# Guess who screwed up? I did!



## Smilebud (Jul 31, 2012)

Apparently my girls are platic chewers... I've never had rats that do that before, and now their is a gian hole in the pan seperating the boys from the girls. I snatched the girls out and put them in the bin cage, but I think I was too late. This happened about ten days ago, and Miss Pip was in heat. Her heat cycles are so obvious (I don't even know if Nelly has ever even been in heat) and she should be on her second since the pan incident. Nope. No heats. 

I've been giving them cat food with thier oxbow (the girls are going to stay together throughout), and she's still been getting veg. I also gave her a calcium chew because I don't want her losing any bone density. I don't know how long the hole has been there, but I think it's safe to assume that it happened around the time she was last in heat. So I have around ten days left until babies right?

I'm going to get a metal high sided replacement pan after this, but for now I guess I just have to deal with the aftermath.. I was so determined to never have an accidental litter, so I could brag about how I had both genders and never had a problem! I feel so bad for Pippa, she never should've had to go through this.

Edit/ Anyone in Ontario want a new rat or two?


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## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

I think there's a quote from the movie Jurassic Park about nature finding a way. And yes, things involving rats tend to go wrong when a determined rat has a mind set to have it's way. Even the truly amazing Fuzzy Rat had a passion for wild boy rats and when she got onto the scent trail of one all bets were off. She could be trusted to go everywhere with us and she always came back, but if we were where wild rats lived... her eyes would glaze over and she would start preening like a teen aged girl and she would start hopping away like a drunk bunny rabbit. And yes, only a very fast 5 year old daughter and some luck kept us from raising a litter of half wild rats. She would disappear for an hour at a time and I suspect that fortunate heat cycles might have gone to our advantage. But things could have happened. And half wild rats are notoriously hard to find good homes for, so we knew we were playing with fire, but we just got away with it. Her life was a triumph, but it could have ended in tragedy every time we went outside with her for lots of reasons.

In the scheme of things rats having babies isn't the worst that can happen, it's sort of what they do and likely what they want to do. Mostly things go pretty well and hopefully you will find some good homes for the babies. You can still turn this around so don't beat yourself up. Lots of good plans go wrong in life, all you can do is make the best omelet you can from the broken eggs and chalk it up to experience.

Best luck.


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## Mojojuju (Nov 15, 2014)

Aside from the stress of finding homes, having an oopsie litter of my own was one of the neatest experiences I have ever had. Hope to never have it again, but since it's happening to you, sit back and enjoy the cutesauce. Take lots of pics, and share the squee.

You will be amazed. : )


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