# Probably just paranoid...but...maybe bred?



## Zanie (Dec 30, 2015)

I made a post about when Spell disappeared and that she came back. Now we have wild rats in/around our house and I've head of wild rats crossbreeding domestic rats...
I don't think she's preggers... I mean... it's a long shot.
But her behaviour has changed, she's nipping at my hands, telling me to back off. She never did that before. 

I'm probably just paranoid. But I need to vent. And I'm reading stuff just in case... Thinking about housing options and stuff.

I weighed her 3 days ago, 376 grams. I figure I'll notice a weight gain the upcoming weeks if she's expecting.. that way I can prepare. She'd have them around 18th if she did find a handsome, wild boy when she ran off.

Not sure what to do with the pups... I could keep a couple females myself, but .. I'm not keen on adopting out half-wild rat hybrids to anyone else and I can't keep like 10-20 of them, or any males.. 

Well..I'm just venting. Hopefully 2 weeks from now I'll declare it all to be a ghost in my head, Spell will be back to normal and I won't have a bunch of hairless pups


----------



## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

I remember Spell wild adventures! How many rats do you have? Are they all females?


----------



## Zanie (Dec 30, 2015)

I have 6 rats and all females, living together  

Had them a year now and Spell is this far the only one escaping...


----------



## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

If you have wild rats in your house, maybe spaying all your females might be a good idea. They can breed through the bars. Also spayed females won't attract wild rats into your house like intact females would. I know that spaying 6 females could get expensive.


----------



## kksrats (Jul 25, 2014)

Rats CANNOT breed through bars. It is physically impossible for them to do so. Spaying females is risky and expensive. As long as you don't have anymore escapees, you should be fine, though I would take Spell in to have her checked out. As far as intact female rats attracting wild males, I'm not going to say it's impossible, but I've had females for many years and have never seen a wild rat in my home.


----------



## moonkissed (Dec 26, 2011)

How long ago did she run off and when did she come back? Being loose could have been quite stressful and some behavior change after that experience could be possible. She may just need to time to adjust.

I have heard of cases of it happening with females mating with wild boys. I believe someone on the forum had it happen even. 

If it did happen... I would take her to a vet asap and have the pregnancy ended. They can give her something to end it. Half wild babies are not like normal babies. I definitely do not think it would be wise to try and rehome them, because it is doubtful you will find many ppl with the experience to handle them. Most other people will not be able to and they will likely end up rehomed often or worse.

And kksrats is correct, it is a myth that rats can breed through bars. It gets passed around alot but completely impossible. People who say they had it happen are either lying to save face, someone in their home (or themselves on accident) mixed up the genders, or most likely an escaped rat slipped through the bars of anothers cage.

I would attempt to get the wild rats out of the house though.


----------



## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

Good to know that they cannot breed through the bars Intact females won't attract wild rats miles away, lol. But if there are already wild rats in the house, they might want to stick around, especially if rat food is easily accessible...spaying is not risky with an experienced vet. I definitively would spay all my female rats if I knew I had wild rats in my house, or I would be too afraid to give them free time outside their cage. A rat in heat will do anything to run away if she smells/hear male rats in the house.


----------



## Zanie (Dec 30, 2015)

I've had them intact for a year with no litter, so I'm not going to put them under surgery  It's also not custom in this country so I doubt vets will be super experienced with spaying rats.
We live on the country side. With barn and horses. Here's rats, and here has always been rats and will likely always be wild rats.Doesn't mean we're not trying to limit the amount, but it is what it is.

She was gone for 35 hours. I've called a vet, they can't do anything about it? Happened a week ago, ca. She was her old, sweet self untill a couple of days ago.

I'm not going to give away rat-hybrids to random people. In worst case scenario, I'll euthanize them.In best case scenario I'm just being paranoid  
Don't take me wrong. I don't want to kill any babies. If she just get a few and it's females, I can keep them myself. With proper handling they should at least not be aggressive, even if they won't be very tame. But I really hope that she's not pregnant. It's quite unlikely afterall.. I'm just preparing in case..


----------



## Zanie (Dec 30, 2015)

Also, the rat room is rat-proofed. One part of the wire securing was wrecked (by moved furniture), that's how she got out in the first place. But once that's fixed again, the room will be safe. I'll just have to make a permanent and better fix. So no wildies are getting to them in free-roaming time either.


----------

