# Tiny baby with scaly skin??



## ray (Nov 4, 2015)

One of the babies who is smaller than the others looks like it has dry/cracked skin. Anyone know what this is??


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## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

It looks lack a lack of nutrition and hydration. I would take some of the babies away for 5 mins or so a couple times a day to let him nurse, see if it helps. How many babies do you have? What are you feeding the mom for extra calories?


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## the-ethereal-star (Feb 29, 2016)

Hi! This is her girlfriend. The mom gets eggs and we feed her mazuri rodent breeders 6f. There are six now of the original eight, we noticed her pushing this little guy away. We tried to separate her from the others and she panicked and wouldn't even pay attention to the baby. Is it because we took her out of her nest?? Should we just take some of the babies out instead? Thanks!!! We got him to eat a tiny amount of baby formula, but he kept spitting it out lol


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## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

the-ethereal-star said:


> Hi! This is her girlfriend. The mom gets eggs and we feed her mazuri rodent breeders 6f. There are six now of the original eight, we noticed her pushing this little guy away. We tried to separate her from the others and she panicked and wouldn't even pay attention to the baby. Is it because we took her out of her nest?? Should we just take some of the babies out instead? Thanks!!! We got him to eat a tiny amount of baby formula, but he kept spitting it out lol


Yes try to take some babies out, and see if it helps. She might have noticed something wrong with the little wee one and not nurse him as a result. It is worth a try in my opinion. Let us know if she nurses him if you take a few babies away. As I said, she still might refuse to nurse him as 6 babies is not a lot for a momma rat.


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## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

Maybe she might not have enough milk for everyone. I would make sure she drinks enough, and add water dense foods for her, like baby foods or veggies with a little healthy oil on it like olive oil or flax seed oil. How many days old are the babies?


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## ray (Nov 4, 2015)

That sounds like a good idea. I'll give her some apple sauce and carrots with olive oil. They're about 24 hours old now.


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## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

Try to push away a few babies and see if the mom will nurse him. Let us know how it goes. Fingers crossed.


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## ray (Nov 4, 2015)

I was gonna try to separate a few but the runt was in the nest with the others. Yai, I think. It was climbing over its siblings to get under Moya to suckle and she was letting it so I decided to leave them be for now. I'll check on them later and if she's separated the runt again or it looks pale still I'll try moving some of the others away to encourage Moya to let it drink.


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## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

ray said:


> I was gonna try to separate a few but the runt was in the nest with the others. Yai, I think. It was climbing over its siblings to get under Moya to suckle and she was letting it so I decided to leave them be for now. I'll check on them later and if she's separated the runt again or it looks pale still I'll try moving some of the others away to encourage Moya to let it drink.


If you saw him suckled it is great, just make sure he is actually suckling. Keep us updated best wishes.


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## ray (Nov 4, 2015)

Just checked on them again, the runt is still doing OK and he was suckling so I'm hopeful he'll make it.


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## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

ray said:


> Just checked on them again, the runt is still doing OK and he was suckling so I'm hopeful he'll make it.


Happy to hear that. Thanks for the update. Does the mom stay well hydrated?


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## ray (Nov 4, 2015)

She seems to. When I'm home she seems to drink regularly and she gets, per your recommendation, applesauce and olive oil dipped vegetables


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## ray (Nov 4, 2015)

The runt didn't make it. It was so much smaller than the other babies that I didn't have a lot of hope but it's still sad. I'm hopeful for the last five. They're getting a lot bigger now.


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## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

I'm sorry it is very sad. I hope the other 5 will be ok. Thanks for the update.


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## ray (Nov 4, 2015)

Thank you and no problem. I know five is a small litter for a rat but considering how difficult Moya's life has been up to this point I'm proud of her for bringing them this far. And if all the rest make it I will be even more proud of her.


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## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

ray said:


> Thank you and no problem. I know five is a small litter for a rat but considering how difficult Moya's life has been up to this point I'm proud of her for bringing them this far. And if all the rest make it I will be even more proud of her.


She probably has many nutritional deficiencies prior and during her early pregnancy Keep up the good work


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## the-ethereal-star (Feb 29, 2016)

Gribouilli said:


> She probably has many nutritional deficiencies prior and during her early pregnancy Keep up the good work


Hi. Ok, so another baby died today. It's getting very hard, especially since they've made it so far. I'm hoping we don't lose anymore...


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## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

the-ethereal-star said:


> Hi. Ok, so another baby died today. It's getting very hard, especially since they've made it so far. I'm hoping we don't lose anymore...


That's really tragic. She might have had so many nutritional deficiencies that most babies weren't viable. The best you can do is to provide her with a variety of foods and make sure she is hydrated. Do the remaining babies have milk bands? How old are they now?


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## ray (Nov 4, 2015)

Last I checked they do have milk bands but now that they pretty much have all their markings it's getting hard to see them. We give her egg, carrots, applesauce, broccoli, and peas plus the normal lab block and she does seem to drink regularly. Today is day five for the babies.


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## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

is she eating her pellets? Veggies are very important but only three veggies won't cover all her nutritional needs, so she needs to eat her pellets too. Just making sure you weren't giving too much veggies and as a result she wasn't eating much of her pellets and being deficient in some vitamins/minerals. If you can, change the kinds of veggies she gets from time to time so nutritional needs are well covered.


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## ray (Nov 4, 2015)

She is eating her pellets and the veggies are more of a supplemental thing than the main part of her diet. I may try to get some more veggies and fruits today though. How's bananas, apples, and I've heard kale is good? Also cauliflower and maybe blueberries.


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## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

All of those are good. I give my rats some of whatever veggies/veggies I'm using to cook lunch or dinner. I don't always give it to them right away, but put some on the side in a small container in my fridge for later I also get them a little of every veggies, greens, beans, fruits at the salad bar of my grocery store (nothing with salt)- they have it 2 to 4 times/week on average. It costs me about $2-$3 for 3 rats for 3 days, and that gets them about 10 to 12 different veggies/beans/greens/fruits. I cut each food in tiny pieces so each rat gets a little of everything as opposed to one rat running away with the brocoli and another with the kale...


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## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

How are they doing?


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## ray (Nov 4, 2015)

Still have four babies, thank goodness. They're doing really well, getting a lot bigger and fuzzier  I'm beginning to be able to tell them apart now and for the most part can point out who's who and which one's one of the males and which is one of the females without having to lift them up to check. I'm really hoping they'll all make it.


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## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

This is great news. Are you going to keep them?


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## ray (Nov 4, 2015)

Sadly I don't really have the space or resources to keep 14 rats so I'm probably going to rehome most of them (though I may keep one, probably a little girl since I have fewer girls and more space for them).


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## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

ray said:


> Sadly I don't really have the space or resources to keep 14 rats so I'm probably going to rehome most of them (though I may keep one, probably a little girl since I have fewer girls and more space for them).


Sorry, I got confused. I thought you had 4 baby rats.


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## ray (Nov 4, 2015)

I do have 4 babies but altogether that would put my numbers up to 14 rats in total since I have 10 adults. I can't keep that many, unfortunately so I'm going to try and rehome 3 of the babies.


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