# Help...orphaned baby roof rats



## Sonya610 (Apr 20, 2009)

I won't go into the details of how this happened, but lets just say the mother is now deceased and I am trying to care for 2 baby roof rats. I am guessing they are 3 weeks old or so, found them on Friday and their eyes were open then.

Feeding human powered baby formula, they are in a terrarium with a small heating pad (I have a snake and her old 10 gallon terrarium with a small heating pad seems to work well for them, and no, no worries about the snake).

I didn't think they would survive but it has been 3 days (one passed on a couple of days ago, but that one looked bad from the first day and I expected it). One is eating out of a dish as well as the bottle.

One issue I have is cleanliness, they are no longer cute and fluffy, their fur is a sticky mess due to the formula feeding (it gets everywhere). I have tried rinsing them in luke warm water but it didn't help and they are so very tiny I am afraid of overbathing them. I did put them on the heating pad after their bath with a towel. 

Am I doing the wrong thing by giving them regular powered formula instead of soy formula? Can I bathe them safely? I worry that with their hair being all glumped up they are suspectable to the cold, but this has to be a common problem whenever these little guys are bottle fed.

Thanks.


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## ration1802 (Sep 25, 2007)

You are better off giving them something like kitten formula or a soya based formula. Are they old enough to go to the toilet by themselves? Young rats need their mothers to stimulate bowel movements (rubbing a cotton bud damp with warm water over their genitals until they go works well). You could get some lab blocks for rats and soak them in soya milk, even, to encourage them to wean and get on hard foods asap (in addition to the formula right now)

You can bathe them .. but I wouldn't submerge them in water. I would dampen a cloth and wipe them down with it, instead. Doing this after every feeding could help stop them getting all nasty


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## Sonya610 (Apr 20, 2009)

Oh yeah they go to the bathroom on their own. Their eyes have been open for a while. Honestly they are very wobbly (especially one of them) and they are NEVER good eaters. Have to coax them to get them to eat from the bottle at all, and its more like an eye dropper because I an squeezing drops into their mouth.

I think I am going to lose another one, the third one eats out of a dish, plus he also nibbles a bit at semi-solid food when he wants so he maybe okay, but I will feel so sad if he is alone.


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## Maple (Jun 9, 2008)

awwww I feel so bad for them~!
are they doing ok now??
do you have any pics??


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