Holly had her first litter

And it was a rough labor for her. I woke up and heard baby squeeks and went to see if Holly or Mrs. Snuggles had their babies, or both (both were expecting any day).

Holly had 10 babies out, and she was clearly having trouble delivering another one. I had no clue what to do, other than to monitor her every 15 minutes, and eventually the BIG baby passed, but still born. She went on to have another and it was also still born.

During her labor, she sort of laid across the already born babies and two more died, probably from suffocation.

I was prepared to pull Foxy's 3 week old babies from her and transfer the litter over to her, as the last thing on Holly's mind was nursing or mothering the ones already born.

After she passed the difficult one, she was eating and cleaning herself up and had the second still-born.

I continued to monitor her for another 1/2 hour and she started to mother the surviving 8 babies and they now have really nice milk bands and she's being very attentive to them.

I was beginning to think that blue hoodeds were bad luck for me, but after the morning scare, mom and babies are doing well! I suspect, they'll all be black hoodeds, as Caesar doesn't seem to have any other color gene in him but black, every litter has been black berkies or black hooded, no matter how the mom is colored.

Congrats on the first litter, but I'm sorry about the stillborns. :( Hopefully the next litter will be much better. It sounds like you have a great group of rats, and they have a great caretaker. :gj:

Congrats!! I want to get my own rats to breed. I need some! :rockon:

How about some pictures? ;)

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Originally Posted by xdeus

Congrats on the first litter, but I'm sorry about the stillborns. :( Hopefully the next litter will be much better. It sounds like you have a great group of rats, and they have a great caretaker. :gj:

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Awww, thank you Lawrence - I was so worried I was going to lose her and wondered if I should give up rat breeding. Thankfully she did fine without any intervention, although I did check to see if I could see a stuck baby to try to assist her, but I think it was stuck in her birth canal. I'm just really glad that momma's ok. The babies would have been if Foxy had to foster them, but I really didn't want to lose her.

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Originally Posted by GA_Ball_Pythons

How about some pictures? ;)

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Maybe in a few days! LOL

They just look like any other pinks, and I'm trying not to disturb her too much this evening.

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Originally Posted by rabernet

Maybe in a few days! LOL

They just look like any other pinks, and I'm trying not to disturb her too much this evening.

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Well you know how it is if you brag about new additions you MUST show pictures ;)

Oh man what a scare! Hopefully her next litter will go a little smoother and with out any complications. Best of luck to her and the 8 little pink beans.

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Originally Posted by rabernet

I'm just really glad that momma's ok. The babies would have been if Foxy had to foster them, but I really didn't want to lose her.

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I know what you mean... I get pretty attached to my breeders as well. :oops: They really won me over when I saw what great parents they are compared to the mice I kept. Sometimes I take their gentle behavior for granted, though. This weekend when I was cleaning cages I placed a small male that I'm raising up with a mother and her week old babies. He's still too young to breed, but I didn't think there would be a problem. Within minutes she started fighting with him and left a sizeable gash in his side. :O I quickly placed him in a different cage and he's doing much better, but I learned that even the gentlest mothers are not to be reckoned with when it comes to protecting their young.

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Originally Posted by xdeus

I know what you mean... I get pretty attached to my breeders as well. :oops: They really won me over when I saw what great parents they are compared to the mice I kept. Sometimes I take their gentle behavior for granted, though. This weekend when I was cleaning cages I placed a small male that I'm raising up with a mother and her week old babies. He's still too young to breed, but I didn't think there would be a problem. Within minutes she started fighting with him and left a sizeable gash in his side. :O I quickly placed him in a different cage and he's doing much better, but I learned that even the gentlest mothers are not to be reckoned with when it comes to protecting their young.

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Ohhh, sorry for the little guy! It just so happened, when I got the leo yesterday, I purchased a 10 gallon and a screen top, but am using a 12 quart tub for the leo instead, so the 3 week olds were going to go in that spare tank. I know it's not ideal, but they're eating and drinking water, so if it was needed to save the pinks and let Foxy foster them, that was my back-up plan.

Thankfully everyone is doing well now. I know what you mean about getting attached to them. I love all my momma rats and the big stud, Caesar!

Congrats Robin! I love having the rats around. They are fun to watch and are excellent mothers.

Oh I'm glad she and her litter are doing okay now Robin. It's awful to watch a difficult birth (I've been there) and not much you can do but hope it works out. Sounds like it was just a problem with an oversized pink and she will likely go on to have many nice litters for you. I know I didn't expect Alita to survive that first horrible birthing but she's done wonderfully well and not had another problem. It was oversized pinks with her too, once she got them out the rest of the birthing went fine. It's too bad for your female that the big ones came last when she was her most tired out...poor thing! Since she's not bleeding or rejecting the litter and you see milksbands to indicate she's nursing well, I'd expect everything to go along just fine now. :)