# Lola



## vthecheshirecat (Sep 5, 2007)

I was looking around for a hairless rat as a companion for my black hooded rat girl. I called all around until a place said they had them. I go to this store, and I find myself in a reptile shop. They have like 6 hairless boys and a dumbo hair girl in a ten gallon aquarium. They were sitting across from a snake in a giant tank. I couldn't leave her there to die so I took her home. Two weeks later I find she's huge! I read that normally they get huge and then have the babies the same night but she's been huge for three days. Does this mean she's going to have a large litter? I read they can have up to 22! :[ And can any of her babies be hairless? I'll post a pic and maybe you guys can help me out. I hope she doesn't have 20 my poor girl.


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## vthecheshirecat (Sep 5, 2007)

Lola two days ago..


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## Elizabethm (Sep 10, 2010)

well i have a hairless female who i also bought who i thought looked pregnant after she came to my house. if you have a scale it would be helpful. this is what i have for my female right now. see the amount in gain overnight. and yes ive been told they balloon up before a litter. i was also told if you can see moving, the babies should be comming very soon. it might be a large litter as jojo is still small about golfball sized. lola is much bigger. good luck

210 grams - 9-12-10
221 grams - 9-13-10


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## ema-leigh (Jan 24, 2010)

Yeah your girl is pregnant, be gentle when you are handling her as its very easy to damage the bubs inside or make mom uncomfortable. Set up a safe cage with lots of nesting material for her to deliver and raise the babies in. Feed her the occasional extra protien treat, such as a little grilled chicken salmon, tuna, oysters, meal worms etc. No point weighing her, shes visibly pregnant. 

As far as getting hairless babies..... Its hard to say unless you know the genetics of both her and the dad. Hairless is a resessive gene, so even if the dad was a hairless mom would have to carry a copy of that gene for any of them to be hairless. Dumbo is also a recessive gene so unless the dad also carries a copy of that gene... there will not be any dumbo babies. 

So lets say your dumbo mom does not carry a hairless gene, and was bred to standard eared hairless who is not a dumbo carrier.... all the babies would have standard ears and standard coat. Its really hard to say how many babies she will have, and even if they will all make it. It depends on a lot of factors and can even be completely random. 

Fingers crossed for a smooth pregnancy, healthy bubs and that you can find them all fantastic loving homes.


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## vthecheshirecat (Sep 5, 2007)

So on the 14th Lola had 12 babies!! They all survived so far which is awesome. They all look dark so I'm assuming they won't be hairless, I don't know either parents genes because I got her from a cage with hairless boys and the deed was already done. I already have a few homes lined up and I have a favorite already. :] The mom is being very very aggressive but I managed to get pics today. I need help sexing them though and should they stay with Lola for 4 and a half weeks or 5? And I read when their eyes open they can go into a normal rat cage is that true? Or should they stay in the 20 gal aquarium? Enough questions let me show you some pics!


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## rattiesalem24 (Feb 21, 2010)

Aww, they look adorable! Where are you located?


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## lilangel (Mar 26, 2009)

cuteness.

Babies stay with mom till 5 weeks(boys) the girls can stay with her until you find homes for them.


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## ema-leigh (Jan 24, 2010)

There could still be some hairless, you can get black hairless rats too :] Depends on the genetics... so you'll have to wait and find out! 

Split them by gender at 5 weeks on the dot. If you post pictures we could help with sexing them, but they would have to be clear pics.

I'd wait until the babies were 5 weeks before putting them back in the other cage, esp if your mom is still being aggressive. She may be over protective and injure your other rats.


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## vthecheshirecat (Sep 5, 2007)

baby 1








baby2








baby3








baby4








baby5








baby6








Baby7 my fave!








baby8








Baby9








baby10








baby11








Baby12!!


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## vthecheshirecat (Sep 5, 2007)

I'm in Mi. 5 weeks sound good. 
I wasn't gonna put them all in the other cage I was going to have another seperate cage for the mom and babies at 2 weeks for better ventilation and I read somewhere it's good for them to learn to balance and stuff? I'll take pics to try and gender them tomorrow I've been bugging Lola all day with pics and cleaning the aquarium. I've never heard of hairless black rats how cool! They're getting little whiskers they're so cute Idk how I'm gonna let them go!!


