# Juniper's Surprise Litter of 9 - handling the babies



## mamatank (Jul 9, 2011)

Hello, this is my first time posting. I joined the Rat Forum because after having 4 month old Juniper (a beautiful Blue Russian dumbo) for only 2 weeks, she surprised me with NINE babies! 

This forum has been very helpful but I was hoping to get some more information about handling the babies. They are currently 9 days old and all seem very healthy and happy. I know socialization is important but how often should I hold them at this stage? Their mother, Juniper, is still somewhat protective of them, so I've only had the bunch out once so far (at 8 days old.) Also, any tips for keeping the mama rat content and not agitated while handling the babies?

Here are photos of Juniper and the babies at 8 days old.


----------



## Jaguar (Nov 15, 2009)

you really need to handle the babies as much and as early as you can - 8 days is pretty far along for only being handled once. it's especially important considering, as i would assume, you got her from a pet store or poor breeder, and you are unaware of the temperament history in her family. 

they should be taken out for short times multiple times during the day. it also gives mom a break and a chance to exercise away from the babies  hold them individually in the palm of your hand and make sure to keep them warm and away from any drafts. once they are strong enough you can start doing a mock routine checkup with them to get them adjusted to everyday handling - gently tugging on their limbs, touching around their mouth, holding them on their backs, that kind of thing. 

as you also should know, rats need to be kept in same-sex pairs, so if juniper doesn't have a buddy, you should highly consider keeping at least one of the females from her litter as a companion. i would also say she is not russian blue, but american (slate) blue or maybe platinum


----------



## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

MOmma needs out for short periods to run off some of her energy. This is when you handle the babies and take pics. I would say Juniper is an american blue (platinum have ruby eyes).


----------



## mamatank (Jul 9, 2011)

Thank you for your replies  Juniper does have ruby eyes, so perhaps she is a platinum, however a breeder said she looked like a Russian Blue. I suppose it can be hard to be sure sometimes. 

I did intend on getting Juniper a cage mate... I was speaking with local breeders, but then she gave birth and now one or more of her daughters will stay with her. Honestly I'd love to keep them all, but I worry that 10 rats wouldn't get the attention they deserve. When I had rats in the past I liked to have them all out at the same time (I had 3 does) but I also wanted to give them an hour or so of one on one time every day... If I tried to do that with 10 rats, well, obviously that would be 10+ hours of rat time daily! That's not really practical unfortunately. Is there anyone out there who keeps this many rats, and if so, how do you make sure each one gets enough attention and play time?


----------



## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

I keep a lot more than that 

Girls especially love to run and only visit with you, so do well en masse...they don't really need one on one time. They pile into my lap when I sit on the floor with them, but then they are off running. Same with the boys to a lesser extent.

How many boys are there, and how many girls? Have you considered having the boys neutered or the girls spayed so they can all live together?

Two cages? *dreams*


----------



## mamatank (Jul 9, 2011)

i haven't sexed them yet, so i'm not sure. i would keep them all but my boyfriend would prefer if we had only 2-3 rats, since that was the original plan. however i am going to get a second cage so that i can separate the boys and girls before we find them homes (or decide to keep them  how many rats do you keep? and why so many?


----------



## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

I rescue.


----------



## mamatank (Jul 9, 2011)

that's great  how many do you usually have at one time?


----------



## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

mamatank said:


> that's great  how many do you usually have at one time?


Around 40.


----------

