help with weaned(?) rat baby

i got a bunch of weaned rats today and upon inspection it seems that one of them is either not quite weaned or perhaps malnourished and quite lethargic. it is the same size as the others but very thin and doesn't open its eyes all the way. while these are feeders i don't really want to just feed it off because i prefer to feed my snakes nice fat rats. is there anything i can do to plump this little one up and bring it up to where it needs to be? it seems to be able to eat the food mix that i give the others but it mostly wants to sleep. perhaps a puppy formula would help? i have heard of giving them soy milk--i have rice milk in the fridge--would that be something good to warm up for it?

It may just be the runt of the litter. There is usually one like that in each group of baby mice that I have. I usually just leave them in with the mom a few extra days and watch to see if it is eating and drinking on its own....once they are eating and drinkin on their own...they are usually just fine :)

well see i don't have a rat mom yet---i just purchased these from the store for feeders while i get my colony going so i need something that i can do for it myself.

Is his tummy hard on his left side(your right)? Really sounds like megacolon. Is his feces formed and firm, is it diarrhea, is there no feces at all, or are there feces but they are hard clumps of unformed nothing? Have to be descriptive you know :)

Sometimes baby rats can do fine while only digesting mother's milk, but once they start eating other foods, is when the megacolon flares up. They get impacted, can't digest anything, get a rough hair coat, and are stunted, making them much smaller than their siblings.

You may opt to put him to sleep and dispose of him properly. You "can" feed him to a snake, but I wouldn't, as he isn't as healthy as he could be, body mass-wise.

Hope that helps a bit.

oh...i see :) If it is eating and drinking on its own, I really don't see any problem. I would just make sure that there is enough food in the enclosure so that the food competition is limited. How many feeders did you get?

EDIT: But I only have experience with mice :)

well that wasn't quite the answer i was hoping for, but i'll go check his belly. not sure about the feces but i'll keep an eye on that too.

i got 12--enough to feed my live eaters for a few weeks.

ok i don't feel any hard spots on him anywhere but he's looking pretty rough. i just separated him and well keep an eye out for feces. he's pretty limp and lethargic at this point--not looking that great. :(

god, you guys are making me feel bad ... i thought i had a quick easy answer until all of this compassion stuff started flying around ... now I've gotta go kiss some of the fuzzy animals to knock the soot off my heart! :twisted:

-adam

aw, you're heart is warming, and just in time for christmas! how sweet! (is that a big block of ice that i hear cracking? wait, nevermind, that was just my husband popping his back. :P)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Adam_Wysocki

god, you guys are making me feel bad ... i thought i had a quick easy answer until all of this compassion stuff started flying around ... now I've gotta go kiss some of the fuzzy animals to knock the soot off my heart! :twisted:

-adam

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I think I was thinking of the same exact solution LOL