i got a naked female...she came with pinks. help

ok, so i went and picked out a beautiful nice female naked rat.. when they lifed the hide she was in below her were five perfect little pinks. they asked if i still wanted her and that they could take her babys away and feed them if i didnt want them.. of course i told them not to be rediculous and lifted mommy and all her babys into our travel cage. they are all home now and shes actually nursing them wonderfully. on the way home i did pick up puppy milk and a little bottle in the event i notice her babys not eating. my question now is what should i feed her in addition to her mazuri blocks? i want to make sure she has enough nutrients to feed herself and her five pinks. for the record we do plan to keep all babys. if they turn out to be males (which i dont know yet cause i tried to handle them as little as possible) we will have them neutered so they can at least live with mommy. until they can get fixed we will have them seperated when its nessesary to wean them. shes a bit dirty from being housed in a not so clean enclosure with her and a group of other males (as well as a few stray females) but i was scared to clean her up in fear that i couldnt because of her babys.. so whats suggested here? im housing her on shredded phone book pages and a couple articles of clothing my children donated to her. right now shes in a 20gal long tank with a screen lid. half of it is covered with a towel to make sure its dark and comforting.. any suggestions? should i make any changes? here are some pics of her.. i havnt decided for sure on a name but im thinking lexus and naming her babys other types of cars..


http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g3...G_8527_222.jpg
http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g3...MG_8530222.jpg
http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g3...G_85292222.jpg
i was also thinking of naming her something like "perfect" or "beautiful" in another language if i could figure it out... thanks so much everyone!!!!

ive cleaned up her face and weighed everyone.. shes 189grams, babys are 7g (x3) and 6g (x2) they all have nice milk bands and momma has actually eaten some of her egg and dragged a peice of lab block back to the nest. last time i checked on them momma was bringing some shreded paper back to the nest.
http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g3.../IMG_85312.jpg
heres one of the babys... i think this one is a male, what does everyone else think? i would like to keep some of her babys but i only plan to keep the girls, otherwise i would have to have them neutered or keep another cage and i woudl really like to have just one. right now i have one with six girls, one with a sick girl (the new girl isnt doing well still! loosing weight but we got her to drink some puppy milk tonight) and momma and all her babys in another enclosure. i know it will be sometime before momma can live with her sisters and i can tollerate having two cages for awhile but three is a bit much IMO. so far the little momma is doing a swell job. im very pleased.

Quarantining is VERY important when bringing in new rats from outside. Your current rats could get extremely sick(read up on SDA and Sendai, as well as other contagious viruses/bacteria).

If you can get some Hill's Prescription diet a/d for the hairless girl, that would be the best for her. Lots of calories and energy. That's a good sign that they have milk bands, but they may need supplementing when they are a bit older(2 weeks). That female looks VERY young and should have never been bred. It's likely she's also pregnant again if she was in with other males when she had her babies. They go into heat again almost immediately after giving birth, and being pregnant while trying to raise a litter, AND being hairless, sure doesn't give you a good start in life.

Oh, and kitten formula is probably the best for them and the closest to their mother's milk. You can make the nekkid girl some pasta with butter, oatmeal w/soy milk, soy milk plain, things like that. No lactose though, unless it's a bit of yogurt here and there.

Hope this helps :) And please quarantine whenever you get new rats. Minimum 30 days at a separate location.

thanks for your suggestions.. shes away from the other rats but not in a seperate location. she is very young and im certain her babys cant be more than a day old so what are the real chances of her being pregnant again already? guess time will determine that for sure. shes a double rex from what ive been told by other websites (shes got fuz on her face and body too) ill keep a close eye on her and those babys though. i didnt breed her to begin with so i cant help that she was housed with other males.. i just wanted to save her and her precious little babys.. i know their fate is typically set in stone but not hers.

Poor little momma. I agree with Becky that this little female was far too young to be bred but that's not your fault. I wouldn't continue however to bring home rats from a supplier that allows this to happen as it's a good indicator that they aren't providing very good care if they can't even seperate males from females.

Keep her enclosure warm and draft free. She's hairless so there's issues there about keeping warm and so forth. Feed her well as Becky's suggested and you might even offer her tiny bits of diced up, lightly cooked chicken hearts for a treat and a good boost of nutrients. A bit of uncooked spinach is a good green for them and a source of iron.

I'd start making plans for the male offspring as far as finding pet homes for them. That way once they are ready to wean you will hopefully have found good homes for them.

i have already started putting the word out for the boys.. i actually got this girl at a different place then i had ever used before. and when i saw her i couldnt resist. our family is complete... we dont plan to add any more critters to the family, no adoptions or otherwise either. im not sure how many are males/females but if i cant find them homes with people i know i do have a petstore thats always looking for hairless. so we will see what happens with them.

