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?

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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?

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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Originally Posted by Adam_Wysocki

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

-adam

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Now you know that it's really Jamie that will need the comfort! He just puts it on S! :P

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Originally Posted by Adam_Wysocki

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

-adam

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I bet you would! :)

As of this morning she is still fine. Still two babies and she is eating and drinking normally.

My hairless mom had 2 litters before I fed her off
3 survived the first and 1 survived the second. Not sure what the cause of your problem could be.

What I would do is foster off the 2 pups, rest her for a couple of weeks and then put her with your giant male...if she still has a small litter, I would retire her or let her meet Handsome Rob...

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Originally Posted by monk90222

What I would do is foster off the 2 pups, rest her for a couple of weeks and then put her with your giant male...if she still has a small litter, I would retire her or let her meet Handsome Rob...

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I think im going to leave her with the pups and retire her as a pet once they are weaned.

i had a female that gave me several small litters, the last being only 2. i always left the pups with her that they always did fine but after the litter of 2 i retired her. in this case jamie, i might try her one more time with an older male and see what happens. she may return to the larger more normal sized litters and be fine for another several months before you need to retire her.

If memory serves, this is only her second litter and her first was 14 wasn't it Jamie? I'm thinking she's obviously able to have a lovely large litter and raise them so this may be a freak occurrence, a result of something with the male - though I think you said he fathered another litter by a different female that was quite large, or something specific to these two particular rats breeding each other. I'm not sure if rats are able to partially reabsorb some unborn young as has been proven to occur in our mammals (all those I read about that do this funny enough are predators though).

If you decide to breed her again, I'd try a different male and see what that produces. Was her first litter of 14 fathered by this litters sire or another one?

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Originally Posted by frankykeno

If memory serves, this is only her second litter and her first was 14 wasn't it Jamie? I'm thinking she's obviously able to have a lovely large litter and raise them so this may be a freak occurrence, a result of something with the male - though I think you said he fathered another litter by a different female that was quite large, or something specific to these two particular rats breeding each other. I'm not sure if rats are able to partially reabsorb some unborn young as has been proven to occur in our mammals (all those I read about that do this funny enough are predators though).

If you decide to breed her again, I'd try a different male and see what that produces. Was her first litter of 14 fathered by this litters sire or another one?

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Yes, her first litter was 14 sired by a different male. Assuming that she is out of the woods and will prob be fine (fingers crossed), I think we will just keep her as a pet. I have plenty of breedable females and I dont need to risk it with a girl we really are fond of.

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Originally Posted by jglass38

I dont need to risk it with a girl we really are fond of.

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Awwwww ... you guys make me all melty. :love:

-adam

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Originally Posted by Adam_Wysocki

Awwwww ... you guys make me all melty. :love:

-adam

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Dont be jealous..You can join in...

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Originally Posted by jglass38

Dont be jealous..You can join in...

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That's the greatest most specialists Christmas present ever! ... From the bottom of my heart, thank you brother .... One question ... Do you have to be there?

-adam

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Originally Posted by Adam_Wysocki

That's the greatest most specialists Christmas present ever! ... From the bottom of my heart, thank you brother .... One question ... Do you have to be there?

-adam

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:8: One word.... Fluffer.

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Originally Posted by xdeus

:8: One word.... Fluffer.

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Lawrence! :O I'm so impressed. :bow: :rofl:

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Originally Posted by xdeus

:8: One word.... Fluffer.

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Is that what Jamie's calling himself these days?

-adam

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Originally Posted by Adam_Wysocki

Is that what Jamie's calling himself these days?

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What? No... I was talking about my pet rat "Fluffer". :P :giggle:

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil.../2/fluffer.jpg

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Originally Posted by Adam_Wysocki

That's the greatest most specialists Christmas present ever! ... From the bottom of my heart, thank you brother .... One question ... Do you have to be there?

-adam

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We can negotiate. My pimp hand is strong...