# Feeding him?



## Devi (Jan 8, 2009)

Alright, I posted a topic about how my rat had babies. They're over 2 weeks old now and doing fine. Except the smallest one. He looks weak, and looks like he isnt eating enough. There are 10 babies so he should be able to eat. 
If he crawls over to his mother, she ignores him. The other babies ignore him too and when i pick him up, he's cold. He always looks like he's squeeking, but no sound comes out.

Any advice would be good. expecially what to feed him if I have to hand feed him

Thanks.


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## DiscoAvenue (Dec 7, 2008)

maurice just had a litter of 15 some 6 weeks ago =- and there was a wee one. he pulled out fine and hes currently catching up to his bigger brothers.


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## Devi (Jan 8, 2009)

alright .-. Well. we think he'a dieing, because he's acting the same way my hamster acted when he was dieing.
so, for the time being, we're holding him and keeping him warm and..yeah.


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## DiscoAvenue (Dec 7, 2008)

im sorry to hear that i hope he pulls out of it.


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## Devi (Jan 8, 2009)

alright o.o my cousin found some stuff we could do to help him. so we did that, and he started like, looking better and not breathig as weird. so, my mom put him back in the cage.
The mom started paying attention to him again. and now, he's doing better. He even started climbing the bars in the cage, like the other babies are doing 

we're keeping an eye on him, though. 

My mom named him hercules.


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## AMJ087 (Aug 27, 2008)

Try putting them into a small container where they all barely fit for a little bit. Sometimes this forces the mother to take care of all the young.


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## keysong (Jan 10, 2009)

You could also try letting mom feed all the bubs, and then moving them away from her (MAKE SURE THEY STAY WARM). If you leave the little one with her she might just feed him if there are no other pinkies around.

Hope he's okay


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## Devi (Jan 8, 2009)

alright. Well. thanks. We thought he was doing real well and everything and he died >.<

I mean, i knew he was probably going to but it's really hard >.<


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## keysong (Jan 10, 2009)

I'm sorry  It sucks to get your hopes up and then have that happen.


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## MariHxc (May 23, 2007)

i had the same thing happen when we had our babies. i was so attached to the runt, Brian. i tried to get him to catch up with his siblings, but he died the day they all opened their eyes.


i'm sorry to hear about your little one.


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## jamiecypher (Jan 27, 2009)

I am new around here, but i've had enough litters in my day to have dealt with this before.

This happens almost every time there are more rats than there are nipples, and i've found a reasonable solution, experts correct me if this is a wrong practice.

I usually keep my pregnant female with her partner throughout the pregnancy, I keep females in pairs of two to a cage. If she shows aggressiveness when day 20 or so rolls around(usually identifiable by the pregnant girl pushing her nesting everywhere) pull out the other female. But if they are comfortable with eachother(which is more common then not for me) the other female will help with sitting on the nest and warming the babies, and in my situation, even though she produced no milk she would nurse the babies. this opened up more "active" nipples for the runts and such that werent getting enough. By the time you can tell that one is going to be a runt, the other ones are usually strong (and persistent) enough to dive in after any nipple near them, so it shouldnt be hard to go pull a runt off and put her near the milk mother.

Just a thought, might not be a best idea unless your females are really close but has worked for me in atleast 4 litters.


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