# Can my unexpected new mother have a cagemate?



## Lysendriel (Sep 29, 2008)

Hi, this is my first time here and I'm hoping someone could help me. I'm an experience rat owner, but I still made the rookie mistake of buying two little girl rats from a new pet store. (My usual store allows breeders to sell through them, so all of the rats are healthy, socialized, and kept in different cages according to sex). The new store that I tried only had a tank of girls, who were very young. I made the foolish assumption that they were like my usual store and had kept the girls isolated. My mistake. I came to find out about a week ago that one of my girls was pregnant. So now I've spent the last week scrambling to prepare for my new little family and reading everything I can on the internet. Then yesterday morning Lily gave birth the 9 beautiful little babies. So now I'm panicking! Luckily Lily seems to know what to do. However, I have a conundrum. I always buy new babies in pairs, that way they have someone their own age to play with. As my older rats have since died, I only have these two girls (and 9 babies!). So I don't know if I should leave Spike (my other girl and yes, it's a dumb name) in the cage with Lily and the babies or not. Spike won't go near the nest, she's not stupid enough to mess with a hormonal mother, it's just that Lily seems perfectly willing to abandon her babies to go play with Spike. I'm worried she'll leave them too long and they might die. Of course, I might just be over-reacting, I just have no clue what I'm doing! So I'm just wondering if it is OK to leave Spike in with Lily, or if I should separate them. And if I separate them, when will the babies be old enough to allow Spike to be reintroduced? 


I'm sure I'll have lots of other questions, but right now I'm just trying to leave Lily alone and hope she knows what she's doing. But if anyone has any other advice or help it would be very appreciated!


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## lovinmyworm (Feb 18, 2008)

Separate!! Many many reasons to separate and if I had more time I would explain it better.


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## mishasmom (Jul 21, 2008)

Seperate now, you can reintro later. My guess is after 3-4 weeks when the babies are able to be on their own. Only a guess on the time frame there are more experts on the forum who can give you a better time frame.
Good luck and keep us posted.


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## A1APassion (Jul 29, 2007)

it is best to separate so that you avoid the bad that could go wrong rather than have it go wrong & then deal with the horror/remorse that you should have 

I'm not saying these horrors are inevitable but this is a case of better to be safe than sorry because if things go wrong it is always fatal for the little ones.

You can still give Mom some short breaks to play with her friend such as when you check the babies or clean that cage. You will want to wait about a week to do that first cage cleaning & then only spot clean rather than a complete cleaning. *save a bit of the cleaner used bedding)

At about 2 weeks the eyes begin to open & the babies start sampling food. (crushed lab block is fine for a first taste) At this age you can allow very supervised visits with their Auntie. At 3 weeks you can pretty much allow them all to live together again so long as Auntie never reacted aggressively toward the babies. Be sure to add small tubes or a box with a small hole cut into it so the little ones have a way to duck in & escape if needed. Just before they reach 5 weeks you will want to remove the boys from the girls. Best to get started right away with locating new homes & rehome ALL of the boys. Don't give into that impulsive, he is so cute-I gotta keep him. You say you are new to rats, accidents can happen even with the most experienced. Best to keep only one sex unless you are capable of caring for & rehoming MANY rats.


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## Lysendriel (Sep 29, 2008)

Thanks for all the replies! I've separated the two for now, though I let them play on my bed together a little in the morning, then a little at night. Lily seems to enjoy a little time to herself. 

I'm hoping I'll be able to introduce everyone back together once the babies open their eyes and start becoming independent. Right now I'm just going to give Lily lots of time on her own to be a good mother.


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