# 13 little jelly beans



## Lita (Jul 10, 2014)

So there is about a 90% chance that by this afternoon we will be fostering 13 tiny week old babies. A co-worker of mine send me a text yesterday early in the morning and said her mama rat just died and left her with 13 little babies. She attempted to find a foster mom for them, but could not. My fiancee stays at home and I am off for a week, so we offered to take them until they are weaned. I am just waiting to hear back from her to make sure we are on the same page about us keeping them until they are weaned (about 4 to 5 weeks old I am thinking, based on what I have read?). She has been feeding them this past day and said she will be bringing their "milk" and syringe and will show us how to feed them. We are sort of her last option at the moment as she has no one who can stay at home with them or check up on them, and she has a human baby. We have been looking up, and reading up how to care for tiny babies like this. I am excited but incredible nervous at the same time.

I need to know what kind of bedding is best to keep them in. We have a fluffy sort of bedding, but we can get some fleece if that would be better to keep them warm. Also should we keep them covered all the time? We have a small critter carrier (the clear plastic tub kind of cage), would this be a good thing to keep them in? And what would be the best way to keep them warm, and how warm is enough?

I have been looking up how often they need to be fed and I have found info saying that in their second week they need to be fed every 4 to 5 hours? Does this sound about right for feeding? Or do they need to be fed more frequently?

And is there any sort of things that are critical we know? We have been looking over threads on here and trying to prepare. I feel confident things will turn out ok (though I really hope no one in the house starts to name any of them, or else we might be in trouble lol) but I the whole new mom thing.

Thanks so much everyone.


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## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

I would feed evey three hours. Remember to make them eliminate with a wet q tip. 

I would keep them in fleece in the tub for now, and place a heat pad partially under them. Keep it on low and check their temperature often. 

At three weeks put them in a small wire cage and provide a water bottle as well as a baby mush of food - soy milk soaked lab blocks work well. Since they don't have mom, you'll have to teach them to eat food and to use a water bottle. You should give varied treats at this time too. The wire cage is important to get them used to climbing, hammocks, and all other parts of rat life. Essentially a mini rat cage - id use bedding that is soft here too because they'll fall a lot. 

Don't forget, at three weeks you can start free ranging with them but they'll need carefully watched for escaping.


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## Lita (Jul 10, 2014)

How would I check their temperature? Like check they don't feel to hot? or with a thermometer? 

She send me a text again and said she'd like to take them back at three weeks, would they still need feedings ever three hours or can they start to be left for longer time at three weeks between feedings? And can they eliminate themselves at that point? Or would it be better for someone to be with them constantly until they are four weeks? And if so, is it ok for the two genders to stay together till four weeks? She is experienced with rats, more so then we are to be honest, so I know they will be taken care of and raised well with her, I just don't want to give them back to her if they still need someone with them every few hours.


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## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

at three weeks they'll only need fed every five hours if I remember correctly. Then less at four. They can be together until five weeks. 

And just feeling them. You don't want them too hot or too cold.


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## Isamurat (Jul 27, 2012)

You can probably stay then weaning earlier than 3 weeks if only partially. My babies ates normally testing wet foods from there eyes opening. If you but soft wet food in a very low container (like a Jan jar loud) they will often try it as they walk around. It won't replace feeds but it will help. I use a porridge made up of bird egg food though baby food and baby porridge is ok or bits of white bread in puppy milk.


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## Lita (Jul 10, 2014)

Ok so we have them. Just tried a first feeding the way she did it and some ate a lot some not so much. Apparently mom had 15 babies but two died when she did. A couple are really small, especially one. She has been feeding them the last three days. They were cold when we got them home, would that effect how much they ate? We got them resting now under a lamp, will check their temp and re-clean bottoms in a little bit. They seem to be making each other poo and pee? They had pee and a bit of poo on them. But for the most part they are very active. One tried to climb out of the box! Here is a picture of them. They are adorable.


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## Lita (Jul 10, 2014)

Ok so one is definitly not well, he is the smallest , I'm pretty sure he is dehydrated, and it seems like he doesn't want to feed. He is still active, but I notice he seems to try and clean his nose? It looks a little strange, like he got dirty and it dried, but i have tried cleaning it at every feeding and it didn't seem to help. We'll be going to walmart tomorrow to look for maybe a smaller thing to feed them with, and see if that helps. He does see to be pushed out of the group to but he is o determined he always finds a way to wedge himself in a corner where they can't kick him out.


