# Help, possible pregnant females!



## Ruka (Dec 20, 2012)

Okay, so while I was cleaning the room that I house Whiskered Ways females in I moved the girls cage into the same room as the males are in, well, little did I know that my smallest boy, Spindle, could squeeze through the bars of their cage. 

Anyways, the girls always vibrate when they are in heat, and this lasts a few days, please keep in mind I haven't owned a lot of female rats before, lots of males though. So I noticed Spindle was out of his cage, and running around the girls cage. I am worried he may have gotten into their cage because the bar spacing is roughly the same on both cages.

My girls stopped vibrating later that day, this was about 4 days ago.

What are the odds that my girls are pregnant? I have never cared for a pregnant mother or litters before, and I have heard so many horror stories, I am worried, I run a rescue, this is not supposed to be happening. I am NOT a breeder!! 

When do females start to show? When will I be able to know if the girls are pregnant.. This is a horror story for me!


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## iHayleyNorris (Jul 28, 2012)

Pics please! 


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## LightningWolf (Jun 8, 2012)

Rats go into heat every 3 to 5 days, so if they haven't gone back into heat by next week they are most likely pregnant.

As for that, if they are pregnant, plenty of protein (eggs, sardines, ect) and for at least the first two weeks you'll want them in either tanks or bin cages (Bin cages are lighter bigger, and less expensive, plus easier to clean and have more ventilation).


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## Ruka (Dec 20, 2012)

iHayleyNorris said:


> Pics please!
> 
> 
> Sent from Petguide.com Free App


They are owner surrenders, and quite skittish, so I can try for photos, but getting a belly shot will be tricky..


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## Maltey (Jun 26, 2011)

Honestly it is probably worth taking them to the vet for an espay. Or, if that's a bit pricey we have something in the UK called Galastop- people have successfully used that for aborting pregnancies. It might be worth asking your vet if you have something similar.


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## Isamurat (Jul 27, 2012)

I agree with Maltey, well worth considering rather than risking the mums lives to bring more babies into the world that may struggle to find good homes. How many girls do you have?



LightningWolf said:


> Rats go into heat every 3 to 5 days, so if they haven't gone back into heat by next week they are most likely pregnant.
> 
> As for that, if they are pregnant, plenty of protein (eggs, sardines, ect) and for at least the first two weeks you'll want them in either tanks or bin cages (Bin cages are lighter bigger, and less expensive, plus easier to clean and have more ventilation).


Its worth being cautious with this if your looking at girls that are well fed and well looked after. It's needed for feeder girls who are still babies themselves, or those that have had a shortage of adequet nutrition through there lives, but for a fit and well girl it can cause complications due to them putting on extra weight as opposed to just baby weight (can lead to babies getting stuck or difficulty birthing). I don't feed my pregnant girls any more food, just up the amoutn of vitamins and minerals they get for the first 2 weeks, on the third week i up the percentage of protien in their diet but not the overall amount as far as possible.


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## Ruka (Dec 20, 2012)

Isamurat said:


> I agree with Maltey, well worth considering rather than risking the mums lives to bring more babies into the world that may struggle to find good homes. How many girls do you have?
> 
> 
> 
> Its worth being cautious with this if your looking at girls that are well fed and well looked after. It's needed for feeder girls who are still babies themselves, or those that have had a shortage of adequet nutrition through there lives, but for a fit and well girl it can cause complications due to them putting on extra weight as opposed to just baby weight (can lead to babies getting stuck or difficulty birthing). I don't feed my pregnant girls any more food, just up the amoutn of vitamins and minerals they get for the first 2 weeks, on the third week i up the percentage of protien in their diet but not the overall amount as far as possible.


Right now we have two girls, I swear, I had no idea Spindle could wriggle out of his cage like that!

I will call the vet and ask, but I have a feeling it is going to be in the $500 range for an emergency spay.


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## Isamurat (Jul 27, 2012)

Galstrop is a lot cheaper than a spay, its a drug used for hormonally induced tumours and works well for that inmany cases. However it also can be used to abort pregnancies in rats. Its something that is becoming better known here in the uk and is a very useful option in cases like this. I honestly dont know if you can get hold of it in the states though. If needed I can dig up some references to scientific papers on it for your vet.


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## mistymornings18 (Aug 13, 2012)

If the female rats are healthy as far as you can tell then I wouldn't get them abortions. I don't support that in any species of animal or human unless it is 100% medically needed. There is a lot of information on the web and different rat care sites about pregnancy in rats and caring for mom and babies from conception until the babies are in new homes. You run a rescue so there is some valuable life lessons for you in this incident. You are going to run into pregnant and nursing females in your future. This way you get experience in a less emergent case.


