And now Fuzzy - RIP little ones. I did the best I could.

[Joanne]

Don't forget to lick your babies too so they will be calm adults! (Didja read that thread? LOL)

 

[jennifervb]

Let's see. They've been with me for 76 hours. So if we say they were 5 days when they came in, we'll call them 8 days now. (incidentally they're becoming quite adept at pooping on their own, as evidenced by the gifts they leave on my hands when I play with them. because I'm totally guilty of having them out between feeding times. When do I stop doing that part of the feeding routine?)

Taking advantage of the post-feeding zonk-out, our lovely "headspot" is modeling for us here. I tried to get a picture of the eponymous headspot itself (if that's really what it is) but alas, they were all too blurry. And then my camera batteries died so I gave up. All I know is there's a pink sliver on the crest of her forehead which is not on her sister's head. But then she overall seems to have less fur, or her fur is lighter, than her sister anyway. Still a bit up in the air as to what color they'll turn out. It could easily be black, blue, or mink. I'm trying to remember when my last babies were agouti, if they were brown-fuzzed at this stage in life. I don't have pictures of them at this age or I'd compare.

Anyway! Pics.
Very blurry top view. At least you can kinda see what I mean about the headspot, such that it is. And you can kinda see the ears.

You do realize that you are "mom" right? I mean.... these little ones are newborns. They didn't have a lot of time with their mom. She sleeps in your hand, they get nourishment from you and you taught them how to poop.

You are a bonified rat mom. :love6:

Since I don't want you to bawl your eyes out at the prospect of your undeniable significance in their lives.... I will do it for you. :hugs:

 

[fenshae]

@Shelagh - yeah, I was thinking the ears are looking more normal/top-ear.

@Jen - *snrk* you're hilarious. I feel just like some of my friends who are stuck with the prospect of returning to work at the end of their maternity leave but don't want to be separated from their babies.

 

[fenshae]

Well, David survived his first ever day flying solo. He broke his first syringe and had a couple mild panic attacks, but overall he did good, hah!

Babies are still doing great. Headspot's paw is looking much better. The swelling is down and the color is starting to return to it, slowly. I think it might recover all the way. The tail, on the other hand, the tip of it looks kind of withered and constricted. I wouldn't be too surprised if it fell off. But I s'pose there's worse things than having 3/4 of a tail.

Does pretty much seal her fate in terms of keeping her if she's wild, though. Not that there was a ton of debate about that around these parts. Nobody could really consider releasing them I don't think. I've got a home lined up for them already if they're girls (still feeling pretty confident there) and she's already accepted that if they're wild they'll have special needs and she'll do the necessary research. Callie's a sweetheart, she's my rescue partner in crime, she's the one who took those two girls from the backwoods snakefood breeder I got Socrates/Amadeus/Normoth from. I'm gonna see if I can haul her onto the boards here.

Anyhoo. More fuzz is slowly growing in, but the bellies are still totally bald. No pictures as I can't find any new batteries for the camera. Will continue searching!

 

[lilspaz68]

Here are your pics of Java and Marsky at 7 days old...they were big pups as mom just had the 2 of them.

Ugh Photobucket won't let me change the page so I cannot get any more pics of them.... :redhot:

As for your girl's foot just make sure it keeps warm, meaning it still has circulation.

 

[SQ]

I have read that it is good to pair a wild, hand raised pup with a same sex domestic baby about a week younger than it, when the wild baby is around 4 weeks or so. They bond for life and the domestic rat helps the other to adjust.

Too bad you couldn't find a nursing mom with a litter around their age to raise them and bond with the babies.

 

[fenshae]

You're telling me.

*sigh* At work now and particularly resenting being here. Fuzzy wasn't acting right when I left. Nothing I could put my finger, she just seemed a little "off", and she doesn't look bigger than her sister now. Don't know if that's because Headspot caught up or if Fuzzy's lost weight or both. Argh. Went back to the 3cc syringe and we're going to up the feeding to 1.25ccs to see if that helps, they're still eager to suckle my hands when they're done with dinner. Hoping David has gotten the hang of feeding a bit better today. They were both really fussy and cranky last night when I got home so I'm thinking they might have been a big hungry from getting more milk -on- them than -in- them.

Trying not to become a total crankpot today. Not very easy considering this job is currently exceptionally busy and stressful all on its own and when you combine that with about 5 hours of sleep anight since Friday night and the knowledge that I'm being kept away from the babies who I know I can take better care of than anybody else I know....well, needless to say I'm best off not talking to anybody for risk of snapping their heads off.

 

[crumbilina]

Awwwww :hugs:

Hopefully your work day is almost over so you can get home to the little ratters.

 

[rhapsody]

Trying not to become a total crankpot today. Not very easy considering this job is currently exceptionally busy and stressful all on its own and when you combine that with about 5 hours of sleep anight since Friday night and the knowledge that I'm being kept away from the babies who I know I can take better care of than anybody else I know....well, needless to say I'm best off not talking to anybody for risk of snapping their heads off.

