I Got Too Many Dang Babies!

Okay just went to check the rat's water bottle levels in this heat we are having and found Alita in this position. Had to take a pic! LOL The crazy part is she's only nursing part of her litter of 18 here...the rest are parked off camera at her other nesting area. She's split the litter and just goes back and forth managing all of them.

Alita....Rat Super Mom! LOL (she was actually catching a nap while the leeches are nursing and only cracked an eye open at me taking pics)

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e2...ManyBabies.jpg

Btw this litter was born July 23 so these are 6 day old pinks as of today.

So cute!! LOL I would have thought it was dead in that position!!!

Hehe, I love those, they are hilarious.

It is even funnier when one rat is DEAD asleep, and you roll it around and go, uh oh, how did this one die... and then it wakes up and runs away hehe

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Originally Posted by gmmuscle91

So cute!! LOL I would have thought it was dead in that position!!!

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Actually when it's hot a lot of the rats will sleep on their backs, likely helps them keep a bit cooler with their bellies exposed. Also really preggie females will sleep flat out on their backs. The first time I saw that I near died myself thinking my first pregnant female rat had just gone and died on me! Now I'm so used to it when I see one of my breeding females over on her back I know the litter's due soon.

That is so funny you kinda feel bad for her :P .She was probably to tired to care if you took her pic.

Well she is used to big litters....her first was 12...her second was 16...this litter was 18 though is now done to 16. One died (likey the runt) and one used as a prey item. She's a pretty smart female...she'll split the litter...nurse one nest then the other...then drag them all back together for a round of butt licking...then reinforce her big nest and leave them alone while she goes to eat, drink and nap across the maternity tank away from them. Unforunately that will only last as long as the lil buggers can't manage to climb the huge bedding walls she builds to keep them where she wants them. LOL

I think once they are mobile I may pull the litter once a day for a couple of hours to let her rest and get a good feed in. They certainly won't get chilled without her body heat in this weather. Experienced rat breeders --- does that sound okay? I'm thinking of trying this once they are bigger fuzzies and are able to leave the nest and follow the female all over trying to nurse. She's a superior breeder and I don't want her worn out by this larger litter.

Muirne the 06 BP would be perfect to eat some of the fuzzies, unfortunately she considers rats (live or p/k) as nasty things and will only eat f/t small mice at this point. Every other snake eats at least wean size so no hope of culling the litter size down before that stage.

Whoa, that is a BIG litter... that female is worth her weight in gold. :)
Mine always sleep on their backs this time of year. They are in a pretty cool room of the house but it's still warm.

Awwww....that is one tuckered out little mamma!

look at all that snake chow!

That's a great pic , what a great momma. I hope one of my girl's pump's them like that.

LOL! Oh Jo, that is just priceless! I found my male sleeping like that, and thought oh no he died!!! Then he jumps up and scampers away. Gave me a good scare, that's for sure.

Read on one of the rat sites that they have to do that in the heat because they sweat through their feet. Mine have almost all been sleeping on their sides or backs, but with their feet in the air.


Congrats on the huuuuge-o litter! :clap:

When she's nursing that many, how do U keep her from losing TOO much weight??? Is there anything special or "extra" that you feed her to help her keep up w/all those babies nursing?

I need to put some extra wt. back on Peek, since I've had to graft some of Peachy's litter again.

R.

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Originally Posted by sweety314

Read on one of the rat sites that they have to do that in the heat because they sweat through their feet. Mine have almost all been sleeping on their sides or backs, but with their feet in the air.

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I was under the impression that rats and mice had no sweat glands ... however with their feet having no hair it probably escapes fastest that way. On their backs, splayed out, they can expose more surface area to cool off faster. But with my new meds I tend to remember the wrong stuff in the wrong order ::grins:: .

If you could use the pinkies I would pull half the litter ... this will keep your dam in better condition and the babies will normally grow better with less competition (there is only so much milk produced daily, regardless of teats and/or siblings). 8 is my magic number to split litters at ... one for each teat.