Becky and Jo had some excellent advice. I know from a friend who tried breeding hairless that it can go south fast. She had one mom that was seemingly fine and one day she just came in and all of the babies were dead. I personally don't have a place for hairlesses in my house because I want the strongest genetics I can get; i am even weeding out my higher whites to focus on Selfs and berks. But it seems as thogh you've bought her as a pet; the main thing now is going to be to get her comfortable and healthy for the time that her pups are with her and afterwards. I personally probably would have leaned toward feeding the pups off; she would then be able to get her strength up and grow more.. but that is just my opinion. I would avoid buying from that seller in the future though because it is sickening that this poor young thing had to be bred so little and I would not want to give money to the person who let this happen. They can get preggo right after giving birth and if she was in with males.. yikes it is a possibility.
I just wish you luck in what ever you plan to do with her. At any rate, she is in a safer place with you than she was.

If she's a double rex, the offspring won't be double rex hairless unless the father was at least a rex. Then you will have 1/2 double rex 1/2 rex. If the father was a double rex then all double rex. If the father was normal then all rex (curly fur).

they were all double rex. everyone in the tank was hairless (dr) ill be sure to keep an eye on her.. ive got a soft spot for babies staying with thier mommys, guess its the mother in me

I just hope that this is all not too much for her, and that she does not die younger than needed because of early strain on her body.

Wow, this happens so often, young mother rats. It's pretty sad, but thats how I came home with my first male and girls. We were expecting the girl we bought to be pregnant, but luckily she wasn't. As it's been almost 2 months and she's JUST getting to size.
I agree with everyone though, def not good pet store. Good luck, hope she pulls it off. :)

im really trying to be positive here!!! :taz: she seemed to be doing well this morning. ill be sure to keep an eye on her. she is a pet and wont be bred.. we dont plan on having her bred ever again.. and even if we did it wouldnt be until shes much much bigger, infact aside from her own babies which will be taken away when they wean there are no male rats even in the house

Ok; I wish you the best with them.

Did you have a male at one point? I coulda sworn you had a litter recently

we did have a male at one point for only a little bit. we had introduced him to our girls (haired) and found out they were too small and took him out. he was really nice at first and started biting so we took him back to the feeder breeder we got him from.. so far none of the girls that were with him are pregnant. this is our first litter and she actually came with her babies

"so whats suggested here? im housing her on shredded phone book pages and a couple articles of clothing my children donated to her. right now shes in a 20gal long tank with a screen lid. half of it is covered with a towel to make sure its dark and comforting.. any suggestions? "

Are you still using old phone book paper and some clothes as bedding? I think it would be best to get her on some aspen, or other bedding. What are you using for your other girls?

20 gal is pretty big enclosure, but giving her a nest box will keep the babies and her warm. It can really be anything, just not a shoe box as i imagine that would get nasty pretty quick.

Mom has a pretty small litter there, but like everyone said, just make sure you wash your hands well, and keep mom warm, and I think everything will go fine.

If your running out of room so quickly though, I would hold off on buying any more rats until you have a decent quarantine room. It sounds like you have these rats in 3 different enclosures now? Your originals, the new dumbo [?], and now momma rat. It's going to be hard to keep everything clean between them.

I know you do want more rats, but you really should quarantine more effectively, esp with the numbers getting high now, it would be devastating to lose them. I know exactly how it is, I see some adorable blue agouti or dumbo fawn and i want them right now! But I also know that my colony is worth 1000 times more than that one rat, and I don't have a seperate room to keep any new ones in.

were actually not getting more rats.. we have two cages right now. a rudd with six girls and the 20gal with mommy and her babies. the dumbo was taken out to a friend of mine to get her out of the house and later died. weve sinced bleached everything here in hopes its not something the other girls can catch. the mommy and her babies have not been near the other rats so were hoping they are safe, or at least as safe as they can be away from everyone else. mommy has a tupperware container in her tank that was origonally for a litter pan to maybe get her used to the idea but shes moved her babies in there. she no longer has cloths as ive been told the strings of fabric can get loose and harm her or babies. she has carefresh ultra in the enclosure with her, some loose torn phone books and a few peices of polyester (fleece)

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Originally Posted by AshleyB

were actually not getting more rats.. we have two cages right now. a rudd with six girls and the 20gal with mommy and her babies. the dumbo was taken out to a friend of mine to get her out of the house and later died.

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Something that concerns me is you got the beige hooded and the dumbo girl from the same people right? bringing your count up to 7.
"remy: 134g
emmy: 151g
miss big ears: 132g
molly: 113g
dolly: 99g

cinderella (new blonde dumbo) 232g
kitty (new beige hooded) 293g "

And the blonde dumbo has died since then. Is the beige hooded still with the other girls? You say you have 6 plus the naked rat. So you never quarantined kitty???