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## ema-leigh (Jan 24, 2010)

The curly whiskers tell you they are either hairless, rex or double rex :] Looks like a few dumbos as well... but could just be the positioning in the photos. As for markings a mixture of black berk, black variegated and possible banded. 

If the bar spacing is no larger than 1/2 inch, then yeah you can put them in that straight away.


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## vthecheshirecat (Sep 5, 2007)

Okay so I took a pic of in between baby number 7's legs. I hope 7's a girl!!


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## Kiko (Sep 18, 2009)

Looks like a girl to me 
Also that pink fluffy stuff is a death waiting to happen, it can easily strangle baby rats  

Adorable! Looks like you may have a Capped as well


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## ema-leigh (Jan 24, 2010)

Yep thats a girl


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## Elizabethm (Sep 10, 2010)

good luck with your babies. mine all lost their battle this weekend. i wish i was located near you id take one for sure. i absolutly ador baby #4 and 7. i probably would have taken both lol. good luck!!! ;D


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## vthecheshirecat (Sep 5, 2007)

Pink fluffy stuff=bad?!
I'm taking it out right now. :[


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## vthecheshirecat (Sep 5, 2007)

Sorry about your babies :[


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## vthecheshirecat (Sep 5, 2007)

Lola isn't being aggressive anymore! And two of the babies haven't grown any hair yet I think they are hairless. And I think they are both boys. A lot of others have hair but curly whiskers and a few are hairy with straight whiskers. They are 9 days old today, their ears are getting bigger and their heads are huge with tiny bodies they are so cute! I don't want to spam everyone with pics I have been taking them though. I'll post pics next tuesday when their eyes open!!! [hopefully] And hopefully then I'll be able to tell their genders for sure for sure because I'm still guessing right now they all look the same to me :[ It's hard to take pics of their parts to post for you all to tell me because they are so wiggly! So I'll wait it out, just as long as I know before they are 4 and a half weeks!


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## xxdotmyeyes (Sep 25, 2010)

Only female rats have nipples, so if there are nipples, they're girls! .
(at least that's one someone on the forum said, maybe someone else can tell you for sure)

I'd love to see updated pictures! :-D


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## Kiko (Sep 18, 2009)

You can tell if they are girls are boys by the existence of testicles haha.

Rats at that age are pretty easy to sex, if you post pics we can tell you.

I love me some baby rats  I just wanna kiss all of them xD


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## Elizabethm (Sep 10, 2010)

i have "hairless" actually called double rex's and they are born naked, grow fuzz, and then by 5-6 weeks they should lose it. i doubt with lola having hair that you would have true genetic hairless babies. you possibly have a couple double rex babies. good luck



OMG...... MALE RATS DONT HAVE NIPPLES. I JUST LOOKED HOLY COW ITS TRUE. WELL I LEARNED SOMETHING NEW TODAY


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## blenderpie (Sep 10, 2009)

I think male rats must have nipples...I don't want to disturb Elton while he's sleeping, but all other male mammals have nipples (with the exception of mammals with udders like cows, horses, and deer), why shouldn't male rats?


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## Elizabethm (Sep 10, 2010)

male Taz- no nipples








male niggles- no nipples








female jojo- nipples visible


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## Kiko (Sep 18, 2009)

The age old Rat question. DO males have nipples?
Do they? xD 


That looks like a girl to me most definatly.


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## Elizabethm (Sep 10, 2010)

lol i was shocked to notice my male rats niggles, taz, and chip do have nipples and that jojo, ashes, and coco do. thats why i posted two males first and then jojo... i wanted to show the difference between both males and a female


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## blenderpie (Sep 10, 2009)

Thanks for posting photo evidence! I never would have believe otherwise!


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## Elizabethm (Sep 10, 2010)

your welcome. to be honest if i hadnt of looked at the bellies of my males and females i wouldnt have noticed or belived it either. a comment on this post made me decide to take a better look at my rats. your quite welcome


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## xxdotmyeyes (Sep 25, 2010)

Yeah I read on GooseMoose that's how you can sex them too :-D So it was just a suggestion but wasn't 100% sure if it was true! Now I know too!


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## Bacca (Sep 12, 2010)

Congrats in the new arrivals, they grow up soooo fast. make the most of your time with them now. if you look up fancy rats in google and click on the first result it will tel you how to sex your bubs. ;D


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