Rescued baby rat possibly pregnant? Help..

[Courtney Carter]

Hello
I rescued some little baby ratties recently, picked them up from an off situation, feeder rescue essentially, I’ve done it before with my last two boys. But I ended up with girls this time! Smell is a lot better with ladies I’ll be honest, and I just miss having girls. Well, I was pretty confident that I didn’t see any boys in with the ladies, but I honestly couldn’t tell you their exact situation with this. One of my ladies has an odd curve to her tummy that sent a bit of anxiety into my system. She’s a very active, very playful little girl, she looks to be about 5/6 weeks old honestly they didn’t really specify even when I asked, same as her cage mates, but she’s just got that one feature that one of my girls definitely doesn’t have and the other who doesn’t seem like she has it.

She’s got a top and frontal belly protrusion that is just around her her lower midsection right near her hips. It’s not super noticeable but just enough that it made me nervous, obviously not visible to me when I rescued them. Could be funny baby weight, but I don’t want to risk not knowing.

She eats about as often as the other girls do I think, I’m not with her 100% of the day so I really can’t tell.

I’ll post some pictures for reference to what she’s looking like. I’ll do the weighing method as suggested in many other posts...

I know I should always be prepared in case something like this could happen but I really wasn’t expecting to have to worry about this and I’ve had a lot on my plate recently that led me to neglect a few thoughts. Any advice would be appreciated and I will update regularly.

Thank you and pray that I’m just being over dramatic.

(They are in a one story cage very temporarily as they get used to their surroundings, I didn’t plan to keep them in there for long at all, promise)

 

[lilspaz68]

The first picture is a possible, the 2nd looks like normal. Get us more regular pics of both of them, but she does look older than 5-6 weeks, more like 6-7 weeks which makes possible pregnancy more likely. Record those daily weights (always around the same time) and we'll see what patterns you come up with.

 

[Courtney Carter]

The first picture is a possible, the 2nd looks like normal. Get us more regular pics of both of them, but she does look older than 5-6 weeks, more like 6-7 weeks which makes possible pregnancy more likely. Record those daily weights (always around the same time) and we'll see what patterns you come up with.

She’s pretty tiny and very active so here’s the best of photos I can get of her this morning. Her current tummy shape reminds me of my past boy who had a little more weight around his hips, but since she’s a little lady it’s got me a bit more anxious.
Weight as of today is 108 g, about 13 g smaller than one of her cage mates and 5 g smaller than the other. Will update regularly

 

[Courtney Carter]

Weight today is 110 g no difference in visible size.

 

[Courtney Carter]

The first picture is a possible, the 2nd looks like normal. Get us more regular pics of both of them, but she does look older than 5-6 weeks, more like 6-7 weeks which makes possible pregnancy more likely. Record those daily weights (always around the same time) and we'll see what patterns you come up with.

I do not mean to pick your brain as I know you’re busy with life most definitely but as well as this forum, but if you happened to see this and happen to know, what is average baby weight gain? Not with extra babies growing inside, just growing babies themselves, my girls have each gone up a couple grams, the girl I was worried about most only went up two while the other ladies went up 3 grams and 5 grams. Is that natural weight gain, especially if they’re now on blocks instead of seed mix?

 

[TheFatRatGirl]

She looks like quite a slender rat so the protrusion could just be a case of a 'food baby'. Some of my girls get a little belly after they eat and then it's gone the next morning.

 

[lilspaz68]

So far it all sounds like regular growth weight.
Each rat is very different in their growth rate so really you are looking for patterns. How long ago was the last possible exposure to a male?

 

[Courtney Carter]

So far it all sounds like regular growth weight.
Each rat is very different in their growth rate so really you are looking for patterns. How long ago was the last possible exposure to a male?

Could’ve been anywhere before or exactly a week ago. When I got them I didn’t think I saw any boys with them, but their holding tank was big and there was a pile of sleeping babies. Since they were intended to be feeders I am not really certain or confident that they were 100% separated on time.

 

[lilspaz68]

Its very rare babies will impregnate babies. Its more likely to be an adult male with a baby girl on her first heat which usually happens between 6-7 weeks.

 

[Courtney Carter]

Its very rare babies will impregnate babies. Its more likely to be an adult male with a baby girl on her first heat which usually happens between 6-7 weeks.

I see! Yeah everyone in the vicinity was a baby, no adult boys near the babies, ill still be cautious. Thank you!