only 4 made it

[Sevo]

Well i jsut got into breeding rats.. the females i brought home from the pet store 3 of them were pregnant..

well the first female had all 12 of her babies and they lived. She had them 15 min after i brought her home
the second one just had her litter today.. only 4 made it??? I dont know why. Maybe it was the stress of the move. I have moved her twice since i got her home.. the wierd thing is there was blood in the bin about 2 days ago like she was going to be starting labor but she didnt. the babies looked term and they had part of the imbilical cord attached.. One did look premature and the sack was still on it..


I am thinking it was the stress that may have done this.. what do you all think?


the third female is about to pop herself.. she is making nests and looking fat.. I hope all hers make it

let me know what you all think
Thanks

[Blu Mongoose]

Most animals suffer stress from a move to a new place. You should have better luck next time after the females are settled in. Good luck!!

[frankykeno]

Getting female rats from a pet store already pregnant isn't always the "deal" it appears to be as you'll see a lot more of this sort of thing. A healthy female rat delivers with almost no blood left on the bedding when she's done. A lot of the pet store females get pregnant accidentally in a large mixed feeder tank and aren't in good physical shape to start with or are very young to breed. Then they have to compete for food while pregnant with the other rats and then in your case get taken home almost ready to pop. It's pretty much a recipe for disaster so count yourself lucky any of the babies made it.

Much better to buy young females around 4 or 5 months old that have been seperated by sex, fatten them up a bit and get them settled in - then introduce them to your male rat. A healthy female makes for a healthy, large litter and if your breeding for feeders that's your goal.

Just to give you some idea. This pic is of a female rat giving birth for the first time...note the lack of any mess or afterbirth/blood laying around (she went on to have a total of 12 pinks).....


This is the same litter after delivery. All I did was reach in and remove the female before I took this pic. This is the area she had just given birth in. She like most females later moved her babies across the enclosure to a nest she constructed.

[Sevo]

Thanks for the replies.. When i bught her i didnt know she was pregnant until i started to see her swell up.


will just try to keep the other as calm as poss and not bother her.


thanks again

[SnakeySnakeSnake]

My thought on the one that started bleeding a few days ago. She may have started the birthing process and something went wrong, causing most of the babies to die?

Did she give birth to a bunch of dead ones, or did you only see 4 total come out?

PS Ive had females bleed some for up to a day before giving birth. It isnt the common occurrence, but of the few times Ive had it happen, they all gave birth fine.

[Sevo]

My thought on the one that started bleeding a few days ago. She may have started the birthing process and something went wrong, causing most of the babies to die?

Did she give birth to a bunch of dead ones, or did you only see 4 total come out?

PS Ive had females bleed some for up to a day before giving birth. It isnt the common occurrence, but of the few times Ive had it happen, they all gave birth fine.

Snake,
She gave birth to dead ones. 7 of them were still born. I too think she was going to birth a few days ago and something happened. I will keep a close eye on the next one she should be do any day now

thanks for all of your help

[SnakeySnakeSnake]

Snake,
She gave birth to dead ones. 7 of them were still born. I too think she was going to birth a few days ago and something happened. I will keep a close eye on the next one she should be do any day now

thanks for all of your help

Yeah that is what it sounds like, one of the babies may have turned sideways and blocked the birth canal, and that would definitely cause problems.

Pet shop birthers can be problematic, but I think I had good luck on the majority of mine. Its one of those things where you just dont know, and works out some of the time.

[Sevo]

Yeah that is what it sounds like, one of the babies may have turned sideways and blocked the birth canal, and that would definitely cause problems.

AHHHHH i didnt think about breech birth, hell that could have killed her.

WEll i hope next time she will just beable to have em the right way.
thanks for your help

[SnakeySnakeSnake]

AHHHHH i didnt think about breech birth, hell that could have killed her.

WEll i hope next time she will just beable to have em the right way.
thanks for your help

I bet you won't have any troubles. Females tend to smooth out after the first birth. All of mine that have had problems in the past had no problems the second time, and additionally they tend to have bigger healthier litters, and bleed almost none. that you can find.