Interesting Predicament... Anyone know about birthing?

[user 1405]

I don't know, all I know is that she's due anytime and like I had mentioned, she was in a large display case/tub (one of those large glass ones that you see little rabbits in at the front of the shop) with a bunch of other rats... A lot of them looked really young according to my neighbor (whom I will now refer to as Sara). She chose Missy as she was one of the bigger ones there and she thought that an older rat would be easier to handle than a younger one... looks like she got more than she bargained for. Wouldn't surprise me if she was one of the store's former breeders....

I've been trying to get pictures of her, but she's really skittish and darts off in the back of the cage to hide behind something/in her house and I don't want to handle her too much now that she's due soon.

Also, I should note that she's really ballooned in size. You guys weren't kidding when someone mentioned that it looks like she's swallowed a tennis ball!

 

[Maple]

Is Sara going to contact you when the babies are born?

 

[user 1405]

I told her to call me when they do come, even if I'm at work (stuck working this weekend... the joys of being a security guard) and to let me know how things are going. I've sort of made a make shift video streaming setup with my DV cam and a tripod so that when it does happen all she had to was launch a video call on Skype using her computer and I could monitor the situation on my laptop remotely (even if it's gonna kill my bandwidth limit on my rogers stick).

That way, it'd be less intrusive for mom and we can still see what happens. Unfortunately, no simultaneous recording and streaming. >.< Would've been nice to capture this birth so that we could have a reference video instead of all these shaky youtube ones I see.

 

[user 1405]

Just an update. Well, Missy gave birth to 10 pups last night and so far they're all doing well. Nothing went wrong with the process. Unfortunately, Sara won't let me take photos of them or Missy because she doesn't want them to be disturbed... Ah well, Anyway. She's buying that extra cage off me, so that's one less piece of clutter for me. In a few days, I'll be able to tell you how my boys and girls there are.

 

[SQ]

Congrats on the babies!

Im not too sure but you may need to tell her to have a lower bottle for the babies when they reach a age where they want to eat and drink as then they will be pretty small still.(water bowls are not good as they could drown so i herd) and you want them to get use to using a water bottle and not a water bowl.

A shallow water dish is a good idea for the first few months after babies are a few weeks old.
Babies are not strong enough to get water out of water bottles even though they may look like they are drinking.
Access to a shallow water dish will keep them from becoming dehydrated.

 

[SQ]

The study we looked at put a confirmed birth at 38 days, and possibility of 40!!

I would be interested in reading that study.
Articles I have read said 28 - 30 days.

 

[lilangel]

Congrats on the babies!

Im not too sure but you may need to tell her to have a lower bottle for the babies when they reach a age where they want to eat and drink as then they will be pretty small still.(water bowls are not good as they could drown so i herd) and you want them to get use to using a water bottle and not a water bowl.

A shallow water dish is a good idea for the first few months after babies are a few weeks old.
Babies are not strong enough to get water out of water bottles even though they may look like they are drinking.
Access to a shallow water dish will keep them from becoming dehydrated.

So far all the babies i have had(mind you only two sets lol of two) All drank out of a water bottle and not bowls, but i used the small water bottles maybe it is why(like those hamster sized ones sometimes even the smallest ones)? and always checked the water level if it did not go down i would know they did not drink.

But i guess it is a way to use a bowl i just do not like the bowl idea >.< i have one rat out of all who refuses to use a water bottle or does not know how, i tried so many times to get him to use it and he will not so now i have to but a bowl and check it as it gets pretty yuckis :giggle:

Congrats on babies born healthy and safe! Can not wait to see picture's

 

[user 1405]

Update round 2: The bubs and mum are all doing fine. 6 girls and 4 boys, but that's the extent. From here on out I won't have anymore contact with the babies due to my changing priorities at work that have forced me to pack up and move out in the next few days (have to move closer to work due to the never ending after hours calls and late nights). So that means I won't have photos to share. Sara and her daughter Breanne have all found homes for the boys (in pairs) and are intent on keeping all the girls together seeing as they have a large cage (really large super pet cage that was meant for ferrets).

http://www.superpetusa.com/product-list ... tinued.htm <- looks like it.

 

[SQ]

Actually, that cage is a bit too small for 7 rats.
Wonderful that the ratties are doing well and that they have homes lined up for the 4 boys.

 

[xxchelle]

That cage houses maximum 6 rats, so it would be fine for just the baby girls, but make sure they know if they put mom and others with them it'll get too crowded.

 

[Tarah]

It holds six, while allowing 2 cubic feet.
I might be mistaking, but i dont thinkone rat over makes too big in the difference, according to a similar situation I talked about with a mod a while back.

 

[SQ]

Sorry if I was mistaken.
I didn't bother with a cage calculator because the ad states that the cage is 10 cubic feet.
10 cubic feet = a max of 5 rats.

 

[xxchelle]

Whoops, the page says there's 10 cubic feet of living space, meaning the max is 5 rats, not 6.

I like to allow a little more room, and not crowd my cages (something that's hard to do sometimes since I'm a rescue!) and personally I would only house 4 or 5 rats in that cage.

 

[Tarah]

My bad, didn't see that part.
I put the demensions in a calculator.

 

[xxchelle]

I did too, Tarah, but the actual LIVING space seems to be 10 cubic feet, whereas the dimensions are slightly larger because of bars, the pan, etc.

 

[user 1405]

Don't forget, I did mention that they bought that old zoozone cage off me as well.

 

[xxchelle]

Right but that ZooZone cage should not house rats permanently, it's not a proper rat cage. So if they plan on keeping all 6 baby girls, plus mom, they need a cage that will house 7 rats, the one they have now only houses 4-5.

 

[lilangel]

The cage they have now maybe they can try selling it and then using the money towards a bigger cage? In the end i know not one of us can force them to change but it would benefit the rats in the end of course and that's all we want They can prob try selling that cage you say they have for about $100 or so, take that money maybe put towards a FN if anything? As i know how CN cost quite a bit right now still and not everyone can afford them. So if they did get a double FN they can always mesh it And would be easier to mesh then the cage they have now as they most likely will have to mesh the other cage.

I do wish them the best of luck :heart:

 

[user 1405]

Ah well, I'll let her know and she knows that her cage won't be big enough for them all once they reach full length. I know she mentioned something about getting that super sized martins cage at one point... The Ruud I think.