What I'm saying; your pair of new girls that came together were kept together, and one of them died. I strongly suggest you take that beige hooded out of the enclosure from the other rats. OF course its been a few weeks now, and what ever could have been spread prob already has. These animals drink from the same water, eat the same food and run around on the same bedding.

You also mentioned that you will not be buying any more rats, which is good. I would suggest taking everyone in to see the vet before they get sick. You dont know the history behind the 2 new girls, and one has died so far. Not good odds at all.

Just some advice, but it pays to be safe than sorry.

yes, that is true and i have spoken to my vet (who i worked for 5+yrs) and he said i can bring them down whenever i want. i had kitty and cinderella (kitty is the beige hooded and cinder is the one who died) they were in "quarentine" away from everyone else in another room, in another cage.. we would change clothes and wash hands after holding them. after the week they were alone everyone seemed fine, no weight loss, clear eyes and noses so thats when we put them together. it wasnt long after that cinder took a downhill spiral and eventually died. kitty is still with the other girls as they have been together and exposed to one another for a few weeks already. we are weighing on a twice weekly basis and everyone is maintaining weight (or gaining for our younger girls), no one is even getting that pink/red stain on their noses anymore either. where as cinder had it almost all the time. so we have:

miss big ears, kitty, remy, emmy, dolly and molly (6) sharing a rudd cage
mommy (luna) and her five babies are in a 20gal tank in another room completely.. the cages aren't even within 20ft of each other. the cage cinder was in until she left has been emptied, bleached and is sitting on our balcony in the sun, as is the cage the other six girls were in, it too was bleached. all the toys and food/water containers have also been bleached, any hooks used for the cages, bleached. the bedding and hammocks or anything that might potentially hold disease (including partially chewed toys/wooden blocks) has been thrown away. at this point aside from taking the rats to the vet ive done what i can. seperating kitty at this point i think will make her depressed and cause more harm than good (correct me if im wrong please), if the other girls are going to get it they would have by now, they have been together long enough unfortunetly.

i have most certainly learned a very important lesson with quarentine.. bet your booty i wont
A: be taking in anymore rescues (its caused me more headache than good, in fact their owner isn't even speaking to me anymore and she was almost daily)

B: when the time comes i wont be buying from anyone i havnt already worked with (pet world i worked for or the breeder.. i most likely wont be going back to underground where i got mommy cause its bothered me to think she was bred as young as she was due to negligence. i do feel though i did the right thing by bringing her and babies home) none of the rats i got from either of those places have had problems, they were well socialized and fat.. i wasn't thrilled with the feeder breeder only because everyone was housed outside (shaded but its HOT)

i thank everyone for their comments and critizism

what boggles me about the dumbo is the owner only had them.. the two of them for almost a year (per her) she had NEVER (so she said) had a medical problem with them. they were the only rats ever. she did tell us the dumbo was more shy but otherwise she was fine all along. they ate crappy food, lived in a cramped cage and rarely came out for exercise they did hold them alot but thats it.. she got really skinney, refused to eat, arched her back all the time and breathed very heavy.. is it possible (hear me out) that she was depressed or stressed to the point of death? could one of my rats have had a cold but because of her comprimised system of being stressed and possibly depressed caused her so much strain she died? i know rats can be touchy... so, she gotta new home with new people but stayed with her friend in their cage.. then after about a week (when problems started) she moved in with the 5 other girls, in a HUGE cage compared to what she was in, had an abrupt diet change (they didnt send her food with them) and all the stress just made her worse? kitty stopped "hanging out" with her and started bonding to us and the other rats.. they would sleep together at first but after a day or so she really didnt hang out with the dumbo.. is it possible?

I would leave that last question to more experienced rat owners.

I still think it would be smart to exercise your free vet visit and get them in asap. You don't know what happened to the dumbo, and only a Vet can diagnose any problems, not us on the internet. I think at this point you have learned your lesson and thats great. Just consider that Vet trip necessary at this point. And getting your beige hooded seperated now may seem futile, but you should. She's not going to get depressed by herself if you give her more attention. That is what many rat fan sites say on seperation. It will affect her in the long run, but not for a quarantine period. Which in my opinion should last for 3 months.

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after the week they were alone everyone seemed fine, no weight loss, clear eyes and noses so thats when we put them together

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You only quarantined for one week?

