# Babies coming tonight?!?!? We just got her a few hours ago!!!!



## JellinMellon (Jan 27, 2012)

Hello everyone, this is my first post and it's a worried one. 

Today my roommate and I went to get a rat, a female rat. Of course the one we fell in love with was pregnant. After much thinking and debating we decided to get her anyway. The lady told us that we would have a few days before she popped them out and we figured we could do more research and get her in a bigger cage if needed and what not. She is a medium sized rat, but her tummy is huge. 

Well I'm getting slightly worried; after we got her home and settled she started acting weird. She keeps swaying her head back and forth and it seems like she can't see well. She has two hiding places in her cage, and lots of bedding, also I've covered half of her cage to give her some extra privacy. My roomie thinks she's getting ready to have her babies, but I'm not 100% sure. Either way we've made sure she has plenty of food and water and we are leaving her alone. 

We've read the threads on here and have researched it further and I think that we're pretty prepared. But is there any advice you can offer? and is this how rats act before they give birth? are there any things we have to be 100% sure to do? right now I'm focusing on keeping her stress down and making sure she has a proper diet, is that right??? 

We were expecting at least a day to prepare, not bring her home, her go into labor, but that's life I suppose... 

Any advice, any help, anything would be greatly appreciated!!!!


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## kitcatcodi (Jan 8, 2012)

Your rats water should break when she goes into labor and begin bleeding lightly before giving birth. Any signs would be her stretching or moving in odd positions that you've never seen her do before. You will not have to interfere with the birth itself because mom will deliver with her hands and feet, chew the umbilical cord, clean each baby and eat the afterbirth. This will last for two hours. You should have 6-15 babies or more, it all varies. If any babies are stillborn remove them immediately and if you touch a live one, be sure to touch the rest including the mother so they all smell the same. Rotate babies if there are more than twelve when they are nursing. Make sure the mother has a nest that she can create for her and her babies. Keep it quiet in the room and let her do her own thing. If there are any complications be sure to call the veterinarian asap.


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## kitcatcodi (Jan 8, 2012)

Also try not to disturb you ratty or the babies for at least a day unless there are any complications, let things happen on their own just keep an eye on them. Leave the mom in the cage and keep fresh fruits, fresh water and food in there because mommies to be need all the nutrition possible for the babies. The mom WILL be protective over her young and WILL bite. (more than likely) so be careful. Best of luck to you!


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## RatMama13 (Aug 20, 2011)

Make sure she is getting plenty of protein. You shouldn't have to do anything during the birth or after. She will rotate through the babies on her own for feeding. Sometimes in such a case she will divide them into two groups in order to feed. Let her this is natural for her. Mine always moved them back together when feeding time was over. She had 17. Mom will know what to do but keep an eye on things and have a vet # on hand just in case.


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## JellinMellon (Jan 27, 2012)

Thanks y'all!!! That's pretty much what we're trying to do. Tomorrow we're going to bring her some scrambled eggs, fresh fruit, and yogurt from the cafeteria and just leave her alone. 
How do I tell if she's had them? We literally got her a few hours ago so we have no trust built up and thus I really don't want to mess with her or look around the cage until the babies start moving around, but I know I HAVE to have the males out by 5 weeks...


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## kitcatcodi (Jan 8, 2012)

You will definitely hear their cries so you will know that they have been born. Keep the room quiet if you can and make sure she has the basic foods, lab blocks, fresh vegetables/fruits and water.


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## teri (Jul 18, 2011)

Yep you will be able to hear them. They are called "eepers" for a reason. You DO need to check mom after she has started giving birth, just peak in and make sure she is not in distress. You will also want to make sure that once she starts giving birth there is not a huge (2 hours or more) gap between babies as this could be a sign of a stuck baby. I don't mean to add to your stress, but this is very important to know. Also you will want to check after 24 hours and make sure the babies have a "milk band" in their tummies. There is no need to worry about mom rejecting a baby if you touch them. I worked with a very responsible, well respected breeder and have raised 5 litters. I always handled them at 24 hours and never had a mom reject them. Just be VERY careful because I have been bitten HARD by protective mom rats~ Feel free to pm me if you have any questions at all and good luck, odds are she will do perfectly on her own.


