# Is My Rat Pregnant? or just fat?



## anilec (May 2, 2016)

So part of me just thinks I'm being paranoid and I really hope that I am as I really don't want to deal with rat babies.
So 3 weeks ago I adopted two sweet girls from the shelter, and the two I have are definitely girls but I know that they were housed with 6 rats in total that were all spoused to be girls, their brothers are being kept in the next town over. All of the rats were born in a shelter and they were all held together and transferred together. So when all the information they have on a rat is that it is white and they have a picture, the chance of them grabbing the wrong rat is highly plausible. The worker at my shelter even told me that some paperwork got messed up for some of the rats, so there is a high chance that she was with males at a few stops before I got her. 

Anyway what I've noticed is that she has DEFINITELY put on weight, she's quite round and when she stands with her sister you can really see the difference! She has starting building nests out of the paper bedding and she has never done this before. Also where before I could never see her nipples I can now see them. These pictures are from last week but maybe they can help? ???


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## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

If you adopted them 4 weeks ago and they didn't have contact with any intact males since they are at your house, then they cannot be pregnant. Rat pregnancy is only 20-23 days.


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## anilec (May 2, 2016)

Oops I just fixed that now haha, I got them on the 4th and as it's the 18th that's only three weeks. I totally screwed up there, I know their gestation period is only 20-23 days and I've had them for 14 days so do I just kinda have to wait and see?


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## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

Ok then it is a real possibility as she looks much bigger I would have a safe nursery cage ready for her and her potential babies.


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## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

She could already have been pregnant for days when you got her, so if I were you I would get the nursery cage ready today or tomorrow at the latest


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## anilec (May 2, 2016)

Oh no, I'm really panicked about that then, I always hear of rat mama's eating their baby and I can't see that even though I know it's the way life goes. I'm still going to pray that she's just fat. For a nursery cage can I use a bin cage? Is that safe for my baby and if she does have babies, her babies?


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## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

anilec said:


> Oh no, I'm really panicked about that then, I always hear of rat mama's eating their baby and I can't see that even though I know it's the way life goes. I'm still going to pray that she's just fat. For a nursery cage can I use a bin cage? Is that safe for my baby and if she does have babies, her babies?


Yes a bin cage would be perfect


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## anilec (May 2, 2016)

Alright, thank you so much for the help, fingers crossed though!


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## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

Some rats eat their babies but it is rather rather rare unless the babies are sick/have genetic defects that make them unviable or that the mom has some serious nutritional deficiencies that would make her unable to properly care for her litter, especially if it is a large litter. What rat blocks are you feeding her?


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## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

High stress would also make a rat mom more likely to kill or eat all or some of her babies. So she would need a quiet and safe place to nurse her babies


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## rats+and+books (Aug 29, 2015)

Have you figured out whether she was pregnant or not? ???


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