Baby rat

Well, I went back home for easter, and I intended to switch my ball over to rats this weekend. So I went to the shop where I bought my ball from and bought a rat pup. Lol this is going to sound rediculious, but i fell in love with it's adorable face. I was intending to breed rats in the future, because I have my snake up at school, and the only pet store within 45 minutes is a pet-co, whose mice are extremely small, therefore I never have the right size of live prey available to me. I did a little bit of researching online, and I'm guessing that this little guy is about 3 weeks old. He's still a little too young to be without a mom, and didn't seem to like the idea of drinking out of the water dripper, but went after water droplets on my hand. I ended up going back to buy a hopper to keep him company, and hopefully to show the little guy how to drink from the dripper and eat the pellets/chew sticks. Do you guys think that he's old enough to start eating this food on his own, or is there some sort of baby formula that I could use for the next week or two until he's the right age to wean?

Hehe, it happens. Oh well, better now then later to start breeding ratties. :)

not sure what to do about the food, but the water..............you can put an ice cube on the top of the water bottle. This will melt and drip down the bottle. The rat will start to drink the drops that come off, conveniently at the ball where it will start drinking from. After a couple of days it will learn that's where the water is and start drinking from it.

I think 3 weeks is in fact too young to be weaned, but maybe one of the rodent people will chime in here and make some smart suggestions.

Judy, Joanna, Jamie.......anyone?

3 weeks is a bit young to wean, but he should survive.
Try small or ground up food items.
Millet , dry or cooked oatmeal, broken up lab blocks. I've noticed that rat pups that age will usually love cheerios as a treat, so that might get him eating solid foods. Scrambled egg is another thing to try, they love scrambled egg.

Avoid a lot of greens, especially iceburg lettuce, as this can give young rats the runs. Things like dry cereals, soft nuts, etc. are great for chewing. You can break up some lab blocks too. Also softer foods like boiled eggs, canned tuna, bits of chicken are great for younger rats and very nutritious. At 3 weeks your rat can be weaned. It's a bit early but the rat should have erupted teeth and be able to chew. My rats that age, though still nursing, are using their mother's water bottle and digging into the dry food bowl and kitchen scraps just fine.

Now where are the pics!!! LOL

At 3 weeks you are right on the bubble. I use the eyes as an indicator...if open they will usually do just fine (as the teeth erupt at about the same time as the eyes open...so they can eat what they can now see). If they aren't then you will need to see if the rat can hold food and attempt to eat (if so then should be OK...just keep in a small cage so he can find the food and water by smell). Finally if he cannot hold the food then you will need to syringe feed him till he can...several times a day.



Hope this helps...good luck

Wow.. ok, i feel a lot better now lol. His eyes were open when i got him yesterday. Thanks a lot for all of the advice. I'll put pics up of him once I get back to my dorms with my camera >.<

If his eyes are open, his ears are upright and his fur is fully grown in then I'm sure he'll do fine (it is a he correct?) If you do intend to keep him as a pet you really should think about getting another same gender rat as a cage companion. Rats, even spoiled pet rats, really need another of their kind as company or they pretty quickly get depressed. Just make sure if you decide to get your rat a buddy, you get a same sex friend or you'll end up with unplanned litters. Male rats, as long as there are no females around, usually get along very well together.

ok, thanks for the advice. I had planned on breeding them in the near future, so would he still need another male buddy if I get 2 females ( to allow a resting period during litters)?

Yes, it's crucial that they get same-species interaction while they are growing up. If they don't, they won't know how to properly interact with others and could end up not being able to be bred. Or he may not even know how to breed...

When he's about 4 weeks old, get him a same sex buddy that he can grow up with(from the same place, as some rats carrying nasties if you don't quarantine).

Make sure he's eating a good diet, no pre-made mix from the pet store(ick). He'll grow up bigger and healthier, and will live a much longer life.

I completely agree with Becky on this. Get him a buddy his age and he'll end up a happier better adjusted male rat (you do not want to deal with a bad tempered big arse male rat believe me). You'll also have two male rats at your disposal so you can keep your genetics less muddy if you end up expanding your rat colony and keep some to raise up as future breeders. There are lots of time with smaller rat colonies that the males have nothing to do as the females are busy being pregnant, nursing young or resting up for another litter so having the two males will ensure he's got someone to hang out with in the male only cage. I did start out with only the one male but as soon as his first offspring were weaned he was always with one of his own sons for company. I've found it better though to have at least one pair of males that are always together other than for their rotations in for breeding activities.

Alrighty! I'll definately get him a buddy this coming weekend since tomorrow's easter and the shop will be closed. He's in a little critter cage with another rat at the moment (a hopper, so about 4 1/2-5 weeks old) until Monday (feeding day) for my BP.I feel really bad for the guy, because I usually don't do anything on impulse. I've always planned things out for all of the reptiles that I have now, and this is the first time that I really havn't had much prepaired for any of my animals.

You can always feed mice :) They're definitely not very cute when they latch onto your finger!

Kasi!! I don't see any pics yet!! As sweet as that face is, how have you not plastered it all over this page! You are in the dorms...I will come take the pics if I have to.... haha ^_^

So some questions as well, I was looking at getting into the breeding rats as well, so Kasi and I can rest up the breeders, or just to insure that we have the right size for out snakes. I've been reading up on the breeding as well, but do rats eat their young like some rodents? And how long should you quarentine them when you first get them?

My mom is going to freak when she finds out I'm going to breed rats.... haha :D

Quarantine should be for 3 weeks in a different building and not sharing the same air.

It is very rare for rats to eat their young.

If they are extremely stressed, starving, no water supply or eating a very poor diet they may cannibalize their young.

But well cared for rats with a good lab block diet, plenty of water, nest box and sufficient space shouldn't be eating their young.

Give them a big enough cage or tub and they should do ok. For example, 10 gal tank is much too small, though it would work for 1 pregnant female as a delivery/nursery cage while the pups are still young, like under 2 weeks.

Ah, so since I (well both of us) live in the dorms, and we only have the one room we are in to keep the rats in, would it be better to just buy them at the same time? There really isn't any other way to seperate them, since Kasi already has one in her room... =/

:edit: frankie...your avitar is what I look like during all the holidays where candy is common... *not gonna eat it...not gonna....CHOMP!* haha

Yes definitely buy them both at the same time. Obviously no quarantine is needed or possible in that case.

Quarantining like Flagg described just isn't possible for the vast majority of people breeding rats for a few snakes. If you introduce new rats the best way to lessen the chances of illness is to simply buy healthy young rats from a clean supplier that doesn't overcrowd their enclosures and feeds appropriately. Basically the same when you care for them. Rats are naturally very hardy and if well kept tend to do very well.

As far as eating their young, which is seems mice are more wont to do, rats do this very rarely in my experience. Certainly a female might cull some of her young at birth if they are not healthy or the litter is massive but it's not all that common and if done then you aren't even likely to know it happened.