# oh crap #2 - plus fostering runts?



## Buggzter (Feb 13, 2008)

Anyone remember my heart rat Cinnamon Sugar? I rescued her at the pet shop just getting droped off by someone who didn't want her - and she was in a 10gal with a big male and a weaned boy babe...

Well, after this hard week of illnesses and deaths right after picking up some new babes for QT, I've been too stressed to think about her too much. I visited her on Friday, and she was a little fat, I thought. But she was always a little heafty IMO, so I thought it might just be me after seeing so many small girls who are lanky lean... Saturday, busy cleaning and dealing with illnesses, and I visited two of the FOUR QT houses at least... And Sunday couldn't go anywhere cuz I was too upset over Dumbo's death... At least, couldn't go anywhere until a got a call...

Cinnamon gave bith to 13 babies!!! AHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She's a great mom, but bit me straight off when I went to give her a treat (she didn't get it then)... so I blocked her off and went to count them and all were CUTE and healthy looking... No evidence of any still born, tho she could have eaten them...

SO i decided since she's been in QT for 2.5 weeks, I'd bring her home with the babies. She's settled in nicely in a 20 gallon tank with nice soft towels and fleese and newspaper and paper towels in there so she can make nests of whatever she wants... And it looks to be 9 boys and 4 girls, tho it's hard to tell at the tiny stage and I didn't want to bug Cinny too badly with taking the babes for long.

Well, Kitty (the young girl who had 6 babies had a tiny runt who was not much bigger than Cinny's babes (serriously!!! eyes, fur, and all, but quite small!). I'm thinking that the runt would die with Kitty since she's not growing (the other four are doing great - one other runt already had died), so I threw this tiny one in with Cinny's group for a little while to help her grow. And she's eating off Cinny and doing great! Her belly looks full again instead of being all sucked in, and she's a little bit active like she should be getting right now.  YAY!

And Cinny has the babes in a group of 8 and a group of 6 now for feedings, and she seems happy. 

*sigh* At least this SHOULD be the end of all this... I think... And I'm glad that Cinny is looking healthy weight-wise even with this back-to-back litters (nearly, at least). 

Pics later!

ps - I think the reason I got Kitty was maybe because the girl is backyard-breeding them and only wanted her blues, since the RUNT IS A BLUE! I have yet to see if there is anything else different about it, but I'm thinking severe inbreeding or something since this one is so tiny and BLUE... Idiots... Too many idiots in the world... I don't think genocide is really an option, but still!!! :wink: I'm just frustrated!


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## A1APassion (Jul 29, 2007)

runt, yes quite possibly

dwarf.... something to consider


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## A1APassion (Jul 29, 2007)

Have you set up one of those photo sharing sites so that those who are interested in adopting can go in & take a look at the available babies for adoption?

As we discussed before... I am nearly four hours away but I believe there is someone who is a bit closer (maybe 2 hours) who is looking for rats to adopt. I would have to go back through my notes to find out who it is. 

I know I would be curious to see what you have because my house has a solid rule... there is always room for more. Sure, we currently have 20 here but we have 5 family members who are all crazy about them so that technically means we each only have 4 rats. (don't you love the way I work this out?? LOL)


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## Buggzter (Feb 13, 2008)

Wow, I never really thought of that possibility. How common/uncommon are the dwarfs? I've never seen one personally... How big should they be when they are ready for weaning, do you know? also, is there anything different in their development? Cuz this tiny gal just looks terribly thin, and just ... runty. But she's growing!  We'll see what happens over the next 2 weeks with her. 

And Cinny is settling nicely with the 14 babes. All bellies are white with milk (other than the furry one - can't tell, but it's rounder and not semi wrinkly...), and Cinny is keeping all warm in nests.  At least she's being a good mom as well!

Julia, I'll have to post pics for you soon. Have to wait until Neighbor Katy gets home since it's hers that I use all the time, but she'll be home this evening... And that one tiny thing is about half the size of the normal 3-week old size siblings... Poor cutie, I doubt she'll live, but there's a chance!  I think I might have to keep her to see what happens.

And what photo-sharing sites are you talking about? Petfinder or something? Thanks!


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## Brizzle (Mar 26, 2008)

Wow, it seems like litters never end for you. Haha. 
It must be fun though having little babies all the time. 
I hope the little runt(or dwarf) makes it!


