Wolfy's thread featuring Sphinx

2154 Views 13 Replies 5 Participants Last post by Poppyseed, Aug 17, 2007

SamsterAndRocky

Discussion Starter · Aug 13, 2007

i have a 2 1/2 week (give or take a day or two) old ratty that was basicly orphened (due to his mums owner moving out of my house and leaving him with me, cuz she said i could have him)....i'd like to know what stuff i should be doing to help him......his name is Wolfy.... i started his discussion in a different thread about his mother, but, due to some disturbing pictures and info in that thread i decided to start another one just for him

lilspaz68 said:
I am pretty sure that 2.5 week olds need to be syringe fed formula and stimulated to eliminate wastes, up to 3 weeks old, then they can poop/pee on their own and eat more solid foods.

I had to look this up for my own 3 week orphan I took in.

http://www.ratfanclub.org/orphans.html

http://www.afrma.org/rminfo8.htm

good luck!!! I used human formula (powdered) since its closer to the original mom rat milk then other varieties.

he goes on his own, in a corner of the cage no less.....i got him some formula and baby oatmeal with bananas, i make the oatmeal runny and let him lick it off my finger, and i give him formula too, he likes to lick it off my finger.... my mum sent us some money today so im going to get some stuff tomarrow for the ratties....like some better water bottles, a couple food dishes, better food and bedding, possibly stuff to turn a big plastic bin into a cage for wolfy until i have the money for a couple really good cages for all the boys (eventually spaz and rocky will be moving in together, when i can get the good cage, and then when wolfy grows a bit bigger, ill start play sessions between them [one on one play sesions, not all at once] and way in the future ill probly move all three into one HUGE cage)

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SamsterAndRocky

Discussion Starter · #3 · Aug 13, 2007

Re: 2 1/2 week old [orphined] baby boy

i'd like to know what stuff i should be doing to help him..... any ideas or suggestions that people have for me would be appriciated, because of his mama and what she went through because of stupid people (including me), and because of how precious and little and sweet he is, i AM going to do this right,

NOBODY is going to stop me, nobody CAN stop me because he is one of MY animals now and i have the final say, no more BS about how its not mine and i have no power, my b/f got a job now too, so we'll have money for all the animals that i have.....we have: 1 Dove (Amadeus), 3 rats (Rocky, Spazzy Rufus, and Wolfy), and a one-eyed dwarf hamster (Jack). not getting any more animals, not planning on it for a while until we are more financially stable.

but like i said, any tips/ideas on how to take care of baby boy are welcome and appriciated.

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SamsterAndRocky

Discussion Starter · #5 · Aug 14, 2007

Re: 2 1/2 week old [orphined] baby boy

i suggest (which has been suggested to you in the past) that you start a savings fund for your animals just incase something does come up,

since he now has a job, we can start a savings fund for if things come up. i know he'll be willing to use his money to help if something were to come up.

About the young one, I would do his quarantine and then socialize him with the other two BEFORE he is fully matured, since they are all males they may fight a little.

does he need to be QT'd? he was born around the other two, and has been around them his whole life (all like 3 weeks of it). as for the whole intro thing, i was gonna wait until he's at least 5 weeks old.

also today i was gonna clean rufus's cage so i put him in the tank with rocky for a few and they tussled a bit, but were generally fine...... then i put them both on the floor and put a screen/box thing over top so i could clean the tank.....so then i thought i'd put them in the tank together and see how they did, so i put both their little hut things in the tank (neither got washed cuz they just were a few days ago) so that both had a safe place that smelled like them....and put them in.....after the original power struggle and them checking out eachothers huts, they were fine..... (oh by the way, they didnt fear poop at all, and they didnt bite at all but they did squeek while wrestling, and then when i tried to break them up cuz i couldnt see as they went into a box....is that ok? it wasnt like bad squeeks, just like wrestling squeeks, is it normal?) ....i looked in on them later and they were curled up with eachother sleeping...... i thought it took awhile for them to do that..... they had a night in each others cages last night, and have been play buddies for a bit....i know i gotta watch them, but they seem happy.

