Rat litter- Day 6

[atp151415]

Hey just a little update on the 10 babies I had born on 5-18-08. The mom has been a great mother and all 10 babies are still alive.

The three amigos?, lol. Can anyone tell me if there is something with them?



Heres an individual of one



and some more




Good mother

[littleindiangirl]

They are high white rats. Baldies to be more specific. High white means they are at high risk for developing megacolon, or throwing babies that develop megacolon.

Whats the father look like?

[stangs13]

I see berkies in there aswell ( like mom).

[atp151415]

the thing is she couldve been pregnant when i got her i just dont know. The male that i seperated her from had a black back with some white in it and a white belly

whats megacolon?, sorry

[atp151415]

father actually looks like pic 5

[littleindiangirl]

That looks like a husky, high white as well. Ah well.

Here is an article on Megacolon in rats
http://ratguide.com/health/digestive/megacolon.php

[atp151415]

okay, so would it be best to feed off the high white ones first or what?
and would it be alright to feed one to a snake?

im sorry for all the questions i am just really curious

thank you for your help i really appreciate it

[littleindiangirl]

okay, so would it be best to feed off the high white ones first or what?
and would it be alright to feed one to a snake?

im sorry for all the questions i am just really curious

thank you for your help i really appreciate it

Would I keep any of them to breed? No, I wouldnt. And I would retire the male from breeding in my opinion. Megacolon is just sad and quite a painful way to die, especially if he throws babies that have severe cases and develop MC early in life.

It's ok to feed them off before they develop megacolon, but once they are large and bloated, they are just holding tanks for feces. I don't know how nutritious or smart it is to feed anything with that much fecal matter.

The link I gave you has necropsy photos.... graphic photos too... it's reason enough to just not take a chance.

I thought I should make a note of this, not all high white rats will develop megacolon, and not all low white rats are free of it; but it is a fairly high chance with animals expressing the white spotting gene.

[atp151415]

alright thank you very much. Even before this whole thing i was considering retiring that male just to have a fresh start again. And maybe swaping out a breeder female that has white on her. I am just waiting for there eyes to open and get some hair before i feed them off thus theyll be closer to appropriate size. I will be sure to post a pic of my other breeder female with white on her tomorrow.

One last question i promise . How much longer or so tell they will have hair and opened eyes or around hopper or fuzzy stage. Thank you soo much

[littleindiangirl]

Probably another 7 days till their eyes open. I consider fuzzies to still have their eyes closed, but they are chubby. From when they open them till wean they are pups. LOL, not an exact science... but that's how I think about it.

See my little rat in my signature? thats a fuzzy! hahaha