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  1. #1
    BPnet Veteran Alter-Echo's Avatar
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    Surprise babies!

    So, as some may know I have a bp that refuses to eat anything but live rats, and since feeding her live she has only refused food twice. First time was a a minor fast of a month, and after keeping this rat that long I decided to give her a stay of execution, if you will. Last week, the same happened with another rat, and since they are both females, I put them together in the cage and they seem to get along wonderfully.

    Well, today when I went to change out the water I heard squeaking coming from the large hide box they share and low and behold there was the new rat with a litter of newborns under her! I am assuming she was exposed to a male during her stay at the pet shop, since my other rat is definitely a girl.

    My question is if it is ok to allow both rats to cohabitate or if it will result in a litter of eaten babies? The older rat seems to be bringing the mother food and bedding while she stays in the hide with the babies, is this normal? I've never bred rats before, so this is a bit of a shock. Lol

    Thanks.

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    Bogertophis's Avatar
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    Rats are intelligent & social animals...& while some don't get along, since these obviously do I'd leave them together...most do what these are doing & cooperate
    with raising the babies. Rats get lonely by themselves (though not so much when they have a litter, lol...). And they rarely kill or eat their babies...that's much
    more common in mice. FYI, when I used to breed rats, I kept them in family "trios", one male & 2 females. The males are fine with raising the family too, normally, though they don't give the mom's any rest at all: they jump them as soon as they give birth, so they're nursing one litter while pregnant with the next.
    Last edited by Bogertophis; 09-17-2018 at 03:57 PM.

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    Alter-Echo (09-17-2018)

  4. #3
    BPnet Veteran Alter-Echo's Avatar
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    That's good to hear, I used to keeps rats as a child but always kept pairs of males, so I wasn't sure how females got along when these things happen. Now I just gotta decide what to do with the babies... I don't have issues feeding live normally, but after I've gotten to know a rat a bit I tend to get attached. Having these babies and watching them grow is gonna make things even harder. Lol

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    Bogertophis (09-17-2018)

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    Bogertophis's Avatar
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    Re: Surprise babies!

    Quote Originally Posted by Alter-Echo View Post
    That's good to hear, I used to keeps rats as a child but always kept pairs of males, so I wasn't sure how females got along when these things happen. Now I just gotta decide what to do with the babies... I don't have issues feeding live normally, but after I've gotten to know a rat a bit I tend to get attached. Having these babies and watching them grow is gonna make things even harder. Lol
    Yes it is... I had pet rats (& bred a family of them) long before I got into snakes, or ever thought of them as "feeders". While I now prefer snakes as pets,
    I sure don't hate rats either.

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