as for the cage that rocky was in before, its a critter trail safari like this.... and wolf is now in it, wolf's night time/nobodys home cage was this and it was big for him, he had room to run and jump in it, so his new cage is HUGE, and it has a loft thing....
and yes i washed the cages thoroughly with hot water (as hot as it gets) and anti bactierial dish soap... no the boys are not in the tank that jellybean was in.... yes everyone is very happy..... the boys love having a cuddle buddy and wolfy is sooooo happy with his new cage (theres more room for toys too)

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SamsterAndRocky

Discussion Starter · #7 · Aug 14, 2007

Re: 2 1/2 week old [orphined] baby boy

the 2 older rats

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SamsterAndRocky

Discussion Starter · #9 · Aug 14, 2007

Re: 2 1/2 week old [orphined] baby boy

yeah, thanks for the concern, it woulda been baaaad if the baby was in with an older boy. and as for the boys being boys, they each have a seperate hut in the tank (getting a bigger cage in less than a week) so that they can have their own space when they want to. they are soooo cute, i looked before and the littler one was sitting on the bigger one while he was asleep.....then later they were eating together out of the food dish.

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SamsterAndRocky

Discussion Starter · #10 · Aug 15, 2007

Re: 2 1/2 week old [orphined] baby boy

yesterday, i bought a couple cans of wet kitten food just to supplement his diet a little more. since he's a baby i figure he needs lots of protien and stuff so he can get big and strong.....he tried to steal the yarn yesterday when i was stringing something up in his cage, he grabbed the end and tried to run with it back to his stash, it was cute. so then i gave him the ends when i was done, and snipped off little pieces for him to stash. he is the cutest little thing.

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SamsterAndRocky

Discussion Starter · #11 · Aug 17, 2007

Re: 2 1/2 week old baby boy (mods please move to general for

ok today, he is like 3 weeks and a day.....ive decided that im using this for his official age......so today i come home from work and am told that the owner of jellybean is going to be at the neighbors house to give them the two babies that she promised him. they thought that both the babies were girls, well little nakie (double rex) 'girl' dropped his balls today...lol. so the neighbors only took the one that is a girl, cuz thats the one they wanted in the first place.... well the one the owner is keeping (the runt) is a girl and of course the mom (who has an update at the bottom of this post).... so that just left one little boy to be all alone....... so i talked it over with my bf (more like pleaded and told him how it would be good for both of them to have someone their own size to play with and such) and eventually he said yes (cuz i value his opinion, and i DID say that after wolfy i would stop). his name is sphinx and he needs fattened up a bit, he hasnt been getting what his growing body needs.....like wolfy has, formula and baby food and kitten food....im pretty sure the mum didnt want them to be messing with her when she didnt feel all that great, and so didnt let them nurse, so all they've been eating is Kaytee Fiesta........and since they were only apart for like a week at the most i thought it wouldnt matter about the whole QT thing, since wolfy was with the mum and his siblings less than a week ago like living with them....... so they are together and they ate their first fresh corn together and sphinx had his first kitten food and loved it, and they curled up together and slept.

(jellybean has been being given antibiotics since she left here, and the abscess finally popped today and all thats left is a big black 'scab' thats slowly being pulled off, she is doing better, not limping any more and seems more pettable)

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SamsterAndRocky

Discussion Starter · #13 · Aug 17, 2007

Re: 2 1/2 week old baby boy (mods please move to general for

i dont think jelly bean was letting them nurse because she felt so bad, i saw the babies today and they are all kinda skinny, they've been eating kaytee food i think, and i think that jelly bean weaned them early because of how she felt..... ive been giving wolfy everything his body needs plus all the love and kisses a mommy should give....and now sphinxy is gonna get the same.

the little girl that the neighbors got is a little chocolate hoodie, they named her sweet pea.

about jellybean, they didnt take her to the vets, and she still stinks...i think what the owner said is a scab is actually dead rotting skin that jellybean is slowly pulling off....its not like a scab would be, its like a deflated black balloon on her side. but its out of my hands, the chick only showed up long enough to drop off the babies and crap...and then she dissappeared.

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