I guess i read that wrong, the visit is not free sry. >.<

quarentine for 3mos? really that long when i worked for the pet stores we would put them in a quarentine room for 7-10dys before putting them on the floor, thats when i worked at petworld and petsmart.. it was manditory, the person who took care of quarentined animals that morning did it in the evening and were permitted to work with the small animals that were on the floor the rest of the day. they would be rotated.. i was in equine while at petsmart and did quarentine while i was there

What does Petsmart have in equine that has to be quarantined? LOL

Think about it from a pet owner perspective vs. a pet store perspective. Quarantining longer than 7 days in a pet store is lost profits for them, it's the bare minimum that they will do, as they hope the animals will be moving out quickly. Holding them for a month or two is lost revenue as they have to house and feed.

Quarantining your own pets allows you to be more prudent and give a longer quarantine. There's not the same rush in your own home.

rabernet- i was in the equine department so i was rarely with the small animals until i requested to be both, because i was in equine most of the time i was able to do the quarentine (which included, the birds, chinchillas, hamsters, rats, reptiles, exc) because i wasnt always working the small animal area i wasnt a risk to those animals already on the floor ;)

i understood your point in long term vs short term to get animals in and out fast and as a matter of fact before checking back here i thought of that.. wow 3mos?! what a loss in money, no wonder some animal stores dont have small animals. i had always known it to be 7-10 days so i knew it as being fine, but when you know better you do better. :D but really 3mos?! ive heard a month or 3wks being common quar time.. 3mos, thats the longest ive ever heard. but then again im not doing hundreds of feeders either so i have less to loose (on a scale, not as though my animals are worth less)

I usually do one month or a bit longer if the rat is healthy and showing no signs os illness. If the rat is showing signs of stress, is porphy/sneezing/gasping, then they go on antibiotics and stay in Q-Tine for 2.5-3 months. All rats in quarantine get a fecal done just to make sure nothing is going into my group. They also get treated for lice/mites just in case. For me, quarantine is done at a separate location about 15 miles away. I've not quarantined ONCE, and that's the last time I ever do that again.

For rats from REPUTABLE breeders, not just your loca mom and pop store, I'm talking about pedigreed/registered rats, I quarantine maybe 2 weeks, just in case the rat(s) is stressed from the move and ends up with a respiratory infection.

Rats from places like Petsmart and Petco/Petland, I quarantine the ****ENS out of them. They don't leave my QT facility for at least 2.5 months, regardless. I brought in Streptococcus based pneumonia from not quarantining a rat from Petsmart. Just because they look clean and healthy, doesn't mean they are.

becky.. there is a guy @ southfloridarodents.com thats where i got two of my females, reputable? im not sure what qualifies a reputable breeder? he breeds not just for feeders that go to the zoos but also to petstores, exc the same guy (were pretty friendly and talk on a regular basis) wants me to adopt his hairless male that lives by himself in the same barn as his feeders. he had been breeding hairless rats for awhile to sell to the petstores (which he supplies his feeders/pets and where i buy my feeders from) but found hairless came and went as a fad and he didnt want to keep breeding and them not sell. He asked me to take him.. the rats i got from there were nice and fat, healthy and have become very nice pets... would i have to quarentine that male as well even though they came from the same place? how long should i quarentine for? the petstore i got the other three girls (not including the two rescue girls) were supplied by the same guy. i havnt decided if im going to take the male or not as i really dont want more rats but as an example for me to know as well

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Originally Posted by SatanicIntention

I usually do one month or a bit longer if the rat is healthy and showing no signs os illness. If the rat is showing signs of stress, is porphy/sneezing/gasping, then they go on antibiotics and stay in Q-Tine for 2.5-3 months...

For rats from REPUTABLE breeders, not just your loca mom and pop store, I'm talking about pedigreed/registered rats, I quarantine maybe 2 weeks, just in case the rat(s) is stressed from the move and ends up with a respiratory infection.

Rats from places like Petsmart and Petco/Petland, I quarantine the ****ENS out of them. They don't leave my QT facility for at least 2.5 months, regardless...

... Just because they look clean and healthy, doesn't mean they are.

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EXACTLY!
I totally agree with Becki, unless its from someone with pedigrees, I would stretch it as long as needed, unless a good Vet told me I had perfect clean Rats. JMO

Unless the vet does blood tests, sends it out for a culture and antibody tests, and the lab rules that the rat is clean, that rat isn't coming into my collection. Breeders who keep track of pedigrees actually get these tests done every 6-12 months just to be on the safe side. I believe they are the RADIL testing, I could be wrong tho.

I think Becky did a great job of explaining how long quarantine should be. It should definitely be longer than 1-2 weeks! Shoot for a month and a visit to the vet. Just so you can be sure.

thanks everyone, really.. ive decided for certain our rat family is complete.. it wont be until these are gone would we get more rats (unless the numbers dwindle conciderably) at least qt wont be an issue for sometime. thanks for your help and input