Pregnant right after giving birth

[Rachael]

I know they go into heat right away - what can I suggest to someone who 'didn't realise' she had a male and female rather than two females, and has ended up with babies. How does that work if they get to 3 weeks, and she has another litter?

 

[lilspaz68]

It's called a post-partum pregnancy. The female rat goes into heat within 24 hours of giving birth and if the male was still in with her she likely conceived. The eggs delay implantation for a bout a week, so that the gestation is actually 4 weeks or so, to give the current litter a chance to survive. Back to back's are very very hard on ratmom's and the babies. The 2nd litter is usually smaller than the first (size of pups, not amount), since she's nursing her current litter, and trying to nourish the litter in her belly as well. Mom needs a lot of help with this type of situation. BUT you are saying the first litter is only 3 weeks old and now she just gave birth? That's not right. Its more like 4 weeks after the first birth.

 

[Rachael]

It's called a post-partum pregnancy. The female rat goes into heat within 24 hours of giving birth and if the male was still in with her she likely conceived. The eggs delay implantation for a bout a week, so that the gestation is actually 4 weeks or so, to give the current litter a chance to survive. Back to back's are very very hard on ratmom's and the babies. The 2nd litter is usually smaller than the first (size of pups, not amount), since she's nursing her current litter, and trying to nourish the litter in her belly as well. Mom needs a lot of help with this type of situation. BUT you are saying the first litter is only 3 weeks old and now she just gave birth? That's not right. Its more like 4 weeks after the first birth.

Thanks

No sorry, the babies were just born. I was meaning surely if she was pregnant, when she had her second litter, they would be 3 weeks old. As far as I know mum and dad are still living together and I don't know if she's going to split them or not. :wallbang:

 

[jorats]

Oh that must be so frustrating for you Rachael.

 

[lilspaz68]

That little mom will continue to have back-to-backs until it kills her if she leaves the male in there. :redhot:

 

[Rachael]

Very frustrating.

Trying to convince her to take the male out, will see what happens. Ugh.

 

[SQ]

The male and female need to be separated asap.
If possible either he should be neutered or she should be spayed once all litters are weaned.

You can tell her about Eve, a breeder I rescued who had back to back litters .... although I was told she had been given a break from breeding last year. Eve and her babies came to me when the babies were 4 days old. When the babies were 22 days old Eve had emergency surgery to remove her uterus and ovaries. Eve's uterus was dead and she had 6 dead babies inside of her. The vet said that her uterus would have ruptured in another day or two ... killing her very painfully.
This was the result of being bred so much. Always having a litter and always being pregnant will not only destroy the girls health and kill her, but it is a horrible life ...... :sad3:

As for her current pregnancy, the new litter will likely be born when the current litter is a bit over 4 weeks. This is due to delayed implantation.

Not only will back to back litters destroy the mother's health, but the babies will not be getting all the nutrition they need either before or after birth as she will be feeding 2 growing litters.
Supplimenting the mother’s diet with baby cereal mixed with soy infant formula will help the mother and also the babies when they get a bit larger.

 

[Rachael]

Thank you. I will tell her about Eve and hopefully she'll see sense

 

[purinpurin]

Ask your acquaintance whether she'd like to try having a octuplets back-to-back until she slowly withers away... It's not a nice thought.