# Is it possible...



## Fraido (Oct 1, 2014)

... for two different rats to father a litter? I'm curious as I just had an accidental litter from a female who had been exposed to multiple different looking males, so I'm wondering if their could be offspring from two or more of the males.


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## cookiebear<3 (Aug 2, 2013)

Yes, it is quite possible. Good luck


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## Fraido (Oct 1, 2014)

Interesting, it will be exciting to see the results!


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## cookiebear<3 (Aug 2, 2013)

how old are they now? (I want baby pictures!)


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## Fraido (Oct 1, 2014)

Just less than twenty four hours! I heard some odd little squeeking at about 10:30 lastnight, and there were two little babies in there. I went to bed, let her do her thing, and woke up to eight little pink blobs in there this morning.


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## Fraido (Oct 1, 2014)

Three girls, five boys. (I looked and guessed, we'll see how right I am!) And yes all eight are in my hand, lol.


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## moonkissed (Dec 26, 2011)

They are adorable! Congrats on the babies. It gets easier to sex them once they get alittle fuzzy and u can easily see the girls nipples. Then later the boys are super obvious lol

Keeping them all? lol


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## cookiebear<3 (Aug 2, 2013)

Aww what cuties! Do you have any homes lined up yet? I would have such a hard time not keeping them all! I did when my cookie had her litter of 16 cuties (I still have recurrent nightmares of piles of baby rats even though that was years ago) ;D keep us updated! 
Do you have pictures/descriptions of the possible father(s)?


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## lost_whisper (Nov 11, 2014)

I.Need.Baby.Rats. Ugh I need so much money I need to adopt all the rats in my country.


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## Fraido (Oct 1, 2014)

I wish I could keep them all! But I would.. ahem.. have twenty one rats then! xD I think that's a little much.
My dad said he'll probably take any females, so if I am correct, that will be three thay have homes. I do have an ad posted for my area, unfortunately nobody has replied.. but that means fortunately nobody has asked for them as feeders!
It's actually any of my five original boys that could be the father.... somebody put Mum (short for Mumzy, strangely appropriate name, haha) in the wrong cage and I didn't notice 'till the next day. Just my luck she was in heat at that moment. Ugh. -_- Soo, I've got a beige dumbo rex, agouti, PEW, and whatever you call the PEW with brown noses. All but one of the babies appear to be dark in colour so I think Nixon (agouti) succeeded.


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## cookiebear<3 (Aug 2, 2013)

Oh no! Make sure you post on here including your area


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## moonkissed (Dec 26, 2011)

> Soo, I've got a beige dumbo rex, agouti, PEW, and whatever you call the PEW with brown noses. All but one of the babies appear to be dark in colour so I think Nixon (agouti) succeeded.


White with a brown nose, is either himalayan or siamese.


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## Fraido (Oct 1, 2014)

So what's the difference between himalayan and siamese, then?

The three girls and the four boys. One of the boys passed away while I was gone. Definitely not what I expected for colours, though!
And that last photo is Mum.:3


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## lost_whisper (Nov 11, 2014)

Oh, they are so adorable and tiny. Take great care of them, and I really wish you find them great homes.


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## Fraido (Oct 1, 2014)

I'm thinking at least one is a dumbo, I won't be able to post any photos right now, I have to go and delete some from older posts.


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## cookiebear<3 (Aug 2, 2013)

I'm voting the beige dumbo was a daddy. They are absolutely gorgeous babies! Ahh I need pictures asap pretty please!


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## cookiebear<3 (Aug 2, 2013)

Okay umm so fraido (hoping I don't creep you out) I found your thread about your 
grandparents and having the boys, I need to know what happened. After realizing it was your thread I am now curious to if they know about the babies


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## ratorical (Aug 19, 2015)

What cuties! Keep us posted!


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## Fraido (Oct 1, 2014)

Lol, Cookiebear. We all creep, so no worries.
Where did I leave off in that thread? My grandfather bringing me the little bird cage? I'll start from there... so, everyone was out there yelling at each other, specifically my dad and my grandfather, and I was just all horrified, crying in my room. (Awkward to share, I'll be honest.) It didn't last long, everything eventually went quiet and my grandfather left me alone for awhile. Come July, my boyfriend came to stay for the month, and about halfway through my grandfather told me that he had to go home, refused to give me a reason, he just said "because that's the way it is," and "go cry about it if you want." Which, quite frankly, was pretty rude since all I asked for was a reason. So, I wrote him a letter (much easier for me to express my thoughts rationally, and without the possibility of getting angry and yelling or crying or something) expressing my frustrations with that, as there was really no reason I could see for making him leave. I left the letter on the kitchen table and he eventually came knocking at my bedroom door. What he told me was that I "never listen" and "always turn my nose up at him", which obviously ticks me right off because, I am not a bad kid. I don't constantly disobey either of my grandparents, I always listened to them and my rats are the only thing I have not listened to him about, because my animals are the one thing that I care about, they keep me happy. So I don't appreciate my grandfather trying to tell me I NEVER listen. That just hurts my feelings. But anyways, that escalated from there, my dad came down and him and my grandfather were just screaming at each other, and I was in the middle of it trying to make my dad stop. Me being sensitive, I was crying, eventually even my grandmother was crying because she just wanted my grandfather to leave me alone, and in the end I was just told to not worry about anything anymore. Keep the rats to myself, and keep them clean. Once I finish school I'll be moving back in with my mom, anyways. 
So, yeah. They don't know about most of my rats, just the five boys. But I'm keeping them to myself, and I'm keeping them clean.

Pictures will be soon! I finally got on my laptop.


