Help me understand ... ?

[Jorjeee]

Today when I got home from school, I did the usual drop bag, go eat, play with ratties kinda thing.. but today, it wasn't right.

I walked into my room to find he female's rat cage was chewed open at the top, and the mummy and the babies weren't in there.

I checked everywhere, and eventually I found them under my clothes cabinet. All nine babies were all fine, but the mother was dead..

I have no idea what has cased this, as no chemicals or anything are ever in my room.. and there's no chemicals in the materials used for the cages either.

The only thing visibly wrong with her was she had a bloody nose.. I don't have any idea what's happened because I spent the last night at a friend's house, and they were all perfectly fine when I left.

I really don't know what's caused this .. but I really hope some of you may have an idea .. cos I've been crying for the past 5 hours and I don't seem to want to let her go.. Also the fact that she was alone whilst it happened.. that just breaks me.

but serious. There were no chemicals in my room, the cages materials or anything, and the only visible thing wrong with her was a bloody nose.. Please help me to understand what happened? =[

She was on;y three and a half months old.. she was too young.

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[jorats]

Oh no... I'm so sorry. I wonder if she might have swallowed cage bits when trying to escape with the babies.
How old are the babies?

 

[smalltowngirl]

:sad3: :hugs: Sorry for your loss.....poor babies.

 

[Moon]

I'm so sorry! That's so sad.

 

[mamarat]

How sad, I'm so sorry.

 

[MumsyRat]

I'm with Jorats, can't think of anything except maybe she swallowed something. How are the babies? Can they survive on their own?

 

[Jorjeee]

I'm not sure what happened.

The babies are roughly three weeks..

so they're still occasionally having milk but also feeding them on other foods.
I've been feeding them cooled porridge and soggy cereal, and they sometimes test out their mixes.

They seem to be doing good, cos they're still energetic and moving around.. but yeah..

pretty sad about mummy

 

[MumsyRat]

I'm very sorry for the loss of your Mommy rat. It's very sad!

At 3 weeks your babies should be O.K. on their own.

Can you get your hands on some baby cereal? And a nutrional suppliement like Ensure would be good too. Also give them cheerios, fruits and veggies! And it's not too soon to let them start chewing on regular rat blocks.

They need a nice cozy plaze to sleep so make sure they have nice box or basket with a soft fabric, like fleece, in it.

You'll need to separate the boys and girls in 2 - 3 weeks so the wee little girls don't risk getting pregnant.

Good Luck!

 

[Jorjeee]

I know. They're starting to become very independent. Yeah, should be able to get some baby cereal.

I gave them watermelon and plain vanilla yogurt.
They love it
they also like little bits and pieces of apple, banana, halved grapes, and peices of strawberry.

Yeah, I ended up keeping them in their original nesting box, just cutting up one of my fleexe blankets to make it cosier for them.

Yeah, I know about separating them. The girls can go into Mummy's big cages and the boys can go in with Daddy until the people who are buying them come to get them.

Thanks for that anic: