runt or not

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...Rat-or-Fat-Rat


^^that my back story ^^

now with a new problem , one of my baby rats are smaller then the others i dont know if they grow at different speeds or if they should be about the same. i have seen him/her nursing but not much. so what should i do? i do have 1 other female but she is still young not ever breed-able (yet i think but i am new) and also can i hold the babies to sex them or will the mom not take them back?


http://i1108.photobucket.com/albums/...DSC_0009-1.jpg

http://i1108.photobucket.com/albums/...r/DSC_0010.jpg

Yup, looks like you have a fail to thrive baby. With only the two others to compete with it should have been the same size. Now it might come out of it and continue to grow or it might not, I just wouldn't get your hopes up. Also rats are usually not as bad as mice about handling babies, with rats I have had mom try to take a chunk out of my hand but rarely seen then harm their babies, at least not on purpose. It SHOULD be safe to handle the babies but be careful until you learn your rats personality. That runt is cute, the black babies look good.

That baby is starving and dying at this point. You should cull it, to put it out of its misery, as soon as possible.

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Originally Posted by Sama

That runt is cute

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Not to be rude but . . . You find emaciated baby animals cute? :confused:

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Originally Posted by Rhasputin

That baby is starving and dying at this point. You should cull it, to put it out of its misery, as soon as possible.

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i think that is going to be best i will feed to one of the snakes tonight. thank you.

That's what I do, as soon as I see a runt looking frail it gets fed.
Dwarf rats are cute, runts not so much :P

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Originally Posted by Steven Raymer

i think that is going to be best i will feed to one of the snakes tonight. thank you.

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Yes, it's sad but it really is the best thing to do. :(

I have one that is small mouse size that is eating and getting around. I just noticed him two weeks ago and started giving him apple sauce consistency rat block watered down. His siblings are large weanling size. Because this little guy is eating on its own do you still think its cruel to keep him around? There is obviously something wrong with him, but he comes running to the front of the bin every time I open it. Kinda look forward to seeing him every day.

Think he is suffering and I should cull?

Foster it out to another litter with pinks...

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Originally Posted by aldebono

I have one that is small mouse size that is eating and getting around. I just noticed him two weeks ago and started giving him apple sauce consistency rat block watered down. His siblings are large weanling size. Because this little guy is eating on its own do you still think its cruel to keep him around? There is obviously something wrong with him, but he comes running to the front of the bin every time I open it. Kinda look forward to seeing him every day.

Think he is suffering and I should cull?

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It's hard to say. But generally, if the rat is that far behind, there is either something wrong with them that is causing it, or it's fallen very far behind in development from not getting the proper nutrition, and either way, it's not going to be a good idea to raise it.

There are no situations I can think of, that would be good to keep them alive. A lot fo people like to raise them, and 'give them a chance at life' but really, by keeping a sick animal alive, it's continuing to suffer, and though you're keeping it alive, there is still something wrong with it. Almost all runts die early, even if they make it to weaning. If they don't die from malnutrition, the stunted growth effects them later (in ways we might not be able to see, such as organ failure, or malformations).

For breeding, it would be bad to keep a runt, wether you're breeding for pets, feeders, or show, because of their health problems. And as far as feeders go, you'd think 'more pups' is better. But if there is one sick pup taking away nutrition from the other non-runt pups, then you run the risk of making more sick pups by not taking away the sick one, who's still taking away nutrition, but not going anywhere with it.

:(