I'm perplexed

Me and my links LOL.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/q...t_uids=1127638

What I basically got from this study (and a few others I read through) is that delayed implantation is quite possible but it's dependent a lot of the hormones that occur when mammals nurse and on the number of young being nursed. If a rat was only nursing a couple of young she would most likely implant immediately, a larger litter (therefore higher hormonal levels) can cause the delay.

Makes sense to me that nature would allow for this either in having another litter quickly if the first was not terribly productive due to it's very small size or in delaying implantation to give the female more time to deal with the first larger litter before the second starts developing inside her.

Isn't mother nature amazing? Although I still badly for Ms. Scarlett. :(

Mother Nature is truly amazing! I know you feel bad that Ms. S bred so quickly again but I'm sure she'll be fine. You may find this litter a bit smaller or need to foster some off if she's unable to care for them all so if you have another lactating female there keep her available just in case. Give Ms. S a good long rest after this litter and I'm sure she'll be fine. I know you keep your rats in wonderful condition so she's already ahead of the game. I've had females that were almost done nursing a litter and then fostered another litter of newborns and they do fine as long as they are well cared for and well rested afterwards.

i had this happen with one of my girls that gave birth while still with a male--she got pregnant again even though i removed her less than 24 hours after she delivered. of course i didn't know she was pregnant again until i found her looking huge about 3.5 weeks later. mother nature is awesome though--i was able to wean or feed off all of her first litter before she gave birth to the second because of the delay. i did end up giving about half of her litter to another mom with a new litter so she'd have an easier time with nursing (didn't feel good about fostering the whole litter to the other mom because she already had a good sized litter herself). i will say that mom was a bit crankier that normal a few days before giving birth and while she was nursing (she got pretty nippy with me whereas normally she isn't at all) but i can't really blame her there. i gave her a nice long rest afterwards and she's back to her normal happy self. i'm sure ms. scarlett will do fine too since she is healthy and in good shape so you shouldn't feel too bad about it. :)

Well, Scarlett is having her litter now - looks to be a big one. I don't have any other nursing moms right now to split her litter with, but she's a good mom who doesn't mind taking a break at the opposite end from her babies - she's always been very good and making sure she gets a break without neglecting her litter, and is not an over-protective mom.


Just got me thinking, she's not been a particularly cuddly rat, but she's been an awesome mom, that doesn't mind me messing with her babies for any reason, and usually has large litters - I may have to hold back a daughter of hers soon.

Edit - she just let me do a head count - 14 babies. I'm not sure if she's done, I'll do another headcount tomorrow.

I'd certainly pick one of her daughters Robin and keep her back as a replacment for mom or just to expand your female group. There's definite information out there that easy birthing, larger litters and mothering skills are genetic with rats. Every one of my top breeding females has a daughter or two backing mom up and stepping into her place as she retires.

Thanks Jo! I've got four of her daughters in with some of my resting females (had to get them away from their brothers). There's one I've got an eye on - and I've also got one of Mrs. Snuggles' daughters too (I think hands down, Mrs. Snuggles is my favorite rat, Karl gave her an apt name - she's so squishy and cuddly, and a love bug!) LOL

Yep it's what I do. Jet is Alita's daughter and has replaced mom as Alita's retired now. Same with SweetiePie replacing her mom HoneyChild, whose also retired. (okay you can all laugh at their names...you know you want too LOL). I like continuing the genetics of a great female breeder and also that I know these new females, saw them born and know they were raised up well and are very healthy.

i love your names! the rats are the one group of mine that gets the cutesy gooshy names. :P one of the breeding groups: cream puff, powder puff, puffle puff and puff daddy. :D then there is piddle diddle, fiddle diddle and little diddle. blackie, blaze, blitz and pointer are some of the more normalish names...

I love it Em! LOL Let's see if I can list all of mine (some are breeders, retired breeders, just pets)....

Males:

Casanova, SuperNova and Lightning (in the market for a nice blue male but can't find one locally:( )

Females:

HoneyChild, Alita, Jet, Sweetiepie, Betsy Buttpatch, Big Bertha, Squeekers, Tiffany, DaisyMae, Patches, Liz and Liza