Confusingly small litter

So I need some expert advice here. I have a girl that had 14 pups her first litter. I gave her two months to rest and last month paired her with one of my new boys. Yesterday she gave birth to 2 pups. They are good sized but nothing out of the ordinary. My first assumption was that she had a problem during the birth and has pups stuck. It is now 28 hours later and still only 2 pups. She is showing no signs of being in distress or of even having more babies undelivered. No bleeding, no pain. She is eating and drinking fine and is nursing the 2 babies. I palpated her today and felt nothing out of the ordinary. She didn't seem the least bit upset about me feeling her stomach. I am just confused. Any rat experts (Becky you there?) have some advice?

Was the male young? I had a female give birth to fewer babies with a young male, but not to the extreme that you are experiencing. Is it possible she ate a few?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by tigerlily

Was the male young? I had a female give birth to fewer babies with a young male, but not to the extreme that you are experiencing. Is it possible she ate a few?

---

He wasn't particularly young and another girl i had with him at the same time just had 14 or so...

She definitely didnt eat any...

I had the exact same thing happen with a female that averaged 14 babie's , I think my younger male was the one that sealed the deal and she only gave me 2 babie's. She had a normal litter right after I wouldn't worry to much.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Emilio

I had the exact same thing happen with a female that averaged 14 babie's , I think my younger male was the one that sealed the deal and she only gave me 2 babie's. She had a normal litter right after I wouldn't worry to much.

---

I hope that is the case...This is odd for sure...

Well I would think after more than 24 hours and she's acting absolutely fine and tending her tiny litter that she's fine. I would expect she'd be in some distress by this point if she had stuck babies in there and you should have been able to feel a pile of unborn rats. Odd that she'd just have the two of them but I bet you they'll be huge babies and big for age. Anytime I get a smaller litter they are always major chubbo's. I've not had a litter of 2 though...that is a mystery.

I just had a mama give birth to a mother of 3. I think in her case she's starting to get a little old. How old is your gal, Jamie? BTW, you may want to give the babies to another nursing mother if you have one available. I had a mother try to nurse a small litter in the past, and I don't think she was able to keep the milk supply going. The babies eventually died and were consumed. :( I gave this last tiny litter to a nursing mother and the babies did great in spite of all the older step-siblings.

My girl was about 6month's old when it happened over here.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by xdeus

I just had a mama give birth to a mother of 3. I think in her case she's starting to get a little old. How old is your gal, Jamie? BTW, you may want to give the babies to another nursing mother if you have one available. I had a mother try to nurse a small litter in the past, and I don't think she was able to keep the milk supply going. The babies eventually died and were consumed. :( I gave this last tiny litter to a nursing mother and the babies did great in spite of all the older step-siblings.

---

This girl is about 6 months old or so. I will keep an eye on the babies. So far she seems to be doing a good job nursing them. She ate some pizza leftovers tonight so she appears ok.

Boa time ... tell S I'll provide comfort. :love:

-adam