# When should I separate my two females?



## tara (Mar 25, 2010)

I have been a proud rat parent for almost a whole week ;D Judging from everything I've read here and other research, I'm pretty sure one of my rats (Patsy) is about to have an oops litter! Not exactly what I expected to get myself into, but I think I'm about as prepared as I can be. I woke up this morning to find a freshly built nest and last night I saw her belly moving, so I think they will be here soon.
Her buddy is named Edina. She's much smaller and quite a bit younger than Patsy. Edina is only 6 weeks old. So, what I'm trying to figure out is this: Is it safe for Edina to stay in the cage with Patsy? If I should in fact separate them, should I move Edina and let Patsy stay in the cage she built her nest in? I am dying to clean the cage one more time before she gives birth, but I don't think I will. I don't want to cause stress on either of them right now. I know it's going to upset Edina to be separated from Patsy, but I want to do what's best for both of them as well as the new arrivals. Hopefully giving them lots of playtime together outside the cage will be enough to keep Edina happy if I need to separate them.
Any advice would be much appreciated!


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## Little_Vixen (Feb 4, 2009)

From what I've heard on some other forums about rat babies and pregnancy, the people try to move the mother into a sort of 'rat nursery' for a while while for giving birth and rearing her babies. I'm not totally sure but this is what I've come to understand.

Also, if she has babies, she might get defensive of them for the first weeks because well.. they're her babies. So it could be that she could get aggressive towards her friend. I don't know anything on this though. I can offer you a link to a rat breeder site that has a lot of very good information on rat pregnancy, raising, ect. It should help a lot more than I have

http://www.evergreenrattery.com/careguide/breeding.html

This is the area on breeder/pregnancy ect ect, hope it helps


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## tara (Mar 25, 2010)

Thanks for the link and the info! I came home last night and found 11 little ones. Patsy, Edina, and all the babies were cuddled up together. Everything seemed fine with Patsy & Edina, but I separated them anyway just to be safe. Edina is a cuddler and she seems so freaked out not having her snuggle buddy. I feel bad for her


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## tara (Mar 25, 2010)

When I had them out together for play time last night, Patsy fought Edina. They are both fine though. I wondered if Patsy was trying to re-establish her dominance since they hadn't been in a cage together or if it was hormonal? I'm going to keep them separated until the babies are bigger then slowly reintroduce them. Hopefully they can be friends again. Poor little Edina seems to be pouting 
But Patsy is a good mom and the babies are thriving


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## Little_Vixen (Feb 4, 2009)

That's wonderful! I'm sorry about Patsy and Edina fighting, which one is the momrat? Patsy? Being that Patsy is the mom she is probably still very hormonal from having babies, which pregnancy can affect a person/rat's hormones, causing them to act different. She might be doing the dominance act, but she also could have felt threatened that Edina was there and she wasn't with her kittens. Though as long as they are both okay, I'm pretty sure it wasn't the last one. 
Hormones, what's a girl to do with them? 

You should take pictures of the wee ones sometime and post them


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## LisaLQ (Oct 14, 2007)

I'd take the non-pregnant one out of the cage asap. If they're already fighting, mum doesn't want her around, and if she continues to be stressed she may eat her babies.


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## tara (Mar 25, 2010)

Patsy and Edina are now getting along great during playtime together. All the babies are doing well and so cute! As far as I can tell there's 4 girls and 7 boys.

I have found homes for the girls and possibly 3 boys. So if anyone is in TN and is looking to add new ratties to their family, let me know! ;D 

I've tried several times to post pics and it never works ???


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## Stace87 (Jun 24, 2008)

tara said:


> I've tried several times to post pics and it never works ???


Here is a sticky on how to post photos. You can use a website such as Photobucket


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## Sinsational (Mar 29, 2010)

Are you separating mom from the babies for play time? I don't know as that is a good idea. I was told by a known breeder in the area that you can leave her cage mate with her unless she starts to steal babies.


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## tara (Mar 25, 2010)

These were a few days ago so they already look completely different! But I love their little feet


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