[zozo]

Hi there. Im hoping somone can give me some advice.
My dog found 3 adult rats today while I was walking her. They must have been dumped by someone. So I went home to get a box and went back to pick them up. When I got back to them 1 of them had gone, I had a look around for him but couldnt find him so I took the other 2 home and then went back to have another look for the 3rd one.
Well after looking for a while I thought saw him in a hole in the wall just above where the other 2 were, so I looked in there but it wasnt him, there were 3 baby rats in there! It took me ages but I finally managed 2 catch all 3 babies and get them in the box but sadly couldnt find the other adult.
So anyway now I have 5 rats at my house! I have the babies in a seperate cage from the adults at the moment as I am worried about the babies getting attacked if I put them together. I dont even know if the adults are the parents, although I think 1 is male and 1 is female. Should I try and put the babies in with the female in case she is the mother? Will they need to be with their mother? The babies are not tiny, I dont know much about rats but I think they might be about 4-5 weeks old maybe. They have eaten some of the food I have given them.
I contacted my vet and they gave me a number for a small animal sanctuary nearby which I will call in the morning and hopefully they will take the rats in.
I wish I could keep them myself as I love rats but I am living with my parents at the moment and my father has a phobia, he really hates them. he doesnt know that I have these rats at the moment! If he knew he would be really freaked out and wouldnt want them in the house.
So I will probably only have them for tonight.I really need to know whether it is best to keep them seperated or put them together.
Can someone please help?

 

[hjkaga]

if the babies are up and running around and seem to be good sized and are eating solid food then they should be fine on their own. check the female and see if her nipples are sticking out a lot, that will be a sign she has been nursing them. if they are you can put her in with them if you want. just watch them for awhile and make sure everything goes good.

 

[zozo]

Thankyou for the advice.
Ive checked the female, her nipples dont seem to be sticking out much so she probably hasnt been nursing them.
Im a bit concerned now though about keeping the male and female together because sometimes the male seems to be trying to mate.
Maybe I should put the female in with the babies and keep the male on his own. But I dont want to put the female in with the babies if there is a chance she will attack them.

 

[hjkaga]

she shouldn't bother them. i would definitely separate the male and female, as she will just end up having more babies. they can have very large litters too.

 

[zozo]

Ive put the male in a cage by himself and put the babies in with the female. They seem fine together, I reckon she is the mother, the babies really perked up when I put them in with her, they seemed really happy to see her!
The female could already be pregnant again though as her and the male were together when I found them.

 

[hjkaga]

thats great that the babies were happy to see her. yes, it is very possible that she is pregnant.

where are you located at? i may be able to help you find them homes or rescue if needed.

 

[zozo]

I live in Suffolk.

 

[hjkaga]

suffolk, va??? if so you are over 5 hrs from me. darn

 

[zozo]

Well I will ring the animal sanctuary my vet suggested tommorrow and see if they can help, if they cant I guess I will have to ring the RSPCA and see if they will take them.

 

[zozo]

I just realised you are in the US! Im in Suffolk England! :lol:

 

[hjkaga]

oh wow, you are VERY far from me then, lol.

 

[fallinstar]

hey what happend to the rats?? hope they are ok, were they wild rats or bred? where did you find them?

 

[zozo]

The rats are ok, they have been eating well and they seem fine.
No they are not wild rats. They are tame so they were obviously somebodys pets, the owner must have just got fed up with them and dumped them.
I found them just outside a graveyard, well my doberman found them actually! I probably wouldnt have noticed them if it wasnt for her.
Anyway I called a local animal rescue place today and they said they should be able to take them, Im just waiting for them to call me back.
Hopefully they will be able to find nice homes for all of them.

 

[cupids_cuties]

thats how i got my first rat

i thought i saw a little white mouse runnung along the edge of the ashpalt in front of my house...i ran over and only then i realised it was a rat(black hooded i could only see half lol) i screamed and a boy from my street came running over, and tried to pick it up by the tail...he dropped it and ran to get his friend and i knew they would hurt it so i told them it had run off into the woods, they left looking for it and it licked my leg...i screamed again and the guys started running back...so i pulled my sweater over my haands, grabbed her and ran home.
it turned out it had previously belonged to a girl 1 street up from mine(she came over and confirmed it) and her grandfather was supposed to bring it to an animal shelter and had just tossed it.
so i kept her and have loved rats ever since

 

[JennieLove]

Awww, I love hearing stories like that

 

[fallinstar]

hope everything works out, are you keeping any of them? keep me updated plz!!