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## ratjes (Mar 26, 2011)

And...if she is a red eyed white rat, her head swaying is helping her see better. if she is a colored rat I don't know why she does that. Just my two cents.


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## JellinMellon (Jan 27, 2012)

What is a "milk band"? and what does it look like???


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## JellinMellon (Jan 27, 2012)

she's white with brown spots and has brown-ish/black eyes...hmmm...well she poked her head out this morning and seems ok..I'll try to take her out in a little bit after lunch


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## RatMama13 (Aug 20, 2011)

I'd start handling her a bit just so she's used to it. A milk band is a white spot where their stomach is. Their skin is semi transparant and you'll be able to tell. My roommate's rat does the head swaying thing too. She's fine though. I don't know why they do it.


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## JellinMellon (Jan 27, 2012)

Oh my...so I went to check on her and couldn't see her, so I picked up the box I last saw her in and she was nursing quite a few little red babies, I couldn't see how many and I didn't want to disturb her so I just put the box down and am leaving her be....oh my dearness...not gonna lie kinda freaking out...but later today I will take Momma Zelda (mom's name) out and let my roomie hold her while I check the babies...I really wish we could of had at least a DAY not a couple hours of being first time rat owners....but we can do this and everything will work out....right? Right... 

and I can't have her away from the babies longer than 30minutes...


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## JellinMellon (Jan 27, 2012)

So she had her babies in a Kleenex box with all the plastic taken off and what not, and we're trying to get her out but she refuses to leave her kits, I don't even know if she has eaten or drank anything since before she had them. She's refusing all food offered to her and won't drink anything and won't take any bribes..we can't take her out of the box without possibly hurting the kits...just leave her alone until she's ready to leave them??? 

Here are some pictures of the current situation and the best I could get of the kits

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Please help!


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## JellinMellon (Jan 27, 2012)

Yay! So Momma jumped out of the box when we went to put it back in the tank and she has 7 little kits that appear healthy to my roommate and I but here are some pictures to be sure...


















they were taken with my laptop so they're kinda awkward, and we couldn't tell if they had the "milk ring" thing or not but they did have a white patch toward their back...


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## kitcatcodi (Jan 8, 2012)

Did she have her babies? Just double checking and speaking of the milk band. The milk band is a white cream stripe that goes across a kittens (rat baby), tummy. It's only visible for a few days.


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## kitcatcodi (Jan 8, 2012)

Oh goodness, just saw page two! Anyhow! Best of luck! Where are you located? I've been looking for two baby ratties


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## A.ngelF.eathers (Jul 6, 2011)

You can see the mild bands on a couple of them. When they're rolled over -or sometimes if they're really full if shows on their sides when looking from above- you can see milk in them, which is the yellowish white-ish stuff.
~
~~
OH AND, only seven?! Lucky you! That's like... below bare minimum for ratties.


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## JellinMellon (Jan 27, 2012)

Well I didn't see the milk band today, but I'll check again tomorrow and let you know  Sadly I live in Western KS  Little way's away from you...or else I would probably take you up on that offer!!


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## meekosan (Dec 23, 2011)

So tiny! I wish I was able to see my babies that small! One of my girls was pregnant already when we got her and we didn't know it. I found the babies already nearing about 6 days old when I went to clean the cage. Mommy!Abby was so good with her babies, she kept them quiet for so long. I know they were not there when I cleaned the cage the week before LOL.

But mine had 8 babies. 1 died this week at the vet sadly. Three boys went to their new home and I have the other two, and the last two girls. I'm hoping to keep the boys now. I think it shouldn't be a problem as much as they all seem to love their 'mommy', aka, me. if someone else is holding them and I come close enough everyone tends to jump over to me. Even my grandmother's favorite seems to favor me now LOL.


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## jackseoexp (Jun 9, 2012)

She has two hiding places in her cage, and lots of bedding, also I've covered half of her cage to give her some extra privacy. My roomie thinks she's getting ready to have her babies, but I'm not 100% sure. Either way we've made sure she has plenty of food and water and we are leaving her alone. 
http://www.mood-ringcolormeanings.com/


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