# another soon to be litter i think



## sherriwat (Oct 7, 2012)

ok so before i get yelled at because i dont know anything this was not planned, so please readthis whole story first.

anyways my ex bf showed up today to my dismay *eyeroll*. so he comes up my stairs walks right into my house starts some small talk and asks how mymama rat was doing and babies and so on than goes on talking about this "friend"(could be just a friend but i doubt it) anyways this "friends" 2 rats that she bought and turns out she got a male and female rat and now the female is preggo they think. anyways so i gave as much advice as i could which wasnt much i suggested she comeon ehre and ask questions since i dont really know anything. than he left. about 2 hrs later i go to take my kids to the park and i find this cardboard box at the foot of my stairs. 

i now have mama and daddy rat. apparently i am the local rat shelter now for preggo moms. i texted him obviously yelling at him ( keep in mind if i was asked i proably would of said yes i would take the mama but not daddy, but i wasnt asked so i freaked out at him). well regardless i now have mama and daddy because they obviously did not care enough about them or they wouldnt of just left left them. anyways allmy ex bf ahd to say for himself was well i thought youd be happy cause you have free food for your snakes, well no i dont cause i dotn feed live and i definetly couldnt feed anything thats lived inmy house for 5 minutes.

so now mama does not look preggo not like my big mama did so if she is shes not very far along. iam going to try to find a home for daddy. i think my breeder friend might take him as a pet and put with his male colony and he will live a happy life without breeding (as no known genetics). right now he is seperated from female for hopes maybe the deed hasnt been done yet.
so how long do i have until babies if she is just recently preggo?

i am so angry and saddened. angry because i really didnt have proper setups for big mama and her babies and now i have to find proper housing for one if not 2 more saddened because they where just abandoned on my doorstep. grrr. so i went out and bought 2 99 liter plastic totes one for bid mama and one for the new girl. right now i only have hairholes but i made them significantly bigger and there is tons and i mean tons of them. they will have the screen in the lid when i can get the screen, these 2 totes where an unexpected purchase (i have the male in big mamas old tote).

anyways thanks for listening. cross fingers that we get no babies even though iam sure she is preggo she is full grown as is the male.

anyways i had to vent


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## LightningWolf (Jun 8, 2012)

That is horrible. I can see why he is your Ex.

Keep calm. rats don't show if they are truly pregnant till the last week (gestation is about 21 days, so 3 to 4 weeks). She will not go into heat if she is pregnant. if she does go into heat then she is not pregnant.

I would talk to your friend and see if maybe he might take in the pregnant mom and the male? I mean he might help you find homes for them.

Wow how many rats does this now make?


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## sherriwat (Oct 7, 2012)

4 not including the babies. 3 if you dont include the male who come today.
and when i talked to my friend (the breeder) i had asked about taking both and right now he doesnt have any nursing homes available as he has them full with his own mamas. i dont overly mind keeping the female as i can house her with bigmama eventually when i a cage for them i'll just have to get aslightly bigger one (when one becomes available appropriate size second hand cages are really expensive where i live), i hopefully can find home for these new babies also we will see how things go.


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## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

I know how annoying exes can be, but you might as well ask him for the cage they had the rats in before they dumped them on you. Seems like if you got the rats they shouldn't get the craigs list profit on the cage.

Large old aqariums can be converted to rat habitats and the big totes can also do in a pinch. They should at least be high enough for your rats to stand up in. 

Home depot very likely also had lots of materials suitable for building larger cages out of. Not to mention craigs list where your x is likely selling his.

Well congrats again? Oddly enough there are many of us who back ended into becoming rat parents. Like tribbles there's something about them that makes them so hard not to fall in love with.

As to the X... have you ever considered breeding anacondas or maybe retics? A large female anaconda can live for months off of just one pig or annoying x boyfriend and you don't necessarily have to feed live if you're afraid of keeping him.... Just kidding, no one is likely to have enough x boyfriends to maintain and breed anacondas... hopefully.


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## Smilebud (Jul 31, 2012)

Oh goodness. Poor ratties.. they are so lucky to come to a person like you. They were abandoned and you took them in, even though you don't have much space. The world needs morew people like you.

You can somtimes get cages online for free or a few bucks, as well as litter and food. If you need help with bedding or food you can go to websites and ask for free samples. Good luck!


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