My rat stopped birthing in mid labor...

[Courtney281]

So the night before last I looked in on one of my rats who was due any minute to give birth. She was HUGE so I knew she was close. When I checked on her she was laying on her back panting and her vagina was swollen so I knew she was in labor. The next morning there were no babies, but later in the day we noticed a couple of dead babies.

We have removed 5 dead babies so far (yesterday) and I figured she would be done by now, but I just got home from work and there are still no more babies. Her tummy is still REALLY big and I KNOW there are still babies in there.

Is there anything I can do for her to help her along? Or do I need to just let her ride it out and hope for the best? I've never had a rat do this before and Im worried she might have one sideways thats blocking any more from being born. Anyone else ever have this problem? Can I help her at all? Any info or help would be greatly appreciated.

[Ninjette]

I had a female once that was a little on the old side. She was super huge and only popped out 1 baby. She died sometime later. I never figured out what happened and the baby died also. Unless you have money to take her to the vet, you'll just have to wait and see.

[PythonsbyParris]

I have had that happen before. I lost the female, I figured that one got stuck somtimes they can get it out if that is the case sometimes not.
Unfortunatly wait and see is the only thing I know of.

[Rhasputin]

You should cull her at this potin.

Rat labor shouldn't take more than 30 minutes at the most. The fact that some babies were dead, and she's not finished means something has gone wrong, and she'll likely die. It's best that you put her out of her misery, before she dies painfully from whatever's going on inside.

After you cull though, you can do an autopsy if that doesn't freak you out. And you can find out exactly what the problem is.

[snakesRkewl]

I've had this happen and had both good luck and bad luck with the moms.
Sometimes they go on to deliver normal litters after wards and sometimes they don't, it's your call whether to breed her again.
If she has issues the next time then it's time to find a large snake

Usually when they deliver slowly over a few days and drop dead babies they recover and go on with life, it's when they breech birth that I've lost them, several times

[Courtney281]

Well so far so good, its been 6 days so far and she seems to be doing fine.

[RichsBallPythons]

Sometimes ive had females not deliver entire litters and absorbed the babies there were still inside. She was given extra time and still drops 10-12 pinks when bred.

Sometimes they do good sometimes not.