# Eight babies - what to do?!



## schuksudoon (Aug 28, 2013)

So my boyfriend and I adopted two rats from a girl off of craigslist a few weeks ago, and apparently one of them was pregnant, because we have eight itty bitty rats in the cage now.

I have *no *idea what to do. I've taken in pregnant guinea pigs before and from what I can see, these guys are vastly different.

Our other rat is hairless and she's got scrapes all over so we separated her. The mother rat is extremely defensive from what I can see.

Please, please, any advice is greatly appreciated.


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## TexasRatties (Jun 2, 2013)

You will need to put momma in a one level cage something like a guinea pig cage or maybe even a tank. Give momma some cozy nesting stuff and make sure the babies have milk bands. Someone might post a pic or you can Google it. They are little white bands on their bellies. That means momma is feeding them. She will need extra protein like egg and such.


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## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

What kind of cage is the mother in? What is the bedding?

She needs to be on a high-protein diet, so preferably lab blocks as the staple food and add in scrambled eggs (no cheese) dog/cat kibble or canned cat food.

Is the mother defensive with you as well? If so, you'll need to use yougurt on a spoon to lure her away from the babies and into another enclosure any time you want to handle the babies. Ideally, you should handle the babies daily but right now that might stress the mother out if you can't pet her. Make sure not to clean out the cage unless necessary.

This is a great resource to track their growth: http://ratguide.com/breeding/baby_development/

If you've specific questions, I just had an oops litter myself and so have many other forum members and would love to help


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