# Our new baby rats



## gtpdriver (Oct 22, 2009)

Here is the female (she doesn't have a name yet, I was thinking Isabelle)

__
Sensitive content, not recommended for those under 18
Show Content










Here is the male I call "Spot" because he has a small spot on his back









Here is the one we call "Tank" because he pushes all the others around the cage

__
Sensitive content, not recommended for those under 18
Show Content










This is "Halo" and I'm not sure why my husband came up with that name for him









The female still does not have her eyes open yet. They are sooo cute and lovable. After adopting them 4 days ago I am still feeding them from the bottle and helping them to go to the bathroom. I don't know how long they will need help. I don't know exactly how old they are either. When we got them 4 days ago none of them had their eyes open and now all but the female can see. Since my husband and I are new at this, any advice would be wonderful.


----------



## kwoolie (Sep 30, 2009)

Oh they are so cute and teeny! Wow taking on babies and being new to rats is a huge feat! Absolutely feel free to PM me any questions you have (or post on the boards of course!). Enjoy your adorable furbutts!


----------



## Kiko (Sep 18, 2009)

They seem to be at least 2 weeks old. And absolutely adorable!
I would slowly introduce solids, even try giving them a milky baby food mush. Keep some lab blocks in the cage for when they start eating solids. I beleive they are mostly weaned by week 5, and after that you should seperate the boys and girls.
I have never had rat babies, but my girl Peaches is due in november, so I gotta learn hah.
From what i have heard and read, they should be able to poo and pee on there own ( i may be wrong someone with more experience feel free to correct me)
As for what lab blocks you might wanna use because you said in another post that you dident know what kind to use. I reccomend Oxbow Regal rat. But it can be hard to find in stores, in stores i usually see Kaytee Forti Diet, which is a decent lab block. I do not really reccomend seed and nut based mixes cause it tends to cause fat rats and skin problems, and does not have the nutritional value they need. Also try to avoid mixes with alot of corn and sunflower seeds. rats love them but i find that they have no nutritional value and make them itchy.
When they start on solids i would try to introduce some veggies. But you should read the Sticky here on what is harmful to rats. its very useful and I often reference it to check whats okay and whats not. Its in the rat heath section.
You did a good thing not feeding it live, when i had my snake I was told it can hurt to snake, and who could kill such an adorable lil ratty. I always used frozen mice for my Ball python
Hope this helps


----------



## juliebug (Aug 13, 2009)

they are adorable of course ;D

and not trying to jump on you, as i don't know the story...but why do you have babies that are so young? they shouldn't be away from their mommy until they're AT LEAST 5 weeks old.


----------



## Kiko (Sep 18, 2009)

I think i read in another one of their posts that they ordered frozen rats for snake food, but they came live and they don't kill animals so they decided to keep them.
I think thats admirable, some people would just be like "whatever here snake"
Bad idea for snakey and bad ending for lil cuties :3


----------



## gtpdriver (Oct 22, 2009)

Thank you everyone on your comments. I am really hoping that they will all do okay. I am trying my best to care for these adorable guys and the one girl (which will have to be separated soon.) I will try to find some lab blocks tomorrow and start introducing these to them. I will try to post every so often to let everyone know how they are doing. One more question, one of the white rats (Halo) has a pretty large lump under his chin, is that normal?

And kiko, you were right, we bought them to feed to the snake but they were supposed to be frozen. When we received them and they were alive, I couldn't kill a living creature to our snakes. They are so cute and friendly, I couldn't let my husband feed our snake these precious little guys.


----------



## juliebug (Aug 13, 2009)

i see. in that case...

GOOD FOR YOU ;D be prepared to fall in love with ratties.

i don't have any experience with babies that young...but im sure someone will come along and help.


----------



## Kiko (Sep 18, 2009)

Hmm about the bump under Halos chin, I have never seen that before. I wonder if rats can have thyroid issues. He is very young to have a tumor, is it possibly a bug bite?


----------



## juliebug (Aug 13, 2009)

kiko said:


> in stores i usually see Kaytee Forti Diet, which is a decent lab block. I do not really reccomend seed and nut based mixes cause it


actually...kaytee forti diet doesnt really qualify as decent. if ur going to the "easy to find in stores" way...i would go with Mazuri lab blocks.

however...if you have the ability to order online Harlan Teklad blocks are generally considered the best block diet(next maybe to the oxbow...but many rats won't eat it as it doesnt taste very good for them). you can buy it online from some websites like craftyrat.com.

you could also look into suebees mix... which is half homemade mix and half high quality (nothing you can find in the aisle at the local grocery store) dog food. the recipe can be found here. http://www.ratsrule.com/diet.html

of course you dont need to even worry about this till they're a little bigger...but i only want to give advice on what i know


----------



## gtpdriver (Oct 22, 2009)

We don't have any cats or dogs, so I don't think it would be fleas. I don't know if he could have been bitten by a spider or something like that though.