Aw geez, sorry m'dear. I get that way too. Its actually kind of sad that 90% of the sick days I take off from work is because one of my fur-kids is sick, not me.

Finally caught up on this thread, and I'll be keeping everything crossed for you and the babes.

 

[fenshae]

Sadly I work swing shifts so I'm here for another 6.5 hours. And we are busy-busy-busy because I work for an insurance company and it's a record-breaking tornado season. Not pleased.

I'm trying not to be so doubtful of David's rat-feeding abilities but I reeeeeeallly am not confident that they're getting as much milk in their bellies as they are all over themselves. Trying to find some way to arrange an altered work schedule where I can be home for feedings....

 

[crumbilina]

OH GEEZE! 6.5 more hours!!!!

You need more :hugs:

At least when you are busy time can seem to go faster... sometimes

 

[fenshae]

Halfway through the day. I'm sending my catheter-wielding paramedic friend to go help David out with the 6pm feeding. She knows her way around a syringe better, maybe she'll have some pointers for him, hehe. On the bright side, the babies should have terribly soft fur from all of the "milk baths" they've been taking. I'm sure it's not as bad as he's making it sound actually.

My request for schedule adjustments got denied We're too slammed with calls to allow anybody to take off any time during the afternoon. Blah.

 

[Joanne]

Sorry you can't be home. A mother's instinct is usually right - I hope the babies really are OK.

 

[fenshae]

Meh. I dunno if I'm just cranky from work sucking so hard and not being with them 24/7 but I'm not feeling as good about myself/them as I was before. Maybe just because it no longer seems like a miracle every time I check and they're still alive. now I kind of expect them to be alive and raising the bar is causing anxiety LOL.

They seem a little thin/small to me. But then again, I'm not sure. Also headspot's paw isn't looking as good as I'd hoped. On the bright side the swelling is down and the color returned to the majority of it. MOST of her foot looks really good, but her toes are looking as dark/withered as the tip of her tail. So I'm afraid her toes and her tail will fall off. Will they do that if the tissue is dead, just wither up and fall off? or would she get septic?

 

[fenshae]

Yep, definitely looks like she'll lose part of that paw and the end of her tail The color was coming back really well to the paw, I thought it'd make it down to the toes, but this morning come feeding time the toes and the front bit of that hindpaw are all curled upward and withered/black. Feel awful.

She doesn't seem as bothered by it as I do, though. At least she's still very mobile, more energetic than her sister even. She crawled all the way up from my hand into my elbow in like 2 seconds flat while I was reloading the syringe. So I hope she'll adjust to her disability. Just not sure what to do now about the apparently dead tissue, if it'll shed itself on its own or if it will need to be surgically removed when she's older or what.

 

[lilspaz68]

injured tailtips and toes have shrivelled up, dried up and come off on their own in the past, so we can hope for your little gal. I think you need to name them, just in case.

 

[fenshae]

Nothing I should do to help that process? Poor girl. At least she's still eating and growing and crawling and squeaking.

And, yeah...I was going to leave naming up to Callie since she'll be taking them but I s'pose I should come up with something anyway. Since they might be wildlings maybe I'll name them something in my rat language from my book I'm writing That could be fun.

Oh, and a question. They've demonstrated themselves very capable of pooping and peeing on their own now, they do it with great vigor. Do I still need to stimulate them after feeding, or just clean up any bits on their underbellies/legs? I ask because they are getting VERY indignant when I do it now and I'm wondering if it's irritating them.

 

[lilspaz68]

I would continue til at least 2 weeks...

 

[Joanne]

I wouldn't do anything to encourage the black parts to come off. She has to finish healing from the inside. It's like a scab. We always want to pick at it but if it's too soon, it will bleed and hurt. When things are done healing, it just comes off on its own. I don't think you have any decision to make, because by the time she's old enough to have surgery, it will have resolved on its own if it's going to.
And the only way she will know that she has a disability is if people TELL her. She will grow up like that and won't know any different! I'm so glad that she's still got lots of energy. What is going on with her sister?

 

[fenshae]

Her sister's doing better. Whatever her "off"ness was it seemed to resolve itself after the 2nd feeding yesterday. They're both still smaller than I'd like, and wrinklier. I don't remember Velvet's babies being this wrinkly. They're a really funny color though. Not quite black but they won't be agouti unless something weird happens -- there's no banding on the hairs at all. They're like a dark slate gray color right now. I'll be curious to see what color they turn out to be.

For kicks, I was using my Ratspeak Language Guide(for the book I'm writing) to see what they'd be named if I were to name them in that language. Mostly it's made me realize I need to think up more words for the syllabry to make the language functional. But having fun with it, nonetheless. They would be "Sojask" (foundlings) in the story. *contemplates if I can get decent names out of this after all*