# Rescue rat had babies! - Problem and advice!



## Smarion0006 (Nov 13, 2014)

Hi everybody. 1 of my pregnant rescue rats gave birth last night! It was so nice to see 15 pink squirmy bodies, but I noticed she has separated 2 of them from the litter. I know she wasn't moving them to a different location, just sitting them aside. I checked them and they did have milk bands, but is this common? Do I need to be worried about these 2 little ones? Should I put them back or is she doing this for a reason? Any help would be great!!


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## kksrats (Jul 25, 2014)

15 is a fairly large litter and if she's a first time mom it might be stressing her a bit. I've seen a lot of rats try to cull large litters this way by separating a few from the rest. I personally put them back into the nest, but that's up to you. I had one girl consistently put 2-3 pups (never the same ones) out every night and I'd always just put them back in the morning; all of them thrived and mom did just fine with them. Make sure you've got her on a really beefed up diet as far as protein and fat, that will help her keep up with nursing such a large litter. If you do decide to put them back and she consistently separates the same two then you might be looking at a failure to thrive with those two and somehow mom knows it.


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## abratforarat (Jan 12, 2014)

Did you see her move them? If so, I have no idea and you might need to ask an expert. I have had babies, mine crawled. They could have crawled away, slowly, seeing they are newborns. Try moving them back to the nest. See what happens, and post back here. 

Good luck!!


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## Smarion0006 (Nov 13, 2014)

Thank you both for advice. I put them back in the nest and everything seems to be good. I gave her an extra salad, nuts, chicken today so she can keep up with the milk production. She is also getting extra seed mix and everything seems to be fine. I keep checking on them because I am so paranoid. I'm gonna snap some pictures to put here soon


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