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## Ruka (Dec 20, 2012)

mistymornings18 said:


> If the female rats are healthy as far as you can tell then I wouldn't get them abortions. I don't support that in any species of animal or human unless it is 100% medically needed. There is a lot of information on the web and different rat care sites about pregnancy in rats and caring for mom and babies from conception until the babies are in new homes. You run a rescue so there is some valuable life lessons for you in this incident. You are going to run into pregnant and nursing females in your future. This way you get experience in a less emergent case.


I agree, they are very healthy as far as I can tell.

I knew I was going to run into pregnant females and new mothers, I just hoped it wouldn't be MY rats that ended up getting a female pregnant.. He had never escaped before, I had no idea he was going to. And I also agree, I need the experience.


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## mistymornings18 (Aug 13, 2012)

Ruka said:


> I agree, they are very healthy as far as I can tell.
> 
> I knew I was going to run into pregnant females and new mothers, I just hoped it wouldn't be MY rats that ended up getting a female pregnant.. He had never escaped before, I had no idea he was going to. And I also agree, I need the experience.
> 
> ...


 Hey things happen  Now you get the experience you need and cute little babies to look at lol. Good luck. My new female, Nymeria, is also pregnant. Due between March 9-12


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## Maltey (Jun 26, 2011)

But you run the rescue to help rats? And you can't help as many rats by bringing your own into the world. Yes it's great to have the experience but honestly it's not that difficult so when the time comes when it's unavoidable I'm sure you'll be fine.
In this case you caught it early enough to do something about it. 
As a rescue I'm sure you know how difficult it is to find homes for rats so you don't need the extra strain on yourself.
Galastop is so much cheaper than a spay. Not sure on prices in the US but for comparison an e-spay at my vets is £120 and the Galastop was about £15.
£15 is much cheaper than the cost to raise 2 litters. Babies eat you out of house and home, trust me.

ETA:
Just did some research and Galastop may be known as Dostinex or Cabaser in the US.


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## mistymornings18 (Aug 13, 2012)

Yea she runs a rescue why does that make it okay to kill innocent babies? There was an accident and now it's time to deal with the consequences of that. The Mommas are healthy. There is no reason to terminate those litters. 


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## aknapoli (Oct 20, 2012)

I don't think this is the time or place to turn this into an abortion debate. She asked about her options and was looking for help, not a political lecture. 


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## Poisoned (Nov 17, 2012)

It's not politics, it's an opinion on ethical treatment of rats/pups. Kill them now or in a month, doesn't matter to me. People are allowed to voice their opinions... I don't know why it's alright to kill them now, but not in a couple weeks.Good luck!


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## Jenzie (Dec 26, 2012)

Sure, everyone has a right to voice their opinion, but no one was asking for anyone else's opinions on abortion. This is a really inappropriate place to discuss such things. Ruka asked for help with the issue at hand, and people should be giving support and ideas, NOT tearing down other people's ideas or pushing things into a debate.


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## Ruka (Dec 20, 2012)

Maltey said:


> But you run the rescue to help rats? And you can't help as many rats by bringing your own into the world. Yes it's great to have the experience but honestly it's not that difficult so when the time comes when it's unavoidable I'm sure you'll be fine.
> In this case you caught it early enough to do something about it.
> As a rescue I'm sure you know how difficult it is to find homes for rats so you don't need the extra strain on yourself.
> Galastop is so much cheaper than a spay. Not sure on prices in the US but for comparison an e-spay at my vets is £120 and the Galastop was about £15.
> ...


A e-spay where I live, which is in Canada, not the stares by the way, is about $500 per rat.
My vet said they don't supply Galastop.

Yes, I run a rescue, this was a mistake. 

This was not a planned thing, but I do not have the funds to spend to terminate two pregnancies, I need that money for URI's (if they occur) and rescue costs.

I would or be keeping ANY offspring, if my girls are pregnant, the young will go up for adoption.

I do not have the extra funds to emergency spay them, I'm sorry, it's very expensive here for that.



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## Korra (Dec 11, 2011)

smh
It is always so interesting to hear people's opinion on this topic whenever someone makes the suggestion. I can generally guess the age of the user depending on which way their opinions lean.
Does your rescue receive non-profit funding or donations? Whether or not you e spay(which it sounds like you won't) litters cost alot, and I guessing that money is tight considering your rescue just started up.


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## Ruka (Dec 20, 2012)

Korra said:


> smh
> It is always so interesting to hear people's opinion on this topic whenever someone makes the suggestion. I can generally guess the age of the user depending on which way their opinions lean.
> Does your rescue receive non-profit funding or donations? Whether or not you e spay(which it sounds like you won't) litters cost alot, and I guessing that money is tight considering your rescue just started up.


I meant to say I will NOT be keeping the litters.

We have a big fundraising event coming up, but as of right now, donations are very small, and infrequent.