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## Buggzter (Feb 13, 2008)

Thanks Brizzle. I feel as if I have babies coming out of my ears. Adopting a 2-week old litter wasn't bad - I only had them for 3 weeks (tho I kept 4...), but now I have two litters three weeks apart to deal with - and 18 babies at that! AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!! 

:mrgreen: I know others have had more babies at a time, and I'm not *really* complaining. It's just tough right now cuz of Blaze being sick and Dumbo passing, looking like I have to redo the house AGAIN cuz of what my daughter is doing with it (taking stuff apart, getting into boxes she KNOWS she is supposed to leave alone and I THOUGHT I kept away from her), then the large number of newbies in QT that I was ready for if it were not for a SECOND litter and the illness and the death... All this on the heels of my husband's 2.5 month long stint of being ill and mostly out of work so we had low low income and savings just about dried up from that! (didn't, and we do have emergency vet funds for when it really is needed so the animals are taken care of for sure!) *sigh* I just need a day to sleep and NOT WORRY ABOUT ANYTHING, you know? :roll: heh...

Rant over, sorry...

I just got back from checking on Cinny's litter. One of the runts died. She has about 4 more smaller babes with her, so I don't really know what the total # will be over the next days, actually... But she has them in separate piles for feeding, and I'm taking the fat fed ones out for about 20 minutes in a warm bowl covered so Cinny gets to feed the ones needing it without the big kids bugging her (giving them more of a chance this way). And that group has all but one runt in it. All will get milk bellies after she goes to them, but when I check them they sometimes have NOTHING in their bellies. I've only done it twice, but it has worked so far. 

Pics sometime... Today I guess it is! When I'm awake and ready...


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## A1APassion (Jul 29, 2007)

you can set up a free account on spots like flickr.com, photobucket.com, oh gosh-there are dozens of them out there

all you do is upload the pics from your computer, be sure that you set things up so the images are public (most sites offer the option of marking the account completely private/share with friends/ share with everyone) 

The benefit is that you can keep all the photos up there to view & you can add the pictures at your leisure & then simply direct people to the web address to view the photos... you can even post that link in your signature so anytime anyone sees your posts all they have to do is click that link & they will be directed to your page. 

You also have the ability to write a description in the photo, so you can inform viewers some info about the rats they look at... you can even set up sub-folders so that you can list available rats for adoptions & then have your show-off gallery of your permanent residents that are not available.

Is that too techy for you? Let me know if you need some help, I'd be more than happy to help you set up something with a screen name & a temporary pass word that you could change once I got you rolling on it on your own. It really is no effort on my part, it would only take a couple of minutes to set up & then a little one to one chat via the rat chat room we have here (if the thing is still up & running) or we could use something like yahoo, aim/aol or msn

Let me know... my online time is best in the mornings between 9 am & 11 am after everyone has left for work & school.

****oh & there is a perk for me... I get to see all the baby pics before anyone else so that means I claim dibs on some before anyone else... nanner-nanner!


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## Buggzter (Feb 13, 2008)

*sigh* I just checked on that runt - she passed away.  Poor baby. At least she had a slightly better chance with Cinnamon mothering her, cuz her belly didn't look empty all the time with her... I'm so sick of sickness and death. I'm fortunate that none of my ratties are older now, so not too much worry of old age deaths for awhile!

LOL!!! Julia, I LOVE that face! Becca and I cracked up over that thing! :lol: Thanks! 

I have one photobucket site, but there's a bunch of personal stuff on it that I can't really share for my son's sake of privacy in the matter of his adoption/birth family (me)... But how about I start up a flicker account and pm you the link first?? :mrgreen: I'll have to figure out the subfolder thing, but I don't think that will be too hard (computers are not too difficult for me, normally...). I'll absolutely PM you when and if I need help tho!  And you'll get the link first and let you pick if you want any of the kiddos before anyone else gets them. 

Cheers! I'll let you know when it's up... :wink:


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## Brizzle (Mar 26, 2008)

Aw, poor girl. 

I hope everything gets better for you. I can't even imagine how stressed out you are with all that stuff going on.


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## A1APassion (Jul 29, 2007)

sorry to hear the lil girl didn't make it... you just have to believe that it was for the best.


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