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rattie... um... situation :eek:
okay, so i wake up this morning to the sounds of crisis in the house. i can hear my daughter talking really fast and my hubby responding and i hear them in her bedroom.
so i drag my lazy butt outta bed... and i find them in the middle of moving a 'just birthed for the first time' mama into a maternity cage with her 12 pups.
upon examination i realized that there were two other mamas ready to pop and since all of them still looked pregnant (not all that round which is why i missed that they were... combined with being sick for the last two weeks) - so i had them put the three ladies together.
my daughter said that daisy was sitting on the 'nest' (in the adult cage) which is why she believes they are daisy's pups... but to be sure, i've got all three together. daisy looks the same roundness as the other two potential mamas right now.
now... first off, i never would have moved them today. i would have waited a few days... but since they were already moved when i came into the room... what do you suggest?
jo... becky? should i leave the three ladies together and sep them into their own maternity housing in a few days and just divide the pups between them?
i wish i had caught this... but honestly, i've just been too sick to notice and too busy with our unexpected clutch of baby cockatiels that i'm hand raising, and and and... no excuse, just reality is all. *hangs head in shame and hands her rattie mama award back to the guild*
in light, Aleesha
You have 1440 minutes a day... how are you going to spend yours?
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Re: rattie... um... situation :eek:
you might try keeping them all together and see which mom tends to the babies the most. from what i have observed a still pregnant rat will not take a whole lot of interest in the babies of another female--until she births her babies too, at which point both females usually take interest in all the babies. (i tried keeping 2 females with babies in the same enclosure and the moms scuffled over the babies wanting all in their own nest so i went back to keeping them individually.)
one time i had a mom give birth before i expected and i pulled her and the pups and put them in a separate enclosure. unfortunately, i pulled the wrong mom. she didn't nurse the babies because she was still pregnant and i almost lost them. choose carefully!
- Emily
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Re: rattie... um... situation :eek:
i am soooooo glad to read this!!! emily i so appreciate you sharing this with me. it's exactly what i needed to hear.
i'm going to watch them and see how they act very closely and make a decision based on their behaviour.
in light, Aleesha
You have 1440 minutes a day... how are you going to spend yours?
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Re: rattie... um... situation :eek:
you should be able to tell by watching them. let us know how it goes!
- Emily
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Re: rattie... um... situation :eek:
Yep I would leave all three females with the pups for the next 24 to 48 hours. You should see by observation who is actually nursing them. You should see the babies with milkbands so you know they are getting fed by somebody. The real mom (who is nursing) will have clearly defined nipples as the action of nursing exposing them and makes them protrude more. As soon as you figure out who the lucky lady is, pull her and her babies to a private enclosure and you're all set. The interesting bit will be if that's actually 2 litters not 1 and you've got two new moms not one but in the end it won't matter....one female can usually raise a litter of 12 quite fine on her own.
P.S. Do watch the females aren't hauling the new babies back and forth though. They can hurt the more delicate pinks if they get overly excited about them.
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Re: rattie... um... situation :eek:
so far no one seems to be hauling any babies anywhere. they've covered them with a piece of fleece which i offer to my ratties all the time.
i 'think' it is daisy who's the mama... as her shape is beginning to change... but i want to be sure before i move the other two mamas out!
thanks jo!
in light, Aleesha
You have 1440 minutes a day... how are you going to spend yours?
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Re: rattie... um... situation :eek:
In my experiance, the ratties will help take care of all the babies. Haven't usually had a problem. Once in a while moms start fussing over who gets which babies, and I seperate them.
Wolfy
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