# What to do now?



## mnyablonski (Nov 18, 2015)

So today I walked into the room where my rats are and heard squeaking but not normal squeaking like normal when my boys tussle so I went to investigate and in my little rat Pip's cage i found 5 little pink squirmy babies lying in a pvc tube I had attached to the side of the cage for Pip since she loves sleeping in them. I took the tube down so no babies would fall out but now I am rather lost of what to do. I wasn't trying to breed her it was a complete accident with a crap breeder who kept saying girls were boys and boys were girls and now I have one girl with a litter of 5 i believe. What should I do now? I added extra food for her and water more nesting material so she can make a proper nest for them some more high protein treats for pip but what should I do now?


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## kksrats (Jul 25, 2014)

Just to clarify, she's away from males now, right? You are pretty lucky if there's only 5, it's a pretty manageable litter and Pip shouldn't have any problems nursing them. If the cage she's in doesn't have a deep plastic bottom, I'd look into making a bin cage or buying a 10 gallon tank ($10 at petsmart) since it's really easy for babies to fall through bars. Pump up mom's protein intake with some scrambled or boiled egg (not too much). Lure Pip away and check the babies for milk bands to make sure they're getting milk; this will just appear as a white streak along their tummy. Clean up the cage after about a week by removing all but a small amount of the nest bedding. Put that small amount of soiled bedding back in with the pups so that it still smells like their nest. You can do more thorough cleaning when the pups are more mobile. Eyes should open around 2 weeks, 3-4 weeks they'll be sampling real food and mom will start weaning at 4 weeks. Separate males between 5 and 6 weeks but no later than 6 weeks. Feel free to let us know if you need anything, we're all happy to help.


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## moonkissed (Dec 26, 2011)

kksrats has good advice. 


Some helpful links for the babies development & sexing:
http://www.afrma.org/babyratdevdaily.htm
http://tigertailrattery.weebly.com/growth-picture-journal.html
http://ratguide.com/breeding/baby_development/birth_to_weaning.php
http://www.onceuponamischief.com/p/sexing-and.html
http://mainelyratrescue.org/rattieblog2/?p=42


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## mnyablonski (Nov 18, 2015)

Yes she is away from the boys and is alone in with her babies. The ones she has let me see did have milk bands and are looking pretty healthy from what I can tell. It does have a deep bottom cage that is a little taller than Pip when she is standing next to the side so I don't believe any babies could fall out especially since Pip is very protective of them and anytime they try crawling she runs and puts them back in the nest. I tried cleaning a little but didn't change anything in the nest but did add nesting material for her. I will try and get pictures up soon they are pretty adorable but what babies rats aren't right?


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