----------



## juliebug (Aug 13, 2009)

and when you seperate them...you really should get the female a friend. rats can become depressed when housed alone.


----------



## Kiko (Sep 18, 2009)

I guess i should have been more specific, kaytee forti diet is BETTER then the crappy nut and seed mixes. But i also only use it with a home made Subees mix and various fruits and veggies, cause i know its not the best. No stores by me carry Oxbow, or Harlen so i am limited on what i get to use lab block wise, and I cant buy thing online hah I have no credit card.
So on the Forti diet thing, if you do choose to use it try to suppliment it with a homeade mix and fresh foods.


----------



## kawaiikitsune (Oct 9, 2009)

I'm so glad these little ones didn't end up as snake food. They're marking are so pretty and they're so cute.
I myself just took in a lil guy who was meant to be snake food.

I understand a snakes gotta eat, but if there's a chance to save em then why not...

Hope the lil guys are doing well.


----------



## maddy (Jul 27, 2009)

what colour are the rats?


----------



## gtpdriver (Oct 22, 2009)

They look to be all white except their heads. They all have the different versions of a "cap" like marking on the tops of their heads. Some have a honey colored patch and the others look like dark brown/black. It doesn't look like any of their markings go under their chin or down their back. Tank and Halo both have the light honey color heads with a white stripe running from their back to the top of their head.
The Female and Spot have the dark bownish color and the white stripe goes all the way down to their nose.

I know "cap" isn't the right term for their markings but I donno how else to put it.
Hope I helped.

GTP, Please correct me if I'm wrong abou their markings. I'm just going by what I can see in their pictures.

[/quote]

Seems about a perfect description. 

"This is husband talking"

We gave our lil buddies a bath today and used a hair dryer (on cool setting no heat). They seemed to enjoy it. We also bought some yogurt treats for them. They are so cute when they eat the treats. Halo grabbed his treat very fast and took off running. Which caused him to fall off the couch. They seem pretty resilient cause he kept ahold of his treat and started eating it without missing a beat.

Time to start looking for a larger cage cause I think these four are going to outgrow there cage very quickly.

Wish there was some form of birth control for rats like a pill they could take so I could keep the female with them lol.


----------



## Lauren_22 (Mar 10, 2009)

AvaAdoreSmashing said:


> How many days now have they had their eyes open? They must be moving around more now that they can see lol.
> You could get the female spayed and there would be no babies. I don't know if she could stay in the same cage though...I don't know though if it works the same as keeping one male with several females...
> Does anyone know if it would work or would she constantly be under attack/ would the males fight over her?


She could defintely live with the males no problems. If you want to keep her I would definitely get her spayed so that she can stay with her brothers. I think vets will wait until she is at least 8-9 weeks before they will do the spay, but she will need to be seperated at 5 weeks so that she doesn't get pregnant.

If you decide to have her spayed, then after the surgery she will need some time to recover and then she can live with the boys. I have one spayed girl living with 8 unaltered males and they never fight over her. She became "one of the guys" once they realized she was fixed. :

Also for food you can start offering them baby cereals with some Ensure mixed in to give them an extra boost and you can crush lab blocks into smaller pieces so that they are easier to munch on. When I raised a litter, as soon as their eyes opened and they were more active, they would sample all of their moms food.

Good Luck!
-Lauren


----------



## chiklet1503 (Jun 12, 2009)

Once their eyes are open they should be going to the bathroom just fine on their own. Their eyes generally open right around 2 weeks of age (14 days)

Around 3 1/2 - 4 weeks mine started experimenting with solid foods. They nursed until 4 1/2 weeks and picked at the food between nursings. Solid foods can be lob blocks, fresh fruits/veggies, or other snacky things. I use Suebee's Mix w/ a high quality dog food but Harlan blocks, Mazuri and Oxbow are good also (and easier/less maintainance)

You are doing a wonderful job! Be sure once they hit 4 1/2 weeks, the females and males are separated as they can begin mating as early as 5-6 weeks of age.

I raised a surprise litter of 10 when I adopted a young female off craigslist so if you have any questions, Id be glad to help to the best of my ability! Keep up the good work!


----------

