newly desexed male accidentally in with FEMALES!

[benzin.fox]

Male rat,Thompson has been desexed for 2-3 days and was accidentally placed in with a cage of females -one of which was a rescue who is due to go to her new home this week

Thompson is about 3.5 months old.

I know for sure that at least one rat was in heat in that cage and at time of his removal I SAW him 'humping' another female rat who has just finished nursing a litter before she came here a few days ago!

He was in this cage for HOURS, possibly overnight. The cage houses 2 desexed males and 6 entire females.

I called the vet who told me that she'd never had someone experience this and she told me to expect small litters, if any are pregnant.

I don't want to go into detail about who was the stupid person who put him in there

Can someone please tell me what they think the chances are of pregnancy? I never expected this to happen to me. I've never had any of my rats, even rescues have babies. I'm fretting..

 

[jorats]

If you would be asking my vet, she would say no chance of pregnancy. But I still wait the 2 weeks after a neutering... just in case.
I really do hope none got pregnant.

How was he found? He was accepted by the colony? Was he off in a corner by himself? I've often heard breeders say that in a group setting rats don't usually perform. I'm not sure if the girls would allow an intruder to come into their home and "do" them all. There's a little dance that goes along with the actual act. Then again, the fact that he might have stayed in overnight could very well have allowed time for colony acceptance and then mating. Oh boy. Can you guys do emergency spays?

 

[ryelle]

They tried to breed the rats at college. They put a male in a cage with three females for 7 days and were expecting babies over Christmas. I saw the male in there two days before Christmas break and he was secluded from the females, they chased him up to the top of the cage and he stayed there. None of the three females are pregnant

 

[fenshae]

I've noticed a similar phenomenon at the skeazy pet stores that don't separate the sexes -- they have fewer litters than you'd expect just because the group dynamics don't allow it.

I tend to think your chances are very low. BUT I'd still be monitoring weight and finding money for e-spays if it comes to it.

 

[SQ]

I know for sure that at least one rat was in heat in that cage and at time of his removal I SAW him 'humping' another female rat who has just finished nursing a litter before she came here a few days ago!

If you saw him having sex with a female, then group dynamics were allowing him to breed with the girls.
Since one or more girls were in heat there is a chance that those girls are pregnant.
How big a chance, I don't know.
Since people are advised to wait several weeks after a neuter before putting a boy in with intact girls, there is a chance, likely a low chance, that at least one girl is pregnant.
If you don't do an espay, I would prepare for babies but hope for the best.

 

[sprite71]

I am keeping fingers and toes crossed for you that nothing happened.

 

[pscychopomp]

If they no longer have testicles, how can they make sperm...?

 

[xxchelle]

The sperm gets stored in the tubes. While they remove the testicles, there's still tubes leading to the penis, where sperm can live for a sort period of time.

 

[smilez_n_hugs]

The sperm gets stored in the tubes. While they remove the testicles, there's still tubes leading to the penis, where sperm can live for a sort period of time.

I was just about to post that lol but she beat me to it :giggle:

 

[ryelle]

The sperm gets stored in the tubes. While they remove the testicles, there's still tubes leading to the penis, where sperm can live for a sort period of time.

I understand this whole thing, but surely the sperm count should be seriously low seeing as though these tubes (vas Deferens) are inside the body, and testicles need to be outside of the body for sperm to develop properly.

 

[user 1405]

I think this is more my department. Despite being neutered, there are some residual sprem in the Vas Deferens as well as in the seminal ducts. Typical human sperm can live up to 5 days, but I don't know about rats...

As for sperm count, you'd be surprised how may there are in a small drop of it... all it takes is one, even if the count has dropped from 100 million down to a million...

 

[fenshae]

I think this is more my department.

I know this is bad timing and all but that made me giggle. :giggle:

 

[Moon]

If you saw him having sex with a female, then group dynamics were allowing him to breed with the girls.

A mounting does not mean a tie took place, and there's no proof that it was a dominance mount as opposed to a reproductive mounting. But scary all the same.

Good luck benzin.

 

[benzin.fox]

To me the 'humping' didn't look like sex- but then i've never seen rats having sex..

This girl wasn't in heat by the look of it and didn't act phased by him just walked off while he ran around crazily- that is his temperament though,very hyper.

He was accepted by the colony by the look of it. The cage had just had a big clean and he already gets free range time with the boys in there so it may have been like an introduction? There didn't look to be any issues with them.

My vet is really awesome but doesn't like to do emergency spays, that doesn't mean she won't but I'd rather wait and see. Apparently if any are pregnant I should expect small litters?

 

[jorats]

The girl should have done her little mating dance before a real mating occurs.
The mating dance consists of girl doing funny little hops. She hops away from the male enticing him to catch her.

 

[benzin.fox]

i think my females do that dance while in heat, is that the same?

i didnt see any of them doing it when he was in there.

*fingers crossed*

 

[jorats]

Yes, that's it...

 

[benzin.fox]

Good news- zero pregnancies.

Bad news.. Thompson is no longer with us.

He began having frequent and very violent seizures 3+ times a day. He was on phenobarbitone elixir twice daily with increasing dosages with no effect or improvement.After witnessing Thompson have the worst seizure i'd seen yet, I decided to have him euthanised at 1am last night. I could no longer watch him suffer..and suffer he was. My poor man had blood streaming down his nose,one eye protruding more than the other and during seizure gasped for air. he had torn out all of his toenails and was living in a converted tub so he could no longer hurt himself until the meds could work. His body would also contort and stiffen while he was awake and aware.

The vet suspected tumour before he was euthanised. Necropsy releaved no tumours present but severe brain abnormalities including one side of the brain being smaller than the other with a large indentation. The vet used a lot of correct terminology in regard to the brain parts but i of course do not remember them. The vet assured me that I had done the right thing by Thompson.

The saddest part? He bruxed and boggled just before the fell unconcious before being PTS.. I cried..

 

[jorats]

Oh I'm so so sorry.

 

[mamarat]

I'm so sorry. It's such a hard decision to make but in the end it was the right one for Thompson. RIP little guy.