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## cookiebear<3 (Aug 2, 2013)

I'm glad that (despite the dramatic arguments) you weren't forced to leave your boys.. Though of course I would never advocate for sneaking animals into houses, I find it rather amusing that for so long they were in the house-never causing a problem and the issue they had wasn't about the sneaking. Anyway, I was rooting for you as I feel the same way about my animals. I'd be lost without my babies 
Does it still look like three girls and five boys?


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## moonkissed (Dec 26, 2011)

> So what's the difference between himalayan and siamese, then?


Well the biggest difference is when they are babies. Himis start out all white & develop points, while siamese start off darker and fade to white/cream. 

For example, this is my siamese boy Dean. He is the dark brown one in the pics. He is actually even lighter now then in the pics.










Your babies are very adorable!


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## Fraido (Oct 1, 2014)

Of course! I admit I was wrong for sneaking them in. Animals are my weakness, though. :sob:

What would you guys say their colours? One looks identicle to Nixon, who I'm pretty sure is agouti... but I don't know my colours at all. One of them is beige, which is the colour of Reuben my dumbo, but also the colour of the mother. That one isn't the one I suspect to be dumbo though! One other one is black and the rest are all some shade of grey, so totally not what I was expecting.
This one is the one I think may be dumbo. Opinions?


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## Fraido (Oct 1, 2014)

Interesting about the himilayan and siamese, Choo Choo was a cream coloured baby with no points when he was a baby, now he's white with the dark points. Burbie I think was just white and developled the points, I can't quite recall.


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## Fraido (Oct 1, 2014)

Oh and hey, at least I'm not bringing home kittens and puppies!


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## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

Actually female rats do have a mechanism for preventing multiple fathers, but as rats tend to mate in groups sometimes it happens. 

The current theory is that animals don't kill their own offspring... so as the boys don't know for sure who the dad is they don't kill any of the pups.

Female rats will tend to attack and even kill the pups of other females they don't know, we can assume that they know which pups are their own... unless of course the females give birth together in which case they will raise the pups together.


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## cookiebear<3 (Aug 2, 2013)

I think it's a dumbo. Here's my dumbo bentley looked like as a wee little pup (breeders photo). Very similar I think


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## moonkissed (Dec 26, 2011)

To tell if a baby is dumbo, the middle of their eye will line up with the top of the ear. If it lines up with the middle of the ear then they are standard. Or just wait until they are older lol










I don't remember but thought your mom was standard eared? Unless she carries dumbo then none will be dumbo. It has to come from both parents.


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## Fraido (Oct 1, 2014)

She is standard, I have no idea what her parents are though.


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## Fraido (Oct 1, 2014)

So that one baby is most definitely a dumbo, Mum clearly carries the gene, and either she's the result of my dumbo getting at her, or one of my other boys is also carrying the gene.


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## Fraido (Oct 1, 2014)

Definitely.. lol


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## moonkissed (Dec 26, 2011)

Adorable!! Dumbos r my fav


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## Fraido (Oct 1, 2014)

Yeah she's a little cutie.


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## cookiebear<3 (Aug 2, 2013)

Seriously both extremely glad and disappointed that you don't live anywhere near me, I would snatch one of those boys up so fast! Too precious! 
Since the boys were siblings (I presume since you obtained them young at the same time), at least one of your boys could easily be standard ear carrying the dumbo gene. 25% chance of each being dumbo and 50% standard ear carrier if they had two standard ear carrier parents; 50% chance dumbo and 50% standard ear carrier if they had one dumbo and one carrier parent.
If you're thinking only one baby is dumbo, that would make me guess that the dumbo is not the father


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## Fraido (Oct 1, 2014)

Baby rats are just so irresistable!:3
I know that my dumbo is not related to any of my other boys, the only two I think could possibly be brothers is Nixon and Choo.


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## cookiebear<3 (Aug 2, 2013)

Oh wow! Were they already a bonded group when you got the boys?


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## peace (Jun 26, 2015)

Fraido said:


> Three girls, five boys. (I looked and guessed, we'll see how right I am!) And yes all eight are in my hand, lol.


omg soooooo cute!! I would love to breed my girls... but my fiance would not agree


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## Fraido (Oct 1, 2014)

cookiebear<3 said:


> Oh wow! Were they already a bonded group when you got the boys?


I got Murlow first, I took him after he was left to rot in a snake bin "just in case" the snake decided to eat. Choo Choo and Nixon came second, leftovers that I grabbed, Burbie I found wondering on the floor (the place I worked doesn't take back rats on the floor, they just.. get rid of them) he's definitely a couple weeks older than the other four. My dad bought Ruebin for me a few days later when he had a hankerin' for a pet rat and went in to look at females. Being so young, I just stuck them together and they've been together since. 
I have a thread with it all, it's in the Caring For Accidental Litters section, and I believe it's called "Not an Accidental Litter but..." 

I stuck all their birthdays on October 13th, and that is the day we will celebrate their first birthday!


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## Fraido (Oct 1, 2014)

Peace - Hush! Say no more! Lol.. Rat Forum doesn't approve either.;p
I must agree, though. I'd love to actually be able to breed them.. on purpose. Haha


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## cookiebear<3 (Aug 2, 2013)

Wow! That's crazy! They're such pretty boys, I can't even imagine them being intended as snake food. I think it would be awesome to foster mums and their litters, as an alternative to purposeful breeding


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## Fraido (Oct 1, 2014)

Yeah.. part of me wishes that feeder rats only consisted of PEWs, but then I feel a little heartless when I say it, and my little heart rat is a PEW! My baby Mur.<3


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## raindear (Mar 3, 2015)

When my son got a rat to feed his snake, I took one look at his dumbo ears and thought he was not meant for snake food. And he wasn't! Now, he's my Petey.


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