does not have nipples, while the other female babies now do. If she does have them, I could not find them. They are 9 weeks old, but maybe she is a "late bloomer." She is actually smaller than the other females and not even close to the size of my male babies.
She (he?) has been exposed to 7 females in the past 4 1/2 weeks. Nobody has gotten pregnant thus far, but they babies have only been sexually mature for 3-4 weeks. (Assuming they reach maturity at 5-6 weeks). The females aren't showing any signs of pregnancy except for Eleanor, whose nipples are showing. However, her nipples have shown since we've had her, for over a year.
My last question is, at what age is it generally considered safe to get a female spayed? I could potentially have 7 pregnant females here, worst case scenario. I was actually seriously considering getting them all spayed in the near future because of the health benefits, but I may need to bump it up and even could possibly have some e-spays on my hands. But the little ones are only 9 weeks old, and I just want to make sure that that isn't too young.
Here are some pictures of Luna (or Larry... :wink: )
See what you think, underdeveloped male, or female with a dropped uterus...
