# How far along does she appear to be?



## 18snickers (Sep 4, 2012)

I've tried to prepare the best I could for the mama and her babies, but seeing as I've never seen a pregnant rat before this girl I don't know what to assume by her big belly. Is this 2 weeks along or days away from birth??


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## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

That last one shows a nice big belly. Do you have a digital scale you could weigh her on?


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## Isamurat (Jul 27, 2012)

Judging from the size and roundness i would say she's closer to days away, probably day 20-21 ish, i would move her into a birthing cage with a friend or two for company to be on the safe side. She looks like she's going to have a reasonably sized litter too


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## 18snickers (Sep 4, 2012)

Yes I've put her in her own cage. what has me confused though is that she's SO active still. I take her out to play and she runs around the best she can with her belly and plays with the father still. She's also still friendly with me just as usual. I thought when they were close to having them they calm down as if they're tired and become moody??? I do have a scale, but I didn't weigh her since I didn't know her original weight before becoming pregnant. I'll go weigh her now though!


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## 18snickers (Sep 4, 2012)

She's somewhere in the 250 range. I wasn't able to get her to sit still for the life of me! lol but does that help??


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## 18snickers (Sep 4, 2012)

Also, not to post 10 times in a row, but those photos are from 2 nights ago. I thought she was big then, but i'm pretty sure she's gotten bigger!! Yet she's so active I don't know what to expect. I hope it's not a huge litter!!


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## Isamurat (Jul 27, 2012)

Her activity levels could well stay high right up to her due day. I've seen breeder does still hyper and desperate to be out right up to day 23 (the average day for rats to birth in the line I work with). Typically they don't start nesting until a few hours before birth too. Every rat is different and you get some that get grouchy and withdraw a few days before.

A good late sign to spot is her nipples appearing larger when the fur is lost around them, then spots of blood in her bedding. When that happens leave her be for a few hours somewhere quiet with the door slightly open so you can hear when the eeping begins.


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## SillydogTheGreat (Mar 27, 2012)

Yeah I had a rat that got really huge up until she gave birth, but then I had another that we didn't even know she was pregnant until suddenly she was surrounded by babies because she never showed any signs.


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## 18snickers (Sep 4, 2012)

It's been 3 days since the photo was taken sooo hopefully this means they'll be here soon!! I can't imagine her belly getting any bigger!


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## Korra (Dec 11, 2011)

Has she had them yet?


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## 18snickers (Sep 4, 2012)

Nope! She's currently zipping around her cage like she's not even pregnant. lol Her belly is getting larger by the day though! It's freaking me out that she's going to have a ton lol I wish she'd just have them already!! She's so hard to read...


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## Korra (Dec 11, 2011)

Uh oh...I hope for your sake its not a huge litter!!!


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## Ashley29 (Sep 27, 2012)

I just got my little female ratties tuesday, they were from an accidental litter. From what the girl told me, there were 15 babies! I could only imagine! Please keep us updated, we want to know how things go.


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## 18snickers (Sep 4, 2012)

She had 9 babies today while I was at work!! ) So relieved I didn't come home to 20. lol I would post a picture, but she's hiding them under a blanket so maybe in a day or two i'll get one


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## Ashley29 (Sep 27, 2012)

18snickers said:


> She had 9 babies today while I was at work!! ) So relieved I didn't come home to 20. lol I would post a picture, but she's hiding them under a blanket so maybe in a day or two i'll get one


Congratulations on healthy babies and healthy mama! Yeah, no need to stress her out. You'll be able to get pictures eventually I'm sure.  9? I'm surprised! She looked bigger than that to me, but I guess as more seasoned members have said it varies rat to rat.


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## LightningWolf (Jun 8, 2012)

That's amazing. Yeah I've actually noticed in most rats the Smaller the litter the bigger the belly, and the larger the litter the smaller belly. Always seems to be the ones who show small bellies have 14 or more, and the ones who show very large bellies have like 4 or 6. No idea why, that's just what I've noticed.


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## Isamurat (Jul 27, 2012)

Actually I've seen that a bit myself lol. My last mum Lo was huge, she had a litter of 5, though 2 didn't make it sadly. The 3 remaining girls were all huge. you should see there tails they are proper ropes.

Congratulations on a nice sized litter, I hope my next one is about that size, gives you chance to really bond.


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## gal5150 (Aug 14, 2012)

How are the babies and mom doing?


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## 18snickers (Sep 4, 2012)

The babies and mama are doing GREAT!  I found out there was sadly a tenth member who did not make it  He was laying just a little away from the others and was very cold when I found him. Since I originally counted 9 and when I picked up the little guy his insides sort of sunk down like there was extensive internal damage, I'm assuming it happened during birth. The 9 babies I do have though are getting a tad bigger and seem to be doing very well 

This is their Daddy - Leo
He's all black except for the white stripe on his belly.









This is the mama - Nala














And these are the little guys she had - genders completely unknown even after attempting to check lol 














Does anyone with experience tell me what colors they might be?? Does their skin color show what their fur will be? And if so will the lighter ones be white or tan??