Yes, money is tight this week, but come the next few weeks and we should have a nice bit of money saved up, and plenty to care for the litters.

I understand that an e-spay would be the best, but I simply do not have $1000.00 kicking around to spay them, this will never happen again.

I am personally against breeding animals while so many are homeless, but I cannot bring up the funds in the allotted time frame, otherwise I would e-spay them. Please understand, I feel terrible about this whole situation.


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## Rumy91989 (Dec 31, 2012)

I've just read through this whole thing, and from what I can tell, you don't even know if they're pregnant or not, right? So I'm just going to sit back and keep my fingers crossed on that one.

In the future, you might want to consider getting your resident boys neutered or keeping your males and females in separate rooms to avoid scares like this (again, keeping fingers crossed that it was just a scare!) in the future.

The best of luck to you, your rescue, and whatever happens with this situation.


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## mistymornings18 (Aug 13, 2012)

aknapoli said:


> I don't think this is the time or place to turn this into an abortion debate. She asked about her options and was looking for help, not a political lecture.
> 
> 
> Sent from Petguide.com Free App


Rude much? 
This has nothing to do with being an abortion debate and everything to do with what's appropriate. There is no reason to terminate these possible litters. 
God this site is just full of people who are so damned rude and egotistical. Wish that my old rat group had not shut down. Those people were actually nice and didn't feel as they were the only ones who had a right to give an opinion!!! 


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## Isamurat (Jul 27, 2012)

There are pleanty of reasons to terminate, just as there are not too. For instance mums can die during pregnancy, there are many rescue rats looking for homes, adding to them when you can choose not too and the babies have not fully formed (they are clusters of cells at this time, not viable babies) is deorieving other rescues of homes. Birthing is hard on mums generally, you need a special rat to get the most out of it and not get stressed or upset. Babies can die too, mum fail to feed and so on.

Theres reasons not too as well, it might not fit with your beliefs, you could be removing some wonderful potential rats from the world. The mums could do a great job and it could be a brill experience.

I dont think there is any black and white on issues like this, I know what I would, its probably different to many others, but its important that decisions are made with all the ootions on the table, and understanding and acceoting the potential consequences if things go wrong.


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## Korra (Dec 11, 2011)

mistymornings18 said:


> Rude much?
> This has nothing to do with being an abortion debate and everything to do with what's appropriate. There is no reason to terminate these possible litters.
> God this site is just full of people who are so damned rude and egotistical. Wish that my old rat group had not shut down. Those people were actually nice and didn't feel as they were the only ones who had a right to give an opinion!!!
> 
> ...




To quote, "Rude much?"


And to Ruka, I totally understand not having the funds. Things can happen at the worst possible time. I wasn't shaking my head at you at all. I believe that you are in it for the good of all of the ratties  I have just seen this debate come up many times and it is always the same type of ill-informed comments that make me just smh....


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## JLSaufl (Jan 20, 2013)

Ruka, I'm sorry your dealing with the potential of having several new ratties to deal with. If in fact you end up with a pregnant girl or two, I hope that everything works out and life is good and happy in the end. I know you're just starting up, money is tight and this is probably very stressful and possibly overwhelming. 

With that, even if you're a millionaire, what you chose to do with the babies is your choice, now you know your options, and the cost of those options.

Again, I hope everything works out. 

*hugs*


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## Ruka (Dec 20, 2012)

Rumy91989 said:


> I've just read through this whole thing, and from what I can tell, you don't even know if they're pregnant or not, right? So I'm just going to sit back and keep my fingers crossed on that one.
> 
> In the future, you might want to consider getting your resident boys neutered or keeping your males and females in separate rooms to avoid scares like this (again, keeping fingers crossed that it was just a scare!) in the future.
> 
> The best of luck to you, your rescue, and whatever happens with this situation.


They are kept out of reach of each other now, they were only beside each other so I could clean the poo my females felt the need to fling out onto the walls... 

I am hoping they are not pregnant..


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## Rumy91989 (Dec 31, 2012)

Ruka said:


> They are kept out of reach of each other now, they were only beside each other so I could clean the poo my females felt the need to fling out onto the walls...
> 
> I am hoping they are not pregnant..
> 
> ...


Well that sounds super fun! =P I will hope so alongside you, but if they are, I'm sure however it works out you will make the most of it.  Your love and care for ratties is what makes you the perfect person to be running a rescue.


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## Ruka (Dec 20, 2012)

I hope it all works out too...


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## Ruka (Dec 20, 2012)

NOT PREGNANT!! Who-Hoo!!


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## Korra (Dec 11, 2011)

Thats great! How do you know?


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## Isamurat (Jul 27, 2012)

Brilliant news, i am really glad for you. How many days has it been or have you seen a heat?


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