Prego and Mad

[Jasper77]

I adopted a prego mommy and her cage mate, just a couple days ago, from a guy off Craigslist who breeds rats for good traits. I feel in love with this prego rat she is so gorgeous.

anyways, i put them both in the cage, and let them become comfortable to thier cage for a few hours, while I watch TV. Then later that night I decided to try and stick my hand in the cage and pet one of them.. Bad move. The prego rat, attacked me! she bit the hell out of me, and it was gushing blood. Thinking it was because i have just eaten Cheetos, and i had some possible food smell on my fingers, my boyfriend stuck his hand in the cage and got an even worse bite, and we almost went to the hospital thinking the bleeding was not going to stop.

since then, and have been scared to even go near the cage, although i did gather up the guts to stick a pencil through the cage bars and she bit it really hard.

i am giving the prego rat back to the breeder today, but i would like an explanation on why she is acting this way, what did i do wrong?

her cage mate seems nice but i have been afraid to stick my hand in the cage and try to hold her.

 

[smilez_n_hugs]

Okay first off no more pencils through the cage bars. The poor girl needs time to adjust and stress is very unhealthy for a preggo rattie. If she is far enough along that you know she is pregnant then she should be due any day now and is just protecting her nest.

Second her cage mate needs to be removed as there can be issues when the babies come. If it is a male then she could be impregnated as soon as the babies are delivered which is very unhealthy.

Third if the bites are that bad you will probably need antibiotics.

And lastly what does some guy off Craigslist know about breeding rats for good traits? Genetics are extremely complicated and there are so many rats in rescues that there is absolutely no reason more rats should be brought into the world because someone thinks they have 'good traits'.

You should also search the forum for some of the pregnancy threads to get some info on how to care for a preggo rat and what to expect when the babies come.

 

[Unepuce]

Pregnant rats will become very territorial... please don't give her back!!! She was just defending her babies!!!!

 

[victoria]

She's stressed and territorial, likely due to the recent changes and the pregnancy! I'm sure she will be fine once she is settled in, the babies are weaned and she is in a loving, comforting environment.

Never stick anything through cage bars - even the nicest rat will pounce! Try to get her to come out of the cage on her own, she probably will not bite outside the cage.

All of the other points Amanda made are valid. If you want help getting ready for the litter, there are many people here that can offer advice.

 

[lilspaz68]

I have dealt with maternal aggression...its only a instinctual and hormonal thing that happens to some females when pregnant or with a litter. Usually once the hormones pass there is a lovely rat again. You just need to learn to do a few things and come up with compromises with her that you are both comfortable with.

Also, when dealing with any strange rat, offer the back of your hand as its harder to bite onto, and see how they react. When I do get bitten, I grab something to stop the bleeding, run for the ibuprofen, then clean and bandage the wound. This method will make you heal faster and not feel as badly then if you let the swelling get bad first...

I won't comment on the Craigslist breeder issue, but do want to post these pics for you

Alana was a pretty nervous girl then she had babies and started biting. We worked stuff out on how to deal with her. For her the cage door was the boundry. Outside of the cagedoor she was just fine, inside the cagedoor she was Protective Mommy. I would encourage her to come out on a table where her cage was and then I could pick her up and let her have Out time and run and explore and get away from being a Mom for a bit. I would take out the babies and socialize/handle them, then when I was done she was waiting in her cage at the door and I would hand her pups to her one by one. She would take them gently, put them in the nest, then come back for the next one. Within a week, she was much much better, and she ended up being a sweet thing after all was said and done

Waiting for her babies

 

[Jasper77]

sorry guys i got the message too late, i gave the two female rats back to him. he was saying that maybe she was aggressive because she had more babies back at his house, and she was separated from them.

anyways, he gave me two very very sweet baby boys, and i just love them.

i really liked the prego one too, but i cant handle and will not handle having such a aggressive animal.. im not the humane society.. im just one disabled person who wants to love and spoil some sweet animals.

