# Prenant rat babysitting - Updated



## Volkl (Feb 14, 2008)

A friend of mine is a newbie rat mom. She got two females and then a few days later found a young male who she just couldnt resist. She put him in a separate cage, and had it set up to get him neutered in a week or so. 

she called me frantically like two days ago, saying that she had the females out playing and the male escaped his cage. i dont think i need to really explain beyond that, lol. the story ends with her finding one of the females with the male behind the tv stand.

i told her to go to ratguide.com to get help determining if the female is pregnant. she did, and is pretty sure the mating was successful. 

anyway. shes going on vacation for the week of the 4th of july. can you guess when that is? bingo! the time when her rat should give birth. so whos the lucky lady who gets to babysit mama rat? you guessed it. ME!

Ive read through ratguide.com like 8 times now, trying to prepare. She's going to drop off mama rat tonight so that she doesnt get stressed from a move in the later weeks of her pregnancy. im feeling pretty comfortable so far with all the info ive gotten, but theres one thing im unsure about: what are good providers of vitamin a, vitamin b, and copper for her diet? 

if anyone has other tips on anything you can think of, please post them


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## A1APassion (Jul 29, 2007)

*Re: Lucky me. Any care tips for pregnant ratties?*

in all honesty all you need to do is increase her protein a bit & she should be getting everything else she needs for an already balanced diet. You can add a bit of dry kitten or cat food to her diet until she has finished nursing the babies. 

as for being prepared for babies.. again, your job will be to watch & wait. If there is trouble your only real course of action is to already know of an exotics vet in your area because the hazards of babies being born are most often situations that can only be handled by someone with experience.

Fingers crossed that everything goes as well as possible for you.


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## Volkl (Feb 14, 2008)

*Re: Lucky me. Any care tips for pregnant ratties?*

kk thanks. i'll have her on suebee's. guess i'll add some kitten food to the mix.

how nervous should i be? are complications common? shes about 6 or 7 months old, so at least shes not too young or too old.


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## A1APassion (Jul 29, 2007)

*Re: Lucky me. Any care tips for pregnant ratties?*

have you ever been through this before?

if not, it is completely normal to be nervous

as to how common complications are... no way to predict this, sorry


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## Volkl (Feb 14, 2008)

*Re: Lucky me. Any care tips for pregnant ratties?*

nope. 

when i was like, 15 a different friend's rats had babies and i was at her house when the mother was giving birth. we sat outside the room and listened, lol. thats all.

what can i say, i'm a big worrier


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## Volkl (Feb 14, 2008)

The pregnant rat ive been taking care of had her babies a few days ago. She had 17 healthy ratties, no stillborn. All of them have milk filled tummies and are looking great.


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