FOUND baby rats, no mom, what to do?

Petunia · Jul 5, 2011

oh ((((Melissa)))) I am so sorry about the little ones that didn't make it
and sorry I didn't get back here sooner to help.

Some people here keep wild rats as pets, (correction, apparently you can keep half wild rats, but not fully wild ones) but it's perfectly understandable that someone with no experience with rats would even know that that was possible. I am sorry I wasn't here to help with that...
I am not at all familiar with raising baby rats, as I've only adopted fully weaned ones but there are a lot of people here who raise babies all the time, unfortunately they weren't around at the right time, I tried to get in touch with as many as I knew but then I had to get off line.

anyway, I THINK that if you take in a baby rat and keep it for any length of time, it may not be able to be returned to the wild......???
can any one help me here??

anyway you did the best you could for them. if you go back there maybe you can see if the mom has found them? if there's no one in the nest, then she probably found the baby and moved him to a safer place.

and as SQ mentioned, a rescue might be able to put the baby in with another litter, I am still trying to locate a rescue in your area. sorry I've not been around to help more

jennifervb · Jul 5, 2011

Oh boy.... little rat mom obviously thought she was being brilliant by placing her babies in flower pots (ok, so she doesn't have a clue what a flower pot is! )

I'm so sorry that the one baby didn't make it. You're right, Melissa, life is so fragile and it is particularly fragile for newborns and babies.

Brownie Points to you for your diligent efforts Melissa! You brought one baby through to the next round and it has a fighting chance of making it.

You kept your cool and did well. I hope you stick around. :hugs:

melissa&amp;paul-kyle · Jul 5, 2011

Thank you so much for your kind replies, advice and thank you so much for trying so hard to get information to me. You are a very nice group!

I DID go back to the nursery to check on the little tike- he was no where to be found- I looked all over the petunia house in every corner in every tray. The nest was still in tact and undisturbed. My hope is that momma rat heard her babe squeaking and came to move him to safer grounds. He is a little fighter- cussing at me and shoving the syringe away with all his tiny mite...I am sure he is okay wherever he is.

No, I would not have thought he could have been in captivity after being born wild like he was...I wouldn't have the slightest idea how to keep a rat happy in a house with 10 3/4 cats and 2, 60# coonhounds! The cats have their own room and a 1200 sq ft foot outdoor enclosure...the dogs have a doggie door to freely come and go from house ot their fenced half acre of woods and stream....I would likely have given the rat his own habitat, and I would have moved myself out to live in the garage!!! LOL!

He is better where he is, with nature charting his course, IMO.

Godspeed tiny rat!

And thank you kind folks once again. ;-)

stommy · Apr 20, 2012

I think you did everything right - you are a very warmhearted person. More people should be like you, then this place would be a lot better! Did you decide to check back more often and maybe take it with you once he's grown stronger and older? I think if you compare the nursery to your home you might feel that he'd be at a right place right there with the one person who saved his life and who grew to be a little bit emotionally attached with him, don't you think so?

KayRatz · Apr 20, 2012

This thread took place last July... In any case, that's very poor advice--why would she take the rat home with her after it had grown bigger and adjusted to the wild?

Mrsbeccabear55 · Apr 20, 2012

stommy said:
I think you did everything right - you are a very warmhearted person. More people should be like you, then this place would be a lot better! Did you decide to check back more often and maybe take it with you once he's grown stronger and older? I think if you compare the nursery to your home you might feel that he'd be at a right place right there with the one person who saved his life and who grew to be a little bit emotionally attached with him, don't you think so?

Not if he was a wild rat, they are meant to stay in the wild. They are nothing like the domesticated rats we have. And as she didn't find any of the rats when she went back to check I don't think it really matters. Momma might have relocated everyone. I understand your point though, it's hard to let go of a baby when it just kind of fell into your life like that, but if its wild, leave it wild imo. Unless there is something seriously wrong/dying/ect. ect... But then it should be taken to a place that knows how to deal with wild animals. Not home with you. :thumbup: