# Foster had a litter



## Basiltheplant (Jan 2, 2017)

I took in a four month old foster a few weeks ago. After having her for two weeks she surprised me with 7 pups in her cage. 
I am giving momma extra protein and veggies nightly to supplement proteins and nutrients.
As much rat and rescue experience that I have, I have never had a litter before so any tips would be great!
They're about 11 days old now


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## Rex the Rat (Apr 7, 2020)

Wow they're beautiful ! Be sure to take tons of pictures, they grow like crazy. As they get older and become aware of their surroundings be sure to let them experience the world like noise and being with humans so they can grow into human loving and confident rats.


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## NannyToRats (May 20, 2018)

They're adorable! 

Their eyes should open in about 3 days. Once that happens, they are suddenly a lot more mobile and eager to explore, so be very careful if you're taking them out the cage. 

By the time they are 4 weeks, it should be easy to sex them and separate into two cages. By that time they are on solid foods, although they will still breastfeed if they can. 

We try to handle all of ours daily from when they are 48hrs old. Also every time we go near the cage, we put a hand inside so they get used to giant human hands coming near them.

Sometimes the mums get a bit stressed doing nowt but feeding babies all day; you can tell when you walk into the room and she immediately runs to the bars to greet you, with a baby hanging off each nipple! We try to give our mums at least an hour a day (in total - so maybe 3x 20mins) out of the cage from about day 7. It seems to improve their spirits. 

We also give mums more fresh fruit, veg and protein since they expend a lot of energy feeding their babies!


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