What do you think? (1 photo)

Dose she look like she is going to pop?
She will only sleep on her back now and is using the nesting stuff I gave her. She also just started using the “Brood Box” I built and wont stop sleeping. I see her out and about maybe 3 times a day now. She is eating and drinking but sleeps a lot now.

http://www.hexibase.com/~jessica/rat.JPG

Only time will tell I guess.

I'd give her another day or 2 before she pop''s. Won't be long now before you see little gummy bears everywhere lol.

ha ha ha LOL I cant wait. I held her for a moment today when I was cleaning out the cage and she felt like she had little marshmellows in her belly. I was trying to get some dirt off her coat and felt them. I was so scared I would hert her after that, I ended up putingher in a paper bag, cleaning out the cage really fast and placed her back in.

That was when I saw her use the box for the first time and drag in the nesting stuff.

Really I'd leave both her and the cage be. If the cage isn't dirty, as in fecal matter everywhere and the bedding starting to smell, then let her build her nest and set up for her soon to be born babies. This will keep from adding un-needed stress etc, from having to build a new nest. What I used to give my 70+ rats when I bred them were paper towels and butcher paper. They would use either/or to build nests, and it held up fairly sturdy when they would leave the nests instead of them messing the nest's up when they left. The only thing you have to worry about after they give birth is bloody bedding. They eat about everything else *gags* ;)

Her cage HAD to be cleaned. With all the mishabs that I was having in the past few weeks I didnt get a chance to clean the cages. and my husband was starting to complane about the smell so it had to be done.

quick question... one of my male rats has a weeping eye. i have been keeping an eye on it and now the weeping seems to be bloody. what could this be?

my vet is out of town so i have been keeping it clean but it has been doing this for about a week.

It's just porphyrin(it is a normal rust-colored secretion), and he may have allergies. If you're using pine, switch it to aspen or something not dusty. See if that helps.

I have the boys on Aspen and the girls on a mix. (I ran out of Aspen and had to cut it with pine.) I would buy the Care Fresh stuff but I dont feel like paying 8.99 for a one lb bag that will last only one week.

Looks preggo.. I leave my preggos alone for the week or so leading up to birthing, and a few days after. Just change their water and feed daily. But if the cage was that bad, I would just scoop out everything but the mom and the nest and quickly replace that.
I personally do use pine, and have never had problems; all of my rats are clear eyed, no sneezing, ec. But I do buy the high quality pine; not the junk you get at the feed store that's moist before you even get it out of the bag. It's called Pestell pine; not sure if you can get it everywhere but it's kiln baked and bone dry with every bag. Not that dusty in my experience either.
Many people will not use pine and advise against it. My mind-set is, I use it because it is cheap, and I have never seen any adverse reactions in my rats; had my male for about three years now and he is healthy as can be. But when I had hairless rats, I used Carefresh just because it's soft on their hairless bodies.

I just might have to switch again. I'm useing some stuff called "Premier Pet, Oven Baked and Dust free Pine." But I checked on the soon to be mama and she too has the red rusty stuff. no sneezing yet but my male started sneezing last night so I have him on news paper untill i can afford to find something better.

is there anything out there that I could use for my rats that wont make them sneez or give them runny eyes with out costing me an arm and a leg?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jessie_k_pythons

is there anything out there that I could use for my rats that wont make them sneez or give them runny eyes with out costing me an arm and a leg?

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aspen or carefresh

aspen is inexpensive, and so is carefresh really, you just have to buy it in the bigger bags to make it more cost effective.

well she still hasnt poped yet. but she looks like she has swallowed a softball now. Good gosh, I feel bad for her. I did find out what color type she is, though. A fawn with Ruby eyes. The dad is a fawn w/ ruby eyes as well so I'm thinking all the babies will be fawns with ruby eyes LOL. :P