# Just adopted a pregnant girl - Bijou



## Finnebon (Jul 15, 2013)

Hello all! This is my first post. I've read lots of helpful information on this site before but have never posted.

Here's a brief story about where we're at: We just bought a used double decker Critter Nation cage a few weeks ago that's in great condition, for our 3 boys. We wanted to adopt a fourth boy since we have more room for them now, so I went to a fairly decent pet store that we've been to before. We can't seem to find any breeders who are still in business around our area, and this shop is ok and their rats are usually pretty healthy. They breed them themselves and have the "pet" rats separated from the "feeder" rats. (poor feeder babies  )

Anyway, I went with intent to get our last boy, but fell in love with the sweetest girl! She doesn't shy away from being touched (Seems to love to be pet!), is very confidant but calm, gave me kisses, (not to mention really gorgeous!) and all around just really impressed me immediately. None of the boys there wowed me so I thought we would just wait longer to get another boy, but I could not stop thinking about that sweet little girl! Shortly after, I returned to take her home and am totally in love!

The owner informed me that an inexperienced employee mis-sexed a young boy who was put into the girl's tank and well, you know the rest. Our new girl, Bijou, is I'm guessing around 6 months old. Still very little and soft fur. She supposedly had a previous litter and 2 of her sons were left who were about 4 or 5 months old, but based on how small she is, I'm wondering if they were wrong and the boys are maybe actually her brothers? Who knows, we're going to say she's 6 months-ish.

I took her home on 7/11 and she is probably about 2 weeks into her pregnancy, so we maybe have a week or two to go. I'm so excited! She is so smart and sweet (already learning tricks!), I can't wait to meet her babies. We plan on keeping 1 or 2 to live with her so she of course isn't alone.

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Long story short, I fell completely in love with this little pet shop girl's personality and took her home knowing that she is pregnant. Any suggestions would be wonderful!

She is currently on a staple diet of Oxbow Regal Rat. Since she is preggo, I am also making sure she has plenty of healthy foods and extra protein. She really enjoys soy milk and tofu. She gets a little bit of spinach, carrot baby food, hard boiled egg, oyster, salmon, a couple dog kibbles a day, and a little bit of leftover dinner scraps, but only if they are healthy. I'm spoiling her as much as I can. This week, I'm planning on taking a drive to San Jose to a great shop where I can buy some Harlan Teklad 2018 for her and for the babies to be weaned off on (good/bad idea?). She loves to explore and spends hours running around and getting plenty of exercise, and lots of sleep in between.

One little thing that concerns me is that she seems a bit constipated. She only poops maybe twice a day, and they're usually large and dry looking. I was hoping the fresh veggies, fruit, and baby food would help relieve her, but is there anything else you guys can suggest to help her out? She seems to be drinking plenty of water, plus her plastic bottle cap sized amount of soy milk everyday.





Thanks so much to anyone who responds or takes the time to read all this, I tend to ramble on about things when I'm really excited!! ;D;D;D

And if anyone here lives in or near the Bay Area of California, I'd love to hear from you if you'd be interested in adopting in a couple months!! I will post in the Adoptions thread soon!


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## Finnebon (Jul 15, 2013)

Just thought I'd post a few more pics of her, I hope that's ok! You can see her belly in a couple of the pictures. And her little heart shaped mark in the first one!


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## cagedbirdsinging (May 28, 2012)

She looks like a real sweetheart. Best of luck.


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## EJW323 (Jun 18, 2013)

She's such a gorgeous girl! Good luck!


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


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## LightningWolf (Jun 8, 2012)

Beautiful girl, and good luck. 

However, not to be rude, but it looks like she's a high white so be aware that some of the baby could develop megacolon.

Though, I'm not sure you're going to make it to this weekend with that huge belly. I'm betting, Thursday.


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## Rumy91989 (Dec 31, 2012)

I'd also say she's more than two weeks in--when the belly's that big you're a few days out. Be prepared. 

She is an odd-eye (two different colored eyes) which is documented to be connected to the high white gene, so I would do some research on megacolon so that you're prepared if you lose the babies to it.

She is adorable and I'm glad she found a good home with you.


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## Rodents=Love256 (Aug 26, 2012)

She is such a pretty rat, best of luck with the babies.


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## Finnebon (Jul 15, 2013)

LightningWolf said:


> Beautiful girl, and good luck. However, not to be rude, but it looks like she's a high white so be aware that some of the baby could develop megacolon.Though, I'm not sure you're going to make it to this weekend with that huge belly. I'm betting, Thursday.


 Lightningwolf, thank you so much for bringing this to my attention!! I have heard of MC before but never really looked into it. Thank you for telling me about high white rats, as I am pretty certain now that she is one. I'm devastated that this might mean she could get MC in the future, and the mild concern for her constipation is now a very very big concern (can anyone suggest any treatments?). I've had 9 rats over the years and I can safely say already that she is probably the "best" one I've had. The idea that she may be affected by something so painful and fatal is heartbreaking, but I'm so glad you brought this to my attention so I can at least be prepared in case it does happen. I'm also scared for her babies that they might have it when they are getting weaned...Her constipation is now really scaring me. She goes a couple times a day, but no where near as often as my boys. Her stool seems to be slightly large and more rounded rather than the normal oblong shape. They also look dry. She doesn't seem to be in pain and is very active, I'm hoping constipation is not uncommon for pregnant rats? Can anyone give me suggestions for relieving her and possibly for delaying MC, maybe by having a mostly liquid diet? I do not have access to a computer for a few hours and have limited information that my phone is able to look up. Thanks for any suggestions.


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## Rumy91989 (Dec 31, 2012)

Finnebon said:


> Lightningwolf, thank you so much for bringing this to my attention!! I have heard of MC before but never really looked into it. Thank you for telling me about high white rats, as I am pretty certain now that she is one. I'm devastated that this might mean she could get MC in the future, and the mild concern for her constipation is now a very very big concern (can anyone suggest any treatments?). I've had 9 rats over the years and I can safely say already that she is probably the "best" one I've had. The idea that she may be affected by something so painful and fatal is heartbreaking, but I'm so glad you brought this to my attention so I can at least be prepared in case it does happen. I'm also scared for her babies that they might have it when they are getting weaned...Her constipation is now really scaring me. She goes a couple times a day, but no where near as often as my boys. Her stool seems to be slightly large and more rounded rather than the normal oblong shape. They also look dry. She doesn't seem to be in pain and is very active, I'm hoping constipation is not uncommon for pregnant rats? Can anyone give me suggestions for relieving her and possibly for delaying MC, maybe by having a mostly liquid diet? I do not have access to a computer for a few hours and have limited information that my phone is able to look up. Thanks for any suggestions.


Right now MC is not a big concern for your girl herself. She's old enough that if MC was going to be an issue for her it would have happened already. If she's constipated or sees so go ahead and give her some baby foods and other liquids that will be easy to digest.
The concern is for the babies. Babies with MC don't usually last past about 4 weeks because the transition to real food is what makes the condition obvious. Unfortunately there is not much you can do about it and nothing you can do to prevent it at this point. All you can do is care for the babies as well as you can and hope that they aren't affected. If they are, just focus on the healthy ones. MC is a very sad condition but there aren't good ways to prevent it other than refraining from breeding high whites (and obviously you had no control over this, so you couldn't have done anything about it).


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## Finnebon (Jul 15, 2013)

Rumy91989 said:


> Right now MC is not a big concern for your girl herself. She's old enough that if MC was going to be an issue for her it would have happened already. If she's constipated or sees so go ahead and give her some baby foods and other liquids that will be easy to digest.The concern is for the babies. Babies with MC don't usually last past about 4 weeks because the transition to real food is what makes the condition obvious. Unfortunately there is not much you can do about it and nothing you can do to prevent it at this point. All you can do is care for the babies as well as you can and hope that they aren't affected. If they are, just focus on the healthy ones. MC is a very sad condition but there aren't good ways to prevent it other than refraining from breeding high whites (and obviously you had no control over this, so you couldn't have done anything about it).


