# New Problem - What should I do? :(



## Ratattat (Mar 2, 2015)

Here's the background

_My rat is 6 months old, this is day 24 of her accidental pregnancy. At around 11:30 she started squeaking and giving birth. As far as I have been able to tell she has disposed of one baby, and given birth to another dead baby which she seems to think is alive and is trying to nurse and keep warm.

It is now 3:30 and she has not given birth to any more babies, dead or alive, but I'm certain she has more in there. She is not bleeding any more (there was spotting before she started giving birth).

What's happening? What do I do?

Update: 5 hours later she had disposed of one other stillborn and had two live babies.


_I went out for a little while so I would stop bothering her (I kept trying to peek through her fort and she didn't like it). I came back about an hour ago, she has one baby in two halves in her nest, and one live one. There is also a bit more blood than I would think normal, she isn't bleeding (I managed to check), could this be from other babies she's disposed of? 

I feel like I should take the baby out because:
I don't know if it's the same live baby as before, or she disposed of the first one and had another live-born, so I don't know if she's just disposing of them all
I have lactol formula I can feed it and am 100% prepared to try my best to hand raise
The baby has a milk band so I know she's fed it (is it possible she has ignored it and it has managed to latch on and nurse itself?)

I feel like I shouldn't take the baby out because:
It seems as if she has fed it, so she isn't ignoring it
It has a better chance to survive when feeding off mum

What should I do?


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## kksrats (Jul 25, 2014)

If it's being fed, leave it. If she kills that one too then either something is wrong with the babies or something is wrong with her and she feels that raising a litter would be detrimental to her.


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## aliceinwonderland (Dec 17, 2013)

To help cut down on stress, maybe consider covering the cage with a blanket/towels(be aware whatever you put over the cage may get dragged in and chewed upon) and just trying to keep the room she's in quiet.


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## Cyrix (May 2, 2014)

Does she have a large, clean cage? I've read it's somewhat common for the mother to kill the babies if she feels they would be born into a very bad environment or she'd be unable to care for them.


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## Ratattat (Mar 2, 2015)

I left her in there and this morning both are doing fine, baby has a nice full milk band  I did put a small blanket over the cage, but as you mentioned, she pulled it in and built a cosy fort-nest out of it, which is alright because I can still see in to check on them without disturbing them (I offered her a treat and she tolerated me giving the baby a quick once-over to check for cuts etc).

She isn't in a large cage as I separated her into a deep bottom hamster cage, but she has room to get away if she needs a break, and has had a few brief free roam sessions (no more than a few minutes at a time). It is clean except some bits of bedding with blood on it, but she took those away from the nest and I removed them. 

So relieved that at least one baby survived, and she's taking good care of it, she definitely looks tired but content at last


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## Smarion0006 (Nov 13, 2014)

How about an update on baby and mama? Maybe a pic?


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## LisaPizza (Nov 7, 2012)

I adopted mama and bub  

Prepare to be picture-spammed!


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## LisaPizza (Nov 7, 2012)

Here's mama

Edit: As you may have noticed there's some blood-soaked nest material there (I cleaned it out, have been keeping a close eye on her and she's fine thankfully!)


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## LisaPizza (Nov 7, 2012)

Bear (because she's a survivor, like Bear Grylls!) day 1 - she looks like she has no eyes!


























She loves this blanket, it's super warm and soft!















I'm thinking she's a champagne hooded, what do you reckon? She's doing well, opened her eyes earlier than expected and has some adorable baby chub-wrinkles!


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## MomToRats (Dec 25, 2014)

awwww so sweet Congradsssssssssss


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