# Handling wee babies?



## Shepard (May 10, 2014)

So long story short, got a pregnant female, got babies, babies are super cute and doing well so is mom. I want to keep a few of the females.
They are about 7 days old now and just cute as can be. But I can't really find much on handling them at this time so they get used to it. I know a lot of breeders will handle them from day 1 or 2 but they don't really say... how? And I can't really find much else on handling them. Just for babies that are 3+ weeks old.

How should I handle them so they are pretty calm in the future? Right now I've been wearing a sports bra and just letting them sleep and hang out in there while I do computer things so I have my hands free, but they still get used to my smell and any noises that happen.

Should I spend time with each individual rat that I would like to keep and just pet them and hold them so they are used to it?

Sorry for the seemingly random post, I just can't seem to find much on handling very young babies ^^;


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## moonkissed (Dec 26, 2011)

At 7 days old I wouldn't handle them much or carry them around in your bra. 

I handled my babies from day 1...I took them out of the cage, talked sweetly to them, separated the boys & the girls and took 8 million pics. But it was always for very short sessions like 10 mins at most. They need their mom and rest at that age.

Once their eyes opened at around 2 weeks they are much more active. I then had a playpen set up that I let them explore and sat with them. Played with them. But not for super long sessions either. But several times a day.

Probably you find stuff for at 3 weeks plus because that is when the real hands on time comes. I just wouldnt suggest overly handling very young babies. let them be babies  Just like with people when we have newborns they pretty much just sleep most of the time. 

Just being around the cage, handling them some is going to make a huge difference. Then when they open their eyes you can start being more hands on.


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## JAnimal (Jul 23, 2014)

I would also be careful of mama because she may be nippy and protective.


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## RosesAndRats (May 7, 2015)

Yeah when it comes to mama, maybe handle her babies when she doesn't know you can.


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## Mojojuju (Nov 15, 2014)

My momma rat loved me and let me do whatever with her babies, but if I took them out (like for pictures) she was very efficient at putting them back. She would take the first one, then stare at me till I started handing her the others. I'd hand them to her one at a time and she snatch them and put them back, lol. Too lazy to go back out of the nest.

I handed from day 2, just gently picked them up a bit and counted them, then put them back. As they got older I would sorta scoop them up by the handful (kinda wiggle my hand under the pile without lifting) and listen to the PEEEP PEEEP PEEEEEEEP! as they wiggled on my hand, getting used to my scent. I did this a few times a day every day, but not for longer than five or ten minutes at most. Sometimes they would fall back to sleep on my hand, and then PEEEP PEEEP PEEEEEP! as I removed my hand again, hee hee.

Eventually, weeek 2 maybe? They started to interact more with my hand, and looked forward to me sticking my hand in there. They would nibble and try to nurse, or just sniff and grab me.

By three weeks they were full on playful mites and would bounce around and crawl all over me, up my arms, everything.


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