Fainting?

[Jt.]

I have a young female rat who is currently nursing her first litter. The babies will be 2 weeks old on sunday. My question is about the young mom. She seems to have fainting spells and I was wondering if anyone knew what could be causing this.

The first episode happened after she gave birth. She was in a cage with an older female and a year old male. When I noticed she had given birth I took her out of that cage and put her and the babies in a 10 gallon tank, what I do with all of my females. When I put her in the tank she took a few steps and then kinda fell over and fainted. I rubbed her back and she snapped out of it and seemed fine.

The second episode happened when she was playing on the top of the tank while I was putting her food. Her back end slipped and I caught her before she fell off the top of the tank. Keep in mind the tank is on the floor so it wouldn't have been a long fall. Well, after I put her back in the tank she froze and fell over seeming to faint again. I rubbed her back and she came to and acted normal afterwards.

Third time it happened was just earlier tonight. I went into the snake room to check on everyone and she was on top of her water bottle (nothing new). I watched her freeze up and fall off the water bottle. This time after I woke her by rubbing her back she seemed a bit dizzy but she seems okay now.

Any idea what could be causing this? She's a tame little girl, all of my rats are.

I feed a variation of Becky's food mix and she's the only rat I've ever had who has done this and I've had quite a few rats.

She's a normal hooded girl who is het for dumbo if that matters at all.

Any input is appreciated. Thanks!


Edit: I forgot to add that otherwise she seems totally healthy.

[het.pied]

all i can really think of is that the babies might be taking alot out of her, especially if shes a young mom and this is one of her first litters. and depending on the size of the litter, the demand from them may be too much for her.

[Jt.]

Thank you for replying.

I guess we will find out if it's the babies that are causing the problem after they are weaned. She only had 7 babies but she is a great mom and the babies are robust piggies.

She really is a sweet little girl so I'm hoping she will be okay.

[het.pied]

hope so too! let us know how she does!

[cinderbird]

check to be sure its not a seizure, im not sure how to check rats for seizures though. but seeing that she suddenly snaps out of it, thats characteristic of seizures..

[boasandballs]

It sounds like she might have something wrong with her. I would not keep any of her babies to raise for breeders. It sounds like you will take good care of her. But there is defiantly something wrong that you do not want to breed on purpose.

[littleindiangirl]

Sounds more akin to a seizure, but I can't be sure just from the description.

If it helps, I would not consider this a behavior I would want to keep in my colony, and would pass by keeping back any of her offspring.

[Jt.]

Seizures crossed my mind as well as the worrying of holding any of her babies back.

Thinking back on it I don't remember her having the problem before she got pregnant.

Is it possible the pregnancy triggered the start of them somehow?

[Turbo Serpent]

Pregnancy puts a lot of stress on them and it could of initiated some sort of epilepsy. You could take her to a vet if she is a pet or see if it passes, but as far as offspring I wouldn't condone keeping them as pets or breeders if this ends up being genetic.

[Jt.]

She hasn't had an episode since around the begining of this month and she seems to have gotten bigger and stronger. Her babies will be 4 weeks on sunday and they all appear healthy.

My breeders are my pets since I only breed rats for my boa. I keep the boys separate from the girls so I can control who gets bred and when.

I won't be breeding her again but I will keep this thread updated on how she does.