# Lucy had a baby?!?



## Houdinis Magic (Dec 27, 2010)

Hello all, 

I’m new to Rat Forum and I have one question about my rat Lucy. So recently I rescued a female hooded dumbo rat. The woman I got her from said she was the sweetest thing ever but she couldn't take care of her anymore because she had just got laid off. The dumbo was in a cage with other rats so I decided to pair the dumbo with another one of my younger females named Delilah. I decided to name the new addition to my family Lucy. I closely watched Lucy while she was in "quarantine". Before I got my first pair of rats I did tons of research. I read article upon article and a few of those articles were on breeding and rat pregnancy. While Lucy was isolated I realized she may have been pregnant. I watched her for a few more days and nothing happened so I shook it off. After Lucy was cleared of illnesses I decided to introduce her to Delilah. Lucy and Delilah hit it off as soon as they meant each other. They were fine together for the first few days, they even slept in the same hammock. Well on the 24th I found a bit of blood on the cage floor. My first reaction was they got into a fight. I took out both rats and I inspected them. I didn't find any injuries but Lucy seemed to be bleeding from her "area". From my research I knew that she was most likely spotting. I put Lucy into a smaller cage I had a decided the cage would be best as a nursery. I checked up on Lucy two or three times that night. The last time I checked up on her I still saw no babies. Well the next day, it just so happened to be December 25th, I woke up and still no babies. Well my family had Christmas dinner at my house so I was busy helping my mom and sisters make dinner and such. Around 1:00pm I went and checked up on Lucy and she finally had one baby. Well that baby was the only one she had. I was expecting many more babies than that. I gently felt around her stomach area and everything and I don’t feel any more babies. She’s quite young but she seems to be taking care of the little one quite well. I handled the little guy today and he has a milk band so he is nursing and he squeaks sometimes but he’s mostly quite. He also seems a bit still. I’ve had hamster litters before and the hamster pups moved around quite a bit. He doesn’t seem to be moving around much. So my question is do you think he’s okay? What are some illnesses or diseases I should worry about? I can only assume that Lucy was kept in a cage with her siblings so should I worry about inbreeding? Any help is greatly appreciated. 

Thanks for taking the time to read all of that I’m sorry this was so long I just wanted to be very thorough. Again any help is really appreciated.


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## Zenia (Dec 3, 2010)

I don't have any experience with babies... but I can answer the inbreeding question.

I have read on a few sites that it takes MANY generations of inbreeding before adverse effects start happening, so at least on that front I don't think you need to be worried.


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## rattiesalem24 (Feb 21, 2010)

Sometimes rats only have 1 pup, and usually there is nothing to be worried about about a small litter. Usually first time rat mothers have fewer babies from what I have read. As long as the pup has a milk band he should be a-ok . Your lucky there was only one pup, that could have ended up 12x as bad as it did. Good luck!


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## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

Any idea how old Lucy is? This could affect the number of pups she would carry to term. Or maybe other pups were born, but they were stillborn and she took care of the bodies naturally and instinctively.

I am glad she is doing well. Eepers don't move much for the first while. They cannot regulate their temperature without fur so they usually stay put in a nice warm pile and sleep and eat and poop.


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## Houdinis Magic (Dec 27, 2010)

Thanks everyone for your help but I'm sorry to say that the little guy didn't make it. He seemed very healthy for the first few days but then his health started decreasing. Eventually Lucy just stopped caring for him. I did my best to try and nurse him and I even called the vet but in the end he didn't make it. Thanks again for everyone's help. It was greatly appreciated.


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## Alethea (Jul 14, 2010)

Oh no  I am sorry to hear that the babe did not make it. At least you knew to read online and do what you could have for the babe. Perhaps if your female was too young, that could have caused problems for the babe. I don't know much about rat breeding and babies just yet, but that sounds like a reasonable thought.


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