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Confusingly small litter
So I need some expert advice here. I have a girl that had 14 pups her first litter. I gave her two months to rest and last month paired her with one of my new boys. Yesterday she gave birth to 2 pups. They are good sized but nothing out of the ordinary. My first assumption was that she had a problem during the birth and has pups stuck. It is now 28 hours later and still only 2 pups. She is showing no signs of being in distress or of even having more babies undelivered. No bleeding, no pain. She is eating and drinking fine and is nursing the 2 babies. I palpated her today and felt nothing out of the ordinary. She didn't seem the least bit upset about me feeling her stomach. I am just confused. Any rat experts (Becky you there?) have some advice?
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Re: Confusingly small litter
Was the male young? I had a female give birth to fewer babies with a young male, but not to the extreme that you are experiencing. Is it possible she ate a few?
Christie
Reptile Geek
Cause when push comes to shove you taste what you're made of
You might bend, till you break cause its all you can take
On your knees you look up decide you've had enough
You get mad you get strong wipe your hands shake it off
Then you Stand
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Re: Confusingly small litter
Originally Posted by tigerlily
Was the male young? I had a female give birth to fewer babies with a young male, but not to the extreme that you are experiencing. Is it possible she ate a few?
He wasn't particularly young and another girl i had with him at the same time just had 14 or so...
She definitely didnt eat any...
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Re: Confusingly small litter
I had the exact same thing happen with a female that averaged 14 babie's , I think my younger male was the one that sealed the deal and she only gave me 2 babie's. She had a normal litter right after I wouldn't worry to much.
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Re: Confusingly small litter
Originally Posted by Emilio
I had the exact same thing happen with a female that averaged 14 babie's , I think my younger male was the one that sealed the deal and she only gave me 2 babie's. She had a normal litter right after I wouldn't worry to much.
I hope that is the case...This is odd for sure...
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Re: Confusingly small litter
Well I would think after more than 24 hours and she's acting absolutely fine and tending her tiny litter that she's fine. I would expect she'd be in some distress by this point if she had stuck babies in there and you should have been able to feel a pile of unborn rats. Odd that she'd just have the two of them but I bet you they'll be huge babies and big for age. Anytime I get a smaller litter they are always major chubbo's. I've not had a litter of 2 though...that is a mystery.
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Re: Confusingly small litter
I just had a mama give birth to a mother of 3. I think in her case she's starting to get a little old. How old is your gal, Jamie? BTW, you may want to give the babies to another nursing mother if you have one available. I had a mother try to nurse a small litter in the past, and I don't think she was able to keep the milk supply going. The babies eventually died and were consumed. I gave this last tiny litter to a nursing mother and the babies did great in spite of all the older step-siblings.
-Lawrence
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Re: Confusingly small litter
My girl was about 6month's old when it happened over here.
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Re: Confusingly small litter
Originally Posted by xdeus
I just had a mama give birth to a mother of 3. I think in her case she's starting to get a little old. How old is your gal, Jamie? BTW, you may want to give the babies to another nursing mother if you have one available. I had a mother try to nurse a small litter in the past, and I don't think she was able to keep the milk supply going. The babies eventually died and were consumed. I gave this last tiny litter to a nursing mother and the babies did great in spite of all the older step-siblings.
This girl is about 6 months old or so. I will keep an eye on the babies. So far she seems to be doing a good job nursing them. She ate some pizza leftovers tonight so she appears ok.
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Re: Confusingly small litter
Boa time ... tell S I'll provide comfort.
-adam
Click Below to Fight The National Python & Boa Ban
"The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing."
- Anna Sewell, author of Black Beauty
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