# How much is too much?



## The_rats_pajamas (Feb 15, 2008)

Hi! I was wondering what the appropriate amount of time per day to handle 5 day old rats is? I want to make sure I handle them enough but I dont want to handle them too much so that they get cold or something? SO do any of you have any experience to how much handling is ok? Right now I m only handling them twice a day for no more than 5 minutes at a time.


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## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

Yeah that sounds about right. I would guess there really isn't too much as long as its short intervals, without the fur they don't regulate their temperature well.

I would leave it at that, its definitely enough to socialize them at this stage  Later on, you'll be with the babies a lot more. When their eyes were open and they were mobile, I started "abusing" my oops litter. I would pull their tiny tails, and legs and ears and kiss them and things like that. Just to get them used to being handled all over, something an owner would need to do later on or maybe a vet during an exam. I considered it my duty to make these rats as socialized as possible so that their adoptive parents would keep them, or they were so nice that they wouldn't end up rotting in a shelter instead like a lot of unsocialized rats. Sadly I lost track of 6 of my babies because the owners "disappeared".


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## lovinmyworm (Feb 18, 2008)

My friend was saying the same thing, but she has a momma rat that runs from her litter if given the chance to free range play. She puts the babies on a towel on a small heating pad (basically bag filled with beans that was tossed in the microwave) with a towel over them. She pets them in there, but doesn't hold them. It keeps them warm and mom gets a much needed break for about 20 min each day. 10 min in the morning and about 10 min in the evening where she can run off and play and not worry about her babies. She is a really trusting momma rat. Either that or just really neglectfull. Her babies are 11 days old now and are doing good, nice fat little bellies so she can't be too neglectfull lol. I think they need to feel a human touch, to play with a human when they get a a bit bigger, get use to the smell of a human. This will make them much better pets for their future owners!


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