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## deedeeiam (Apr 8, 2014)

I've had a lot of luck with using paint brushes for feeding the pinkies.


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## Lita (Jul 10, 2014)

I saw that in a few places, we'll pick one up and try that. We lost the littlest one just now. Really sad, wanted all of them to make it, even if that might not have been realistic. Finished a feeding, they have such personality already.


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## Lita (Jul 10, 2014)

Is there a way to mark them safely to be able to tell them apart? Since most of then look the same it would be good to know who ate how much each time. A few seem to eat a little and a few seem to eat a lot but I don't knowif it changes each feeding. Only two we can tell apart as they are the hooded twins.


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## Isamurat (Jul 27, 2012)

Sharpie markers are commonly used over here, normally you wouldnt mark them so young but thats more for the mums sake than the babies as though there none toxic they do smell odd when a mums not used to it. I mark there tails, using different colours for boys and girls. I tend to mark near the base, near the tip and middle, either one or two marks. Thats easy to recognise at a distance.


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## deedeeiam (Apr 8, 2014)

I use food coloring. Non-toxic and it doesn't smell. Also...LOTS OF pretty COLORS.


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## Lita (Jul 10, 2014)

I didn't realize sharpies were non toxic... I'll see what we have with those or food coloring. They may have a foster mom, their owner said they found a mama rat someone was willing to give them. I'm so worried she'll hurt them though, or not be able to cope, unsure of how many babies she already has. And we wont have her till Friday. We lost two more, including my favorite, the hooded boy. Is it normal for the litter mates to push them out if the are weak or dying? Both of these two were pushed out, still covered but away from the others. We almost lost another but managed to pull her back at the last minute. I thought she was the one we lost shortly after but then I saw her during feedings and it was a really happy feeling.


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## deedeeiam (Apr 8, 2014)

The weaker ones are pushed away by the stronger ones, yes. Totally normal. If the mother senses a baby isn't doing well, she may even toss them out of the nest. Almost all animals do this. You know that saying, "only the strong survive"? Mother nature invented that.


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## Isamurat (Jul 27, 2012)

It is normal and thete chances of surviving with out a rat mum are slim whatever you do so don't beat yourself up if the potential foster mum doesn't work out and you loose them. It's an amazing but hard thing your doing. 

sharpies are none toxic hete in the UK so may be worth checking if your else where.


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## Lita (Jul 10, 2014)

Thanks Isamurat, I needed to hear that. I figured there was a slim chance but seeing other people do it I can' help but think we must be killing them somehow. Even when we are doing everything we can.


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## Isamurat (Jul 27, 2012)

Im on a forum where a lot of UK breeders post regularly. There are quite regular stories where something happens to mum and the babies need hand feeding. Very few who dont get onto a foster mum make it. It depends a lot on how old they are when they loose there mum, under a week and chances are fairly slim, if they have got most of there fur and even better eyes open they have a better chance but even then not all make it. The ones you hear about that are successful useually are at the older end of babyhood, its still tough but they have had a good amount of there mothers milk in there. Without mums milk which contains so many anitbodies and is nutritionally perfect for them its very tough. Hugs and i hope it works out for you


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## Lita (Jul 10, 2014)

We are down to five. Tomorrow morning we are meeting their owner and the owner of the mama rat that hopefully will take them in. We'll be taking her back to our house so we can watch her with them. I'm just hoping they last till then, and of course that she doesn't kill them, I've just found a lot of mixed signals on whether or not rats take strange pups in easily or not. Some say yes, some say no, one person used a rat to raise orphaned gerbils...so I have no idea how this will work out.


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## Isamurat (Jul 27, 2012)

Rat mums normally take little ones very easily, at least from the experience of many of my friends. The trick is to take mum out and add the kittens to her nest, mingled in, then add mum back. She will often not notice much of a difference at all. The main problem that can occur is if the foster mums kits are a fair bit older, this means her nipples will have grown bigger than the mouths of the younger babies so they wont be able to effectively feed. You can help a bit by continueing to hand feed the smaller babies whilst foster mum looks after the care hygene and warmth but its still going to be hard.


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## Lita (Jul 10, 2014)

Well we lost the last of them. We told their owner and she said she expected as much but thanked us for trying.


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## kksrats (Jul 25, 2014)

I'm very sorry to hear that  taking on a litter that young with no foster mom is a lot of work, but you did an excellent job trying to help them.


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