# How worried should I be?



## CindrDoLLy (Oct 3, 2012)

Well, I'm dealing with my first time ever potential pregnancy scare but I'm not sure how worried I should be.I got home from a trip to Disneyland over the weekend about an hour ago and my boyfriend admitted he "made a mistake" while cleaning my rats' Double Critter Nation. Before I left, I asked him if he'd mind cleaning the rats' cage on Sunday because that's my typical "big cleaning" day and I knew I'd be way too exhausted to do it myself today. To make things easier on him, I said he could set the cage up exactly the same as it was. He agreed and I put the whole thing out of my mind until today.A word about my cage, I keep four males in the bottom section and four girls on the top. I swapped the bottom and top shelves so that the shelf with the access hole in it is on the very bottom. That way, the rats can't come into contact with each other through the center area of the cage where the retractable ladder is located. I bought a couple of chin-chillers (flat slabs of granite) to keep both sets of rats cool since I live in Las Vegas, but one chin-chiller is now being used as a blockade for the one shelf's access hole. Small and medium sized rats can squeeze through the grating on the bottom of the cage since it's wider set than the rest of the cage. (I found this out when I kept the girls on the bottom and my female rat Lulu was spotted climbing around on the outside of the cage.)Anyway, to make a long story short, Michael (my boyfriend) apparently put the girls in the bottom section, and forgot to put the granite slab under the access hole. Which wouldn't have been so bad except he apparently left the boy's cage door open to go get their hammocks and stuff from the dryer. He said he was out of the room less than 5 minutes and when he came back in the room, my two youngest males were climbing around on the outside of the cage, so he put them back in and started hanging one of the hammocks up in their cage. The two boys were of course being nosy and investigating the hammock as he was hanging it up when he noticed a small white face inside one of the igloos. The only male rat I have with a white face is Timothy, who has a white blaze. And Timmy was already crawling around the hammock at the time.So...you guessed it, the face belonged to my female rat, Lulu.I want to be mad, but honestly I'm just mad at myself because I didn't explain the granite slab thing before I left. I assumed when I said "set the cage up exactly the same" he would know that meant literally exactly the same, including the placement of the slab. But now I'm wondering how worried I should be, because she was in the boys area for less than 5 minutes, and two of my boys were probably crawling around the outside of the cage the whole time. Also, lulu was in the igloo by herself. The two other males were in close proximity to the igloo but not inside it. Michael says they both seemed pretty nonchalant. I'd like to think if two males were wanting to get busy with her, they'd have gotten into a scuffle or there would be some obvious sign.So, all this being said and assuming Michael is telling the truth, which he would have no reason to lie, how worried should I be about lulu? Are there any early signs of pregnancy I can look for? Should I check to see if she goes into heat? Am I worrying too much or am I right to be worried? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.


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## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

Did this occur today? I mean, I assume not. It doesn't sound do worrying since they weren't going after her. Usually, he should've seen "wrestling" and heard squeaks.

One option is to check her vagina daily for the next week as often as possible. If it looks like a gaping hole, she's in heat and not pregnant. In about two weeks you could take her to the vet to get a definite.


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## CindrDoLLy (Oct 3, 2012)

It didn't happen today, it happened yesterday. He decided to wait until I got home today to tell me because "he didn't want to ruin my vacation". Which is stupid, because I rather would have known about it when it happened. I would have asked him to check her for signs that she was in heat. And it wouldn't have "ruined" anything, I'm like...I'm annoyed, but I'm not like "oh no my life is ending". By the way he makes it sound, it should be fine anyway. I just know rats can mate pretty quickly and 5 minutes is all takes.


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## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

Usually, they aren't going to just try once and be happy with it. They are going to keep going throughout the night. So, I really don't think they got her.


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## CindrDoLLy (Oct 3, 2012)

Thanks, that makes me feel a lot better. I'll check her daily to see if she goes into heat to be sure.


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