# My poor little pet shop rat Sophie!



## evander (Jun 30, 2013)

3 weeks yesterday my husband and I adopted 2 adorable hairless girls. They were about 5 weeks old. We named them Sophie and Ruby.About a week ago I noticed Sophie was a little chubbier than her sister. 2 nights ago I was pretty sure she was pregnant and decided to clean the cage and separate them.Saturday morning I heard little eeper squeaks - there were 6 - we found one dead last night and today can only find 4.Because she is hairless, and they sometimes have trouble with milk, I looked at the 4 today and saw 2 that have good milk bands, the other 2 looked like they did too but it was difficult to tell for sure.Little Sophie has been feasting on sardines, tuna, peas and baby cereal and is being a great mom.


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## evander (Jun 30, 2013)

Here are Sophie & Ruby the day we got them.


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## Ltukey (May 28, 2013)

aww they are beautiful. good luck w/the little ones  keep formula on hand, sometimes even giving the mom a bit helps but im glad shes producing enough milk. I had a mother dry up after a few days& had to hand rear 12 a year ago. mother rats sure do work hard.


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## evander (Jun 30, 2013)

So far the remaining 4 are doing well - it seems like I need to coax her to eat - but she is eating.

I don't want to spook her but I really want to check the milk bands again.


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## Ltukey (May 28, 2013)

have you tried offering her oatmeal? maybe w/a little milk supplement snuck in? she should be ravenous, but perhaps shes exhausted. babies are hard work in the best of circumstances&pet store pregnancies are even more stressful on momma. spoil the best you can. is she drinking ok? where your coaxing her to eat check her water just in case. they don't eat if the water is stuck or tastes bad. I doubt that's it but its one of the first things I check if apatite is off after teeth.


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## evander (Jun 30, 2013)

Their homemade food mix has oatmeal in it - but I mixed up some baby cereal with organic applesauce and she seemed to like that.

Tomorrow - i will try some oatmeal too!

thx


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## evander (Jun 30, 2013)

3 of the babies are doing well, yesterday when I got home from work I couldn't find the 4th.

Mom is eating ok - but mostly only when I feed her - which I try to do every 2-3 hours when I am home.

I am so worried about her milk production since I am fairly certain she is a true hairless.

Her nipples are enlarged - but should they look like teets like when a cat/dog etc is nursing?


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## Phantom (Apr 4, 2012)

My hairless Molly nursed a litter of six. As long as they have milk bands everything is okay. No, rats do not have enlarged nipples, but they do end up hanging out a little more after some time because of the little guys nursing.


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