Becky's in the house...

[recycling goddess]

I bought a female rattie today. I named her Becky... and she's going to go to my friend's house and have sleepovers with Ricky! Ricky and Becky are going to have some "special" time together... I'm going to make them some heart shaped flannel pillows... for their... "special" time. heehee

this way... i don't have to have any males here... just the mama

Becky is sooooo sweet. She's black/grey with a little white tummy. We've been holding and playing with her all evening... what a sweetie.

so.......even though I said I'd never get rats... I guess I lied!

[frankykeno]

Awww she sounds sweet. Did you name her after Becky our resident poop person and rat lady extraordinaire??? LOL

Just make sure to let her visit the male for a bit of time. The females go into heat every 4 or 5 days I think it is, so probably best if she stays with him for a couple of heat cycles just to be sure or until she is obviously showing pregnancy (though that can be very very near to time of delivery).

We have one female just now getting ready to deliver her first litter. On the 10th of December she just barely was developing a tummy......here's her pic as of last night. Poor thing is literally growing before our eyes and is much bigger than the female that had a litter of 9. I expect this female will likely deliver today.

This is Lucky so named because she was bought as a feeder and no one wanted to eat her LOL, so she got promoted to a breeder.




~~Jo~~


P.S. It's just going on 7:30 a.m. and Lucky is starting to deliver her litter. I'm sure she'll feel much better once they are all out! Can't wait to see how many she produces

[mr~python]

LOL, i used to have a pet rat because zulu didnt want to eat him. i was gonna keep him for breeding but i decided i didnt want to so vaness got him.

[SatanicIntention]

I sure hope you get her a buddy(female), she will be much happier for it... She still has a good 21-23 days until she has babies, so she can be spending that time getting to know her new friend(as well as you). Oh, and rats love hammocks.

A few questions:
What type of cage? Bedding? Food? A good-sized water bottle is necessary as they drink ALOT. When she has babies, she will need to go into a 10-gallon tank with a screen lid. Babies cannot be born in wire cages as they will crawl through the bars and either get stuck or crushed.

How old is the rat? She has to be at least 5-6 months old before she can be bred. Before then, their birth canals are too small and babies can get stuck, causing death to both mother and babies.

You might want to read up here: www.rattiusmaximus.com Chrissy has great caging and food info.

But anyway, like I said, please get her a buddy. and PLEASE quarantine her for AT LEAST a month before you introduce her to that male. You will possibly save one or both of their lives if she has something, but isn't showing signs. SDA and Sendai virus are not anything you want to play around with. I quarantine for a month and a half just to be sure.

If you have any other questions, just ask.

[recycling goddess]

jo,

how many pups did she have?

becky,

no, i didn't name her after you.

i agree that ratties and mice need to have a friend. we will be keeping a baby girl for her to bunk with. until then, my daughter is treating her like a pet dog LOL - they spend almost all day together. if my daughter stops giving becky all of her attention, i'll get becky a rattie friend.

we have her housed in a rubbermaid with aspen shavings. i have a great mouse and rat mix which i use for my mouse "toubley bubbley" as well. we've had ratties before... two males which were very stinky but i think it was the cage which 'held' the smell... which is why we are using a rubbermaid this time around!

thanks for the link, i've saved it for ease of finding it in the future! i think becky is only 4-6 weeks old... she's just tiny so we'll be waiting to breed her until she's closer to 6 months!

thanks for the assistance.
aleesha

[frankykeno]

She had 12. No muss, no fuss and all seem like they are doing fine (one is a bit iffy but she seems a good mother so it may do just fine). Nice first litter for her. It'll be ironic if she turns out to be our best breeding female! LOL



~~Jo~~

[SatanicIntention]

PLEASE don't use that crappy food mix. If you bough it at the pet store, I can guarantee you that it isn't all that great, unless you got it at the vet and it is Regal Rat. She can't digest a thing in it, and the other things she can digest are extremely unhealthy and fatty. Not a good diet for either species. If you can find some Mazuri Rodent Chow(lab blocks) that would be a much better, more complete diet for her. Rats should never be fed a seed diet, unless the seeds consist of black oil sunflower seeds and only sparingly.

If you can look at that link and get a good number of the things from HEB, WalMart or any other store, you will be much better off. If she were to be bred while she was eating that junk, the babies, as well as her, would not be healthy at all. That food mix is deficient in so many ways nutritionally, and we can do SO much better than that.

