# Broken baby rats.



## nzumbe (Sep 8, 2009)

My rat, Copernicus, had babies four weeks ago and while most of them are normal three of them are much smaller than the others.
They also walk funny. I think one of their feet is bigger than the other but it's hard to tell.

Whats more disturbing is their seeming lack of self preservation. They will literally jump out of your hand. Even if you're standing up and there's no where for them to go except 5 feet to the ground. Are my rats retarded?

Has anyone had this problem before? Did they grow out of it? They all have homes waiting for them but I don't want to give people broken rats.


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## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

Nzumbe said:


> My rat, Copernicus, had babies four weeks ago and while most of them are normal three of them are much smaller than the others.
> They also walk funny. I think one of their feet is bigger than the other but it's hard to tell.
> 
> Whats more disturbing is their seeming lack of self preservation. They will literally jump out of your hand. Even if you're standing up and there's no where for them to go except 5 feet to the ground. Are my rats retarded?
> ...


Its normal to have different size babies in a litter, I have 2 really wee ones in my latest rescue litter. 
If they are leaping out of your hand, then they aren't socialized? If you handled them gently since soon after birth, they don't launch themselves out of your hand...and yes babies have the commonsense of a cottonball  They are not retarded.

So these 3 babies walk funny, have you picked them up and looked at their feet in comparison to see if there are any issues, or are they just being silly funny hoppy babies?


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## nzumbe (Sep 8, 2009)

lilspaz68 said:


> Nzumbe said:
> 
> 
> > My rat, Copernicus, had babies four weeks ago and while most of them are normal three of them are much smaller than the others.
> ...


Oh, okay. None of the other babies have tried to jump out of my hands. They all seem to know that jumping that high equals death. The smaller ones don't get socialized as much because I have them spend their out time with their mother instead of with their siblings so they get extra milk. 

Lately, we give them extra out time now that they are eating solids. We hand feed them so they get more food. They love apples.

Their feet are really big in proportion to their body. One of them also has one regular sized foot and one big foot. They're like little bunny rats. I'm kind of hoping they learn to hop as their main form of transportation...Lol.

Right now their movement is like a mix of hopping, walking, and falling over =/


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## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

Can you take a video? or at least pics of the big footed baby? There ARE things that can cause issues with baby rats.

When they fall over do they bounce right back up, or do they have issues getting back on their feet?


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## nzumbe (Sep 8, 2009)

lilspaz68 said:


> Can you take a video? or at least pics of the big footed baby? There ARE things that can cause issues with baby rats.
> 
> When they fall over do they bounce right back up, or do they have issues getting back on their feet?


They all went home with their new families but I just got one back yesterday. He's not looking too good. I'm thinking of feeding him with a dropper. How much should he be eating?

I think I also need to clip his teeth. Their too long. I'm scared, though =[
I don't want to hurt him.


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## Stace87 (Jun 24, 2008)

How is he not looking too good? Can you expand on that?

Rats teeth are naturally quite long to look at. Are they misaligned? If not, they should be fine. Can you perhaps get a photo?


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## nzumbe (Sep 8, 2009)

Stace87 said:


> How is he not looking too good? Can you expand on that?
> 
> Rats teeth are naturally quite long to look at. Are they misaligned? If not, they should be fine. Can you perhaps get a photo?


He's looking very thin and not hopping around much anymore. He's not cleaning himself either. I think he's going to die =[

I'll try and take a pic of his teeth. They're not misaligned but one of the top teeth is longer than the other. I don't know if that is a problem or not.


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## Stace87 (Jun 24, 2008)

Is he eating and drinking? 

There's some information on malocclusion here. It may help you determine if there's a problem with his teeth or not. A photo would definitely be helpful if you can post one


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## Lea (May 15, 2009)

You could compare his teeth to another rat's teeth to see if they are too long or misaligned. You could give him baby food and baby cereal if he is having trouble chewing. And of course take him to the vet.


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## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

How old is he now?


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## nzumbe (Sep 8, 2009)

Well, the little runt died today. I don't know why. He was doing great yesterday and this morning. He even stood up on his back legs by himself.

But, today after I got home he wasn't moving and barely breathing. He died in my hands and we buried out by the orange tree.


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## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

Nzumbe said:


> Well, the little runt died today. I don't know why. He was doing great yesterday and this morning. He even stood up on his back legs by himself.
> 
> But, today after I got home he wasn't moving and barely breathing. He died in my hands and we buried out by the orange tree.


How old was he?


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## nzumbe (Sep 8, 2009)

lilspaz68 said:


> Nzumbe said:
> 
> 
> > Well, the little runt died today. I don't know why. He was doing great yesterday and this morning. He even stood up on his back legs by himself.
> ...


About 8 weeks.


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## Stace87 (Jun 24, 2008)

Did you not take him to the vets after you posted on sept 29th?


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## nzumbe (Sep 8, 2009)

Stace87 said:


> Did you not take him to the vets after you posted on sept 29th?


No. He was with his owner before that. He was fine when I gave him to her but when I got him back he looked terrible. He was back to normal once I started feeding him. I thought she just hadn't fed him enough or something.


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## nzumbe (Sep 8, 2009)

AvaAdoreSmashing said:


> Sad. Where did you get rats?


I was given my original rats by someone from the Flea Market who told me they were both male. They had to only have been 4 weeks old.

Well, one of them turned out to be a lady and then I had 8 fuzzy babies. 3 were runts and 5 were normal.


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## MahRatz (Oct 18, 2009)

Return them to the store.


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## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

MahRatz said:


> Return them to the store.


do you even read the whole posts or just comment inanely at the ends?


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