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## Korra (Dec 11, 2011)

I am betting the dark ones are black berkshire and they light ones are PEW


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## 18snickers (Sep 4, 2012)

What is PEW? I'm hoping they turn out tan because I'd love to have a tan one


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## Isamurat (Jul 27, 2012)

Pew is pink eyed white (albino), unless you know what genes mum and dad are carrying its hard to tell from the pics, other than they are pale. Have you got any newer pics, they should be turning velvetty soon.


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## 18snickers (Sep 4, 2012)

Yea I'll put up new pics once they get some hair I'll take new pics, but they don't have any as of right now. I thought the pink eyed white rats had to be bred that way?? Yea I don't have any idea what genes they carry lol but i guess we'll see when they open their eyes!!


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## Isamurat (Jul 27, 2012)

Pew is like any colour, its down to the genes they carry. You can get any colour of rat accidentally if the genes are there, actually it often seems easy to get things you don't want lol (called sods law). Have you done much on genetics? If your not sure and interested I can explain more, just tends to bore most people lol.


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## 18snickers (Sep 4, 2012)

lol no it's interesting to know what colors they'll end up being, but I don't have the slightest idea what their genes are. I bought them both from a petco store so they could be anything lol


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## never-sleep (Mar 3, 2012)

Are mom and dad housed together?!?!


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## LightningWolf (Jun 8, 2012)

PEW as it is called by breeders, which is really Albino, is a simple gene. A majority of rats (especially those from pet stores or feeder bins) carry the gene. Its a simple recessive, meaning they need both copies of it (one from each parent). The gene for it is c/c. I can go further as in Himilayan is ch/c which needs one siamese gene and one albino gene. ch/ch is siamese. There is also the cm/- gene which is Martin/Chinchilla but is Very rare.

I can't see dark eyes, from day one you can see their eye color. Darker eyes means ruby or black. Lighter eyes or can't see them means pink eyes or really bad (bright) ruby eyes. typically by the first week you can tell their color. they seem to be all white with no tan on them, so they would be albino.

To be tan or Beige/Buff which is what it is called you need to have both black gene a/a (Agouti would A/a or A/A) and the ruby eye gene r/r (R/r and R/R are black eyes). 

I think your talking about a True Pew, which is incredibly rare as it is very pointless to create. Its a pink eye rat (p/p) breed for less and less color, like a BEW (black eye white) or REW (ruby eye white). in which case yes, both parents would need to have very little color. those these aren't created very often as it is pointless (years of selective breeding vs 2 generations max for the albino gene) and BEW, REW, and True PEW are deaf most of the time (Albinos/PEW are not deaf). does this make sense?

Haha, sorry you mentioned genetics 

They are very adorable.


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## Isamurat (Jul 27, 2012)

Do you have the pink eyed dilute gene over there in the us? Which also gives pink eyes, though they are more glassy light red then a true albino's eyes. I did wonder if the babies might also be champeign which comes from that gene, not sure what that name equates to in the us either sorry.

Here in the UK true albinos aren't actually that common, we don't have so many copies of the genes floating around really (though a good lot on c locus stuff in the breeding community so could be recreated in theory), hooded blacks and champeigns seem to be most common in petshop lines too. We do tend to get a fair few things that look a bit pew ish like faded champeign roans and the like, or marked / roan himi's


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## 18snickers (Sep 4, 2012)

No the mother and father have been separated for weeks since I noticed she was pregnant. And ok so they're probably going to be white! lol They have a tiny bit of fuzz now, but even up close I can't tell what color it is or anything so I agree white it proabably the best guess for now. The red/pink eyes kind of freak me out lol so hopefully they aren't, but I guess we'll see in a week!


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## Korra (Dec 11, 2011)

They are PE. I saw it in their earlier baby pictures.


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## LightningWolf (Jun 8, 2012)

We do have the Pink eye gene floating around, but its not that common as most breeders don't like to focus on it. I think a lot of Champaigns and Ambers are mistaken for Albinos though. Where I live Albinos tend to be very rare to see. I've actually only seen one in my whole life, my friend though has one who I haven't seen yet, so I guess soon that will be I have seen 2 in my whole life. Albinos are my favorite variety of rat, so it makes me sad.

You got it right Isa, its called Champaign here. the only differences is Topaz is called Fawn (I think Topaz sounds better though so I use that) and Buff is Beige, though our Beige is darker then Buffs so some breeders here use both terms. Beige for a tan rat and a Buff for a light tan rat.

Take pictures when they open their eyes, or get ready to.


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## Korra (Dec 11, 2011)

I'm telling ya...they are Pink Eyeeeee haha. I bet my bottom dollar they are Pink Eyed White too.


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## Phantom (Apr 4, 2012)

I'm going to agree with Korra and everyone else and say they are pink eyed as well. They look just like my two ruby eyed boys before they opened their eyes. =P


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## Cookie&Gible (Oct 26, 2012)

Has she had the babies ?? I hope it went well !!!


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