When you go to HEB or WalMart, get 1-2 bags of tri-colored pasta($0.80 a pop), a canister of old-fashioned oatmeal($0.90-$1), puffed wheat and puffed rice(plain, no sugar- $0.70-$0.80 apiece), cheerios(plain- $1), bag of brown rice(use 1/4 bag), bag of dried green split peas(use 1/2 bag per batch-$0.40)), bag of dried lentils(same as peas), and THEN buy a bag of HIGH-QUALITY dog food such as Iams, Nutro(preferred), Eukanuba, etc. If you get Iams, get the Reduced Fat, it is only 18-20% protein and won't cause protein sensitivity. If you get Nutro, get the Senior. You will only need one of the 7-8lb bags, and you will probably use 1/2 a bag for the mix. Might cost around $7-$8.00. No buying of the Ol' Roy... No animal should ever have to eat that junk.

This mix makes ALOT and you can feed it to the mouse as well. If you continue to use that diet, she will continue to be unhealthy. She will get a rough hair coat, probably get diarrhea, and her teeth will more than likely have problems from the deficiency. And if she is unhealthy going into pregnancy... It won't be a good outcome. Feed her a healthy and complete diet and she will do well for you. You may want to get a fecal done at a vet before introducing her to your friend's rat(who should have a buddy too, but that's not my place), as you don't want to spread an infestation. My first rat came from Petco and she was infested with tapeworms and coccidia. Yay for 3-4 weeks of treatment! I now have 17 rats who are all eating this kind of diet and are fat, healthy, parasite-free little heifers. One is about to get bred(Reggie) and I would only breed her if she was healthy. She's never sneezed a day in her life.

BTW, if she's housed in a rubbermaid, how is the ventilation? How big is it? How do you have the water bottle? I have 3 boys in a HUGE rubbermaid right now for quarantine and I just drilled a hole in the side of the tub that is big enough for the bottle spout and taped the bottle to the outside of the tub. Works great and they don't chew on the bottle.

[frankykeno]

We have got to get that homemade rat mix in a sticky somewhere folks.

It's really cost effective to mix your own rat chow. I do it once every couple of weeks or whenever it runs low and it's a great thing. I get almost no wasted food, none of the rats have scabby coats anymore and none are fat either (problems I've had in the past using other foods for them). If you look at Becky's list most of that stuff is likely laying around in your kitchen anyways or can be bought bulk really cheaply. I get wonderfully good dog kibble for free as sample packets from my local pet store (often vets have these high quality samples as well for free in their lobby). The lab block I also buy bulk at a local pet store and it's very reasonable. The cereal is always around my house as well as the pasta anyway so no real extra cost for me.

I just toss it all in a big plastic container with whatever extra things I think of, like peanuts in the shell or a bit of dried fruits (no citrus), as long as it's all dry stuff and pass it around daily. Offer them a bit of treats (mine love all those wasted ends of bread dipped in a bit of olive oil), frozen peas, leftover cooked spaghetti or bones from steaks, chicken, etc. and they are happy rats! Chocolate in reasonable amounts is actually good for rats lucky things! LOL

A lot of premix stuff is full of seeds the rats won't eat or are very fattening/addictive for them. Sunflower seeds are in my mind the worst of those.


~~Jo~~

[recycling goddess]

don't worry ladies, i went out today and got becky a wonderful wire cage with three different levels... a nice deep bottom so the aspen shavings won't go everywhere. i also picked up the ingredients on that site you posted and put together a nice mix for becky and troubley bubbly (our mouse)

the wires on the cage are very close together so it'll be good for her (as she's still small anyway).

i want you both to know... the health and welfare of ALL my pets is extremely important to me. i feel, since they live in my home and aren't allowed to 'fend for themselves' it's my duty to give them the very best! so don't worry... i'm reading and listening to you both.

and yes, i already had a bag of nutro dog food for her

aleesha
ps ricky had a room mate who just recently passed away, (he's in my freezer until the ground thaws and his mama can bury him at their family farm). as a christmas gift, i'm giving her a 40 gallon tank for ricky (and his new roomie?) and ricky's mama is a great pet-mom.

[recycling goddess]

oh and congrats jo!