Bryan

Unfortunately I have nothing in the house that really eats f/t rats that small so I don't want to euthanize and freeze pinks needlessly. My next female to deliver is looking big too so I doubt when she drops her litter likely tomorrow that she'll have room for some of Alita's pinks. So far all the pinks are growing reasonably well for a larger litter though I don't expect them to be the biggest weanlings we've ever produced.

Sweety I'm lucky with this female in that she's a quite large female to begin with so I think that is part of why she carries larger litters and does well with them. I also don't breed back to back litters. The females have at least 2 weeks if not a month to do nothing but laze about, eat and hang out with other females between litters. By the time they go back in with the breeder male they are nice and chubby (and dang relaxed too I bet LOL).

While she's nursing so many I just try to make sure her water is changed more often as it takes a lot of water intake to pump out that much milk. I make sure she gets extras of dry mix plus bones, egg, pasta, meat, mixed greens....just kitchen scraps like they all get but nursing females get the choice bits and more of it. Seems to work out okay. All of my females produce a minimum of 12 pups, most usually produce 14 or 15 each litter. Other than the occasional runt we rarely lose any at birth or thereafter.

Got too many? ...umm.can i have them? LOL. jk. great pic made me laugh:sweeet:

Heck Bernie if you lived close you'd be welcome to come take some rats of various sizes off my hands. I've got a bit too many in the small to medium size range so may have to for the first time in my rat breeding colony, have to euthanize and freeze some of my feeders. :(

hey Jo when i have extras or when my extras get to big i take them to a local pet shop i deal with and get in store credit it save me buying bedding and feed

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Originally Posted by gncz73

hey Jo when i have extras or when my extras get to big i take them to a local pet shop i deal with and get in store credit it save me buying bedding and feed

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Thats a good idea.

We've been thinking about that Eugene. Our favorite private pet store up in Michigan would do that but the only private pet store close to us is not very good. There's no way my nice feeders will ever end up in their care. I know they are meant for feeders but overcrowding them like that pet store does is just inhumane in my mind. We're hoping to find a better private pet store that we could strike a deal with like that.

yeah i deal with three stores around here

thx for the tips, Jo. I don't breed mine back but Peachy's had problems with her two litters, being too big and some of them have started to starve. This time, the girls had their litters 2 weeks (or so) apart, instead of just a couple of days. Since it worked before w/only a day between them, I thought I'd try to put them on Peek again. She accepted them and started taking care of them, but that meant I weaned her litter at just over 3 weeks, (I know...a little soon..) but I wanted to save these other babies. I don't have a need for pinks, but rather 20 gram'ers or bigger.


Anyway, grafting the five onto Peek (again) meant that she's been steadily nursing for about seven weeks, and with the heat, even w/the kitten food and all she can drink and eat, she's lost some weight. I was just wondering how to help her more.

Peekaboo is such an AWESOME mommy, that this last litter, I kept five of the six females of her latest litter, to be a breeding colony instead of a pet mischief. They're all named and handled regularly and will be (sort-of) pets, but I'm going to put them in tubs or cages out in the garage as a 1.2 instead of in the bedrooms w/the other pet rats. I'm hoping her daughters will be such good mothering mommies, like Peekaboo. :)

I know Becky recommended a bit of raw chicken heart to me to help keep my breeder females in top form right after they deliver larger litters so you might want to try that. Even if the females get a bit thin from a lot of nursing they will bounce right back with rest and lots of good food. Don't worry about weaning at just past 3 weeks, lots of folks wean then anyways. I usually wean around 4 weeks myself but have weaned at 3 weeks if the mother rat seemed to want to be rid of her litter at that point.

If this current litter is old enough you might want to try removing them for a couple of hour long breaks during the day so she can rest and eat in peace and quiet. I'm trying that with Alita and her big litter as I've noticed even when she does try to get something to eat or drink she's generally dragging 5 or 6 leeches stuck to her teats along. Now that they are fuzzies and it's warm here anyways I figure they can go to baby rattie daycare (aka small seperate tub) for two one hour sessions a day and let poor Momma Rat get a break. That's when I give Alita her special treats to encourage her to eat when they are away from her.