# Most definitely pregnant



## Lita (Jul 10, 2014)

Alright so our girl Darjeeling Tea is most certainly with babies. She is a nice tennis ball shape. We have no idea when she got pregnant but she has gotten big so we've moved her to a tank as I've seen recommended. She has started to clean off her nipples, and we put some soft toliet paper for her to make a nest and she has pulled that into her house. My biggest concern is her house. She can fit inside, and sleeps in it sometimes or she sleeps on it, but she takes up pretty much the whole thing. Should we take it out and put a larger box instead? I would assume a smaller space will keep the babies warmer and safer but at the same time I worry they would get smothered by accident. Is there a certain way to make sure their house is the correct size?


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## kksrats (Jul 25, 2014)

Small is fine for now, but the pups will grow quickly so you might want to consider having something larger on standby.


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## Zabora (Jun 8, 2014)

Get rid of the toilet paper it will stick to the babies. Use fleece. No loose litters like care fresh or aspen. Take out the house. That way you can monitor them and it's easier to keep track of. You can use paper towels instead of toilet paper. She's going to want to stretch out fully while feeding the babies sometimes and it ensures the pups can reach every nipple.


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## Hey-Fay (Jul 8, 2013)

Paper bedding like carefresh is fine but fleece is so much better. Get rid of the hide. It makes checking on the pups unnecessarily difficult and if mum is protective it lets her defend it, which again makes it difficult to check on them.


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## Zabora (Jun 8, 2014)

I tjought it would stick to them like toilet paper?


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## Lita (Jul 10, 2014)

Ok we have some fleece I may be able to change out but I worried fleece would make it harder to keep the babies warm. I also thought she would need a house so she felt her babies were safe? She has a carefresh type of bedding atm. I can change our the tp for paper towels if needed, the toilet paper was just softer.


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## Hey-Fay (Jul 8, 2013)

Zabora, soft paper litter like carefresh is fine but you're correct that the toilet paper will stick to the newly born. Mummy will groom it off though.

Lita, fleece is very warm and holds body heat well. Mummy doesn't need a hide because, as i said before, it makes a defensible space. You don't want this because you can't check the pups. She'll be perfectly fine without one. If it turns out that mummy is aggressive you'll have to lure her away with yogurt on a spoon to check the pups. If you have more questions just ask!


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## Lita (Jul 10, 2014)

Alright, she doesn't seem particularly attatched to the hidey anyway, she sleeps on top mostley. I just worried she'd kill the pups if she didn't feel they were safe. She is really relaxed with us handling her so we are hoping she won't mind us checking the babies much. But we've only had her a couple weeks.


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## Zabora (Jun 8, 2014)

Hey-Fay said:


> Zabora, soft paper litter like carefresh is fine but you're correct that the toilet paper will stick to the newly born. Mummy will groom it off though.


I used fleece for mine so ok imma trust you on that one


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## Lita (Jul 10, 2014)

Well she had her babies! She let us pick her up and while she wanted to get back she didn't bite or seem to upset. We counted 11, all moving, and when we put her back in she went back to cleaning their bottoms. She has them on the paper towel on the bottom of the tank. She moved all the fleece out of the way. Xp but everyone was all cleaned up. The paper towels are dirty, should we wait a little while and move them and add new paper towels? We've been gone from the house for 4 or 5 hours and she had them during that time as she was still a big ball when we left.


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## Lita (Jul 10, 2014)

My fiancee gave her some cereal and a couple nuts and she went crazy eating them, then left to drink then went back to the babies. She seemed really hungry and thirsty so I'm wondering if it was the first time she left them. But she is being such a good mommy, everyone has very full tummies and there was still 11. She steps on them alot and they squeek, is that typical?


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## deedeeiam (Apr 8, 2014)

Yeah. If they don't want stepped on, they'll learn how to crawl faster!


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## Hey-Fay (Jul 8, 2013)

I would wait to change the towels; maybe tomorrow sometime. I would scramble mum an egg, no salt or pepper, and give it to her. How old is she? If she's 4 months or younger I recommend giving her oxbow young rat and mouse food as it's high in protein and once the pups are weaned they can start eating that too.
Stepping on them is normal and she's not going to hurt them. Could you post some photos? Everyone loves babies!


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## Zabora (Jun 8, 2014)

LolDelilah moved all the fleece too


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## Lita (Jul 10, 2014)

We arn't sure actually. We thought she was 12wks but she is closer in size to our older girls then we originally thought so she might be a bit older. We got a food with a little higher protein content for her and the babies once they start. I'll try and get some photos, we tried to bother her very little so not to stress her out so soon after the birth. We also added some new paper towel since the dirty stuff was all compressed and she spent ten minutes fixing her nest before she curled up on them and went to sleep. I am pretty sure this is her first litter and was so worried she'd not take care of them or have issues leaving them out in the open for long periods of time. Or that she'd attack us if we came near them. But we were able to put our hands by them and she just went looking for treats!


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## Lita (Jul 10, 2014)

Here are some pics! Just over a day old!


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## Hey-Fay (Jul 8, 2013)

She's beautiful, looks like my Ruby. She looks five months, maybe six. You can start handling the pups as soon as she'll let you, but only hold them for about five minutes a piece. Once they're older you can hold them longer. Let mummy have a break too, ten minutes for now then twenty once they're older and once their eyes open she can go longer and you can start free ranging them too! But keep a sharp eye on them, don't want them wandering off.


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## Zabora (Jun 8, 2014)

Oh wow just like Delilah with colors and 11 babies...


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## Lita (Jul 10, 2014)

Will do, i can't wait till we can start seeing colors and personalities. Also I am happy to report I spoke with the pet store and they are very sorry, and are willing to work with me to get me a cheaper cage for them or food or anything to help lower the stress of the surprise litter. She said they are normally sold as feeders but arn't marked as such because they don't want to deter people from considering them for pets. But I am the first complaint in 14yrs about a pregnant rat. And she said they will definitly look into seperating by gender as well as size to try and keep this from happening in the future, at least from a result on their part. So I am very pleased and hope I can get a good cage for a good price for when they are big enough to need it.


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