 Thank you, that is very relieving to hear. I would be concerned about a late-onset of MC for her but I'm really hoping it wont happen, and that all her babies will be fine as well. I suppose there's nothing that can be done to help if the babies are unfortunate enough to have it, but I will start them off with very mild foods like powdered rice baby cereal mixed with soy milk and water before I give them the harlan teklad 2018 soaked in soy milk. (Are these acceptable weaning food staples?) I have read that goat's milk is good for babies too and seems to be used sometimes in orphan's formulas.For the babies, if the worst happens and I'm unable to get to a vet, like say in the middle of the night, for euthanasia (ugh I hate thinking this) what would be the most humane thing to do?


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## FamilyRatters1 (Jun 22, 2013)

Finnebon said:


> Thank you, that is very relieving to hear. I would be concerned about a late-onset of MC for her but I'm really hoping it wont happen, and that all her babies will be fine as well. I suppose there's nothing that can be done to help if the babies are unfortunate enough to have it, but I will start them off with very mild foods like powdered rice baby cereal mixed with soy milk and water before I give them the harlan teklad 2018 soaked in soy milk. (Are these acceptable weaning food staples?) I have read that goat's milk is good for babies too and seems to be used sometimes in orphan's formulas.For the babies, if the worst happens and I'm unable to get to a vet, like say in the middle of the night, for euthanasia (ugh I hate thinking this) what would be the most humane thing to do?



I'm not very good at this stuff but I was on YouTube a while ago and this guy was showing how he humanely euthanized his feeder rats. He bought some dry ice and put it in a bucket in a plastic storage bin with the lid on it and put the poor rats in there. I guess there's carbon dioxide that makes them sleepy than they just fall asleep and don't wake up. I believe he leaves them in there for 30 minutes to be safe that they did in fact pass away..


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## LightningWolf (Jun 8, 2012)

For her constipation, it could just be her new diet. Our boy Liam when he first came home he had a bit of constipation. If your worried, give her a bit of pumpkin or squash to help her stomach.

The harlen is good for weaning, especially since it's has a good level of protein for babies. Personally I prefer goat milk over soy milk.

I'll send you a PM for your question on home euthanization as knowing from other forums, it's often a conversation that goes down hill fast.


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## Limouri (Apr 19, 2013)

She's a beauty! Good luck with her and soon to be litter, i wish you the best


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## Finnebon (Jul 15, 2013)

Limouri said:


> She's a beauty! Good luck with her and soon to be litter, i wish you the best


Thank for all the compliments from everyone about her! I'm hoping for the best and will try to stay positive that her and her babies don't end up with MC or late-onset MC. I never heard about the "high white" gene before, but I did think she was super gorgeous! I've never seen a rat with her pattern, color, or odd eyes before and thought she looked pretty special with her attitude being even better! She really is a pretty little thing, isn't she? hehe  Hopefully whoever the father is, isn't a carrier of high white too.

Hmm... would anyone know what to call her color? pattern is maybe patches? but I sort of see her color as lilac, or a cool-beige, or warm-dove. No idea!


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## LightningWolf (Jun 8, 2012)

I'm going on color that she's mink. Do you know what type of other rats she was in with?

Her pattern doesn't really have a name, so you could go with patches. She looks mostly like a really over marked (too much white) Capped-Stripe.


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## Finnebon (Jul 15, 2013)

Here's a picture of what the shop said were her sons (but I'm thinking maybe they are actually her brothers since they looked the same-ish size)






And here's a pic of the same boy with his brother who is a different color (the little white faced baby in the corner)






And here's what all the young bitty babies looked like, boys and girls. There were black berksire babies, some with head spots, and those spotty looking ones. Not sure the exact name of their coloration. Verigated berkshire/hooded? Husky? Roan? Well anyway, here's the picture. They were all black coloration with the headspots as well.








So, I could be wrong, but I'm thinking all these rats are "high whites" as well? I'm guessing any one of these boys could have been the father.


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## Finnebon (Jul 15, 2013)

Just a little picture update, I hope that's ok. Enjoying some baby food. One of the only ways to get her to sit still  Look at that tummy! She looks like a little tennis ball with legs!


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## TheZoo (Jun 20, 2013)

she is gorgeous predicting by her size she will "pop" any day now, good luck if only you were closer id love some babies from her!


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