# Rats not feeding Kin



## portugayth (Jan 30, 2016)

I have two rats that had babies 2 days ago, and they were being fed until late yesterday. One had 14 babies and one had 6 babies. The only rat trying to feed them at this point is a rat that doesn't lactate because her babies left about a week ago.
All of the babies are weak, skinny, and wrinkly. They were all screaming last night and their moms would not help them. I separated both mother into a smaller cage and I'm hoping they will be bored enough to feed them, but I wanted to ask for help to see if there was any solution that y'all have used in the past that worked? Thanks.


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## portugayth (Jan 30, 2016)

Or rather, any ideas you may have to fix the problem?


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## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

Get a NEW soft paint brush and some infant soy formula. Use the brush to feed the babies. Add some eggs and veggies/fruits with olive oil or flax seed oil de the moms' diet. Are the water bottles working properly?


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## moonkissed (Dec 26, 2011)

Did you breed them or is this accidental?

Really you should always separate moms into their own cages. Each mom to her own. While things can go fine, it is often very risky to house moms together. It can cause them to be stressed. They can fight over babies (literally playing tug of war with them and causing injuries) and they may steal the babies back and forth which means there will be babies not getting properly fed.

How old are the moms do you know? Sometimes rats that are too young just don't really know what to do.
And while generally rats make amazing mothers, there are some that just are not.

You can't force the moms to nurse. They either will or they won't. 

Make sure moms are in a nice quiet area, in a room with no real loud noise, or foot traffic, or other pets bugging them. 

Do the babies have milk bands? It is a small white line across their bellies?

Sadly if they are nut nursing you will most likely lose most if not all of them. You can get some soy milk as Gribouilli suggested and try to feed them yourself. This link gives alot of info: http://www.afrma.org/orphanrm.htm


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## Kyuubi (Jun 25, 2016)

If their mother doesn't nurse them and you want them to survive you'll have to nurse them yourself but you'll have to provide many things like insulation for them and food, using human baby formula is best for them. I won't go into detail here but this here -> http://www.ratfanclub.org/orphans.html explains everything really well so good luck with them!


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## portugayth (Jan 30, 2016)

These babies were accidentally born because my father carelessly left the two halves of the Critter Nation open, so a male escaped into the cage and I had to leave for my mother's house so I was only able to separate them when I came home. This isn't the first time this has happened, as you can see about the babies weaned a week ago. This problem wI'll be fixed when I can afford anot her big, affordable cage. 
My father won't take me to the store or buy me formula, and 8 of the babies have already died. He doesn't care because he can't feed them to his snakes yet. The future looks grim, and though I separated the females, they are not feeding the pinkies. They probably won't survive. I hate to ask but, how should I handle this from here? I don't want to let the babies starve..


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## portugayth (Jan 30, 2016)

The rats are VERY young. Maybe 2.5 months old. I didn't see good chances but I though, maybe they had a chance. Thank you guys so much for helping. I appreciate it a lot. Maybe I'll be able to use this information at a point in the future if we have more careless accidents.


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## Grotesque (Mar 19, 2014)

2.5 months? They should be eating solid food by then. Or did you mean weeks?


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## moonkissed (Dec 26, 2011)

Grotesque said:


> 2.5 months? They should be eating solid food by then. Or did you mean weeks?


I think they mean the moms 



> The rats are VERY young. Maybe 2.5 months old. I didn't see good chances but I though, maybe they had a chance. Thank you guys so much for helping. I appreciate it a lot. Maybe I'll be able to use this information at a point in the future if we have more careless accidents.


I am going to send you a PM with some info.

But honestly as hard and difficult as it is, you have to be mature and think of what is best for the rats. 
If this is a common occurrence and/or something that may happen again. It may be a good idea to find them a new home. Atleast maybe just the male or just the females. 
Even more so with your dad not willing to do what it takes to help them.


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## Grotesque (Mar 19, 2014)

Oh, I feel silly. I must have read it wrong. I thought they meant the babies were 2 months old.


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## portugayth (Jan 30, 2016)

Thank you guys SO much for your help! 9 of the babies survived because the rat started lactating in time.


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