 

[hopefloats]

That is a horrible life to put them back in. Next time find a rescue to take her in or give her more time to adapt. A few days and being pregnant isnt enough. Remember they are not disposable. You take a pet you keep it. Not return it like that. This is the 2nd one that i know of that you rehomed. You may want to rethink getting anymore until you are ready to make a life long commitment to them.

 

[Jasper77]

lol wow, its not my fault they are becoming aggressive ... i now have a couple of baby rats that are just great. and I have found great homes for my rats always.. there is nothing wrong with the breeder. he takes very good care of his rats.

 

[jorats]

Jasper77, no, that breeder does not take good care of his rats. If he did, he would never have given away a pregnant rat. Rats are not here on earth to make us money. We have no right breeding them and selling their babies for profit. It's a right shame.

 

[victoria]

By his own admission, he split a litter from their mom before they were weaned! Did you not see that when you went to pick your rats? That wasn't a red flag for you?

I don't care what your circumstances are, it's not ok to encourage someone like that.

Why in the world would you take a pregnant animal in the first place if you weren't prepared for the work? Do you think you just leave them to their own devices and everything turns out great? It's probably best for you that you didn't keep the mom and babies, it doesn't sound like you are aware of the amount of cleaning and work that's involved in caring for a litter and the amount of food they eat.

You may not be 'a humane society' but you are encouraging the behaviours that create a need for them.

I sure hope the rats you got are healthy and well socialized but, from the sounds of it, you very likely will encounter issues related to poor genetics and early socialization as they age.

 

[hopefloats]

lol wow, its not my fault they are becoming aggressive ... i now have a couple of baby rats that are just great. and I have found great homes for my rats always.. there is nothing wrong with the breeder. he takes very good care of his rats.

You didnt get the boys neutered which would of fixed the problem instead you opted to get him a new home. You get a pregnant girl who had a life of back to back breeding and you cannot even look at her biting as what it is. A pregnant rat will be nippy. If you lived that life you would be nippy to. You put her back in there, getting rats from him as the other said is supporting him. Back to back pregnancies are horrible for rats. You get rats if they dont work you return them. That however is your fault. This is not how you treat pets. You dont return them if they are not perfect. You make them perfect.

 

[Jasper77]

first of all he didn't sell them to me.. he gave them to me for free. secondly we didnt know that she had a secound litter that she already had back at home, that was just our guess after we found out she was being aggressive. thirdly, im a low income disabled person i have ZERO MONEY for any kind of neuter or basically any vet care at all. but what ever I'm done with you *******s. your obviously judgmental, and not very nice people and i don't want to talk to people like you anymore.. good bye

 

[dspch911]

Normally I would stay out of this, but ..... the people on this forum spend countless hours of their time and money trying to saves unwanted rats! They take them in, feed them, give them homes, and pay to have their medical needs tended to. I am so sick and tired of reading about people with sick rats and no income to take care of them. If you have no income you have no right getting an animal - of any kind! Are you really that ignorant to the basic need of animal care? Pets are living creatures that cannot be traded in for another when you don't like the way its behaving!

 

[Petunia]

I too am disabled, have subsidized housing and a very low fixed income. That's no excuse for you to not provide vet care for your pets. If you are unwilling to do so, you should not get any pets.

There are resources for you to get free food, free or nearly free medical care, and with subsidized housing, you likely have more disposable income than nearly any person working and making minimum wage does.
so your excuses are just that, excuses.
If your companion animals mattered to you, you would find a way to care for them properly.

If you think wanting animals to get the care they need is "judgmental" you are missing the point.
Animals have no voice, they can't take themselves to the vet when they are sick, they can't go out and find themselves a good home where they'll be cared for properly.
these aren't judgements, these are the facts.
If you don't think the needs of animals matter, if you are "not nice" enough to try to put yourself in their place and imagine what life is like for them, you should not have any animals.
Your needs do not trump theirs.
They have no voice, they have no choice.
but you do.

 

[dspch911]

:exactly: What Petunia said, and she will go without for her rats and cats if they need somthing!