# Caring for BABY ORPHAN RAT



## HomeworkCrazy (Mar 24, 2012)

Recently at the High School we were moving large bales of packaged wood chips. Lifted one up and there was movement under loose wood chips, well I moved it and it was a tiny baby rat. I left the area and left it alone for about 10minutes and came back and it was still there so I picked it up and brought it home. 
I have it in a 10gallon aqaurium right now with old blankets and a heating pad set up to medium to reach thru the blankets. I gave it a stuffed animal for maximum comfort and the tank has a vented lid for mass air circulation and so the cats and dogs will not be able to get to it.







Pictured here is the baby. It obviously has fur and it is actually a grey color but the camera showed it as brown. I'm pretty sure it is a female and she was not skinny when I found her. Her eyes and ears appear to be closed but she is an extremely active little girl. When I hold her she is okay but when I place her on the ground she runs like a madman! She cleans herself and stands on her back legs when she gets milk on her face and such so she does maintain self-grooming.
So what I have been doing so far is feeding her every 2hours (during night, too!) a soy milk mixture. I mix together 1/2tsp. of regular soy milk and 1/2tsp. of warm water and mix that together as her formula. I feed it to her via. a very small syringe that she accepts easily. I warm it up before I give it to her. If you ask me she is plump and not overweight but then again I have never owned a rat so I don't know for sure. You tell me.
I have been stimulating her to go potty for me and occasionally she does but I noticed there are little turds and wet spots in the tank so she is capable of pottying on her own. Her stools appear to be healthy to me. Small, brown or yellowish and not runny.
I'm just wondering if I'm providing all the right stuff and if anybody can tell me how old she may be and in how many days I can start to decrease the formula times and when I may be able to put her on different substrate and start moving her to solid foods and such. Again, I have had her about 3days now and she appears to be doing well.


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## therathugger (Feb 9, 2012)

She looks adorable! But sadly I am not very knowledgable of the weaning process and such. Good luck though!


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## Kinsey (Jun 14, 2009)

That looks like a mouse. I suggest you read this-
http://www.thefunmouse.com/info/orphanedmice.cfm

And some of the stuff in this will help you also-
http://www.thefunmouse.com/info/index.cfm

She is adorable, and I hope she continues to do well. Soy milk is not a good food for her, she needs KMR.


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## HomeworkCrazy (Mar 24, 2012)

Are you sure that is a mouse? My brother (who is 24years) put up a big debate about whether it was a mouse or rat and baby mouse that is this size would be full grown with ears and eyes open by now? Are you positive that it is a mouse?


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## Korra (Dec 11, 2011)

I'm pretty sure it is a mouse too.


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## RatzRUs (Feb 5, 2012)

It's adorable though and I'm glad you saved her


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## HomeworkCrazy (Mar 24, 2012)

Ohmygosh! This is so exciting! Baby is running around and eyes are opening along with ears! I'm so pumped!


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## TobyRat (May 24, 2011)

I also believe it's a mouse. Will you be returning her to the wild when she is weaned? She may soon become difficult to handle. You can try adding the formula to some "solid" foods such as baby oatmeal or crushed lab block and putting a small amount in a shallow dish to encourage her to eat on her own.


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## Kinsey (Jun 14, 2009)

Since her eyes have opened, start mixing the KMR with oatmeal so she can learn to eat without help.

Wild mice can live 4-5 years in captivity and they usually aren't happy. It is best to release her. The link I gave should have instructions for that.

Yes, it is a mouse, for sure. She is very very small, too much so to be a rat.


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