# Pregnant rats?



## Squitchley (May 23, 2011)

I bought my first 2 rats from a pet shop 17 days ago, they are 3-4 month old as I was told. Though, they did seem unsure about the age. I've handled them daily since, one of them, Sparkey is confident as anything whereas the other, Turbo, is very skittish and shy. Turbo's become a lot more nervous lately, refusing to let me pick her up, or go near her with my hand. She bit me once today. I also noticed yesterday that both of their nipples had become a lot more prominent. I hadn't seen them before. Turbo has also started hoarding food, & they've both gone crazy with the nest making. Do you think they could be pregnant? I'll try get some pictures up tomorrow, but they're both hard to keep still for long. 

Thanks, 

Leah


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## Kiko (Sep 18, 2009)

Sounds like typical pregnant behavior, and they are the right age, and 17 days sounds about right for them to balloon. Since rats are only pregnant for 21-25 days.

The only way to know is to weight them, look for movement in the belly, and find out if they were housed with males at the pet store.


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## Squitchley (May 23, 2011)

Have you got any tips for weighing them? They refuse to stay on the scales for me.
Also, do you think I should separate them yet? Or wait a couple of days to see if they balloon first before separating them?


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## Jaguar (Nov 15, 2009)

get a bucket/container, weigh it

put rat in it, weigh it again

subtract weight of bucket/container

;D

subtracting the container weight isn't entirely necessary if you just want to know how much they're gaining, though.


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## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

The average gestation is 21-23 days so you're close to the finale as such.


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## Squitchley (May 23, 2011)

Thanks 
I just weighed them both, their both around the same weight, Sparkey's at 12.4 ounces, Turbo's at 12.5 ounces. 
I'll weigh them again tomorrow, how much of an increase am I looking for if they are pregnant?


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## Squitchley (May 23, 2011)

They haven't put on any weight & they haven't 'ballooned', yet their nipples are still showing, their nesting more than ever & hoarding mass amounts of food. Should I worry? :/


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## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

Squitchley said:


> They haven't put on any weight & they haven't 'ballooned', yet their nipples are still showing, their nesting more than ever & hoarding mass amounts of food. Should I worry? :/


I doubt they will at this point. If you have a litter they will be very small, but there would still be weight gain so its my guess they aren't pregnant.


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## TobyRat (May 24, 2011)

Squitchley, how are your rats doing? Seeing it's been 5 days since your initial post, I would say it's pretty safe to assume that (if they havn't delivered yet) they aren't pregnant. Visible nipples are normal in females. Nesting and hoarding food are normal behaviors as well and don't nescessarily mean a pregnancy.


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## Squitchley (May 23, 2011)

They haven't had any babies. The only reason I thought they might be pregnant was because of them showing their nipples, which I didn't think they did unless they were pregnant. But now I know they do show them, I'm a lot less worried.


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## TobyRat (May 24, 2011)

Happy to hear they weren't pregnant.


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