Fostering mice with rat litters

[Homegrownscales]

I received a Messed up order of what were supposed to be mouse hoppers with moms. Turns out they were mouse barely fuzzies. No moms. After feeding out what I could I was left with 10 mouse babies that I didn't want to starve to death. Since I only breed rats for my snakes I had no nursing mouse moms but I did have a ton of nursing rat moms. So I tried to integrate. I wanted to keep the babies alive and thriving without having to do it myself... And grow them out a bit. Just putting them down wasn't an option bc none of the snake babies eat ft. So we tried with a couple of rat moms with small litters that were pinks. Needless to say babies are thriving. I couldnt really find any info about this over the Internet and everyone that I asked had simply said "I Have no idea" and that's how the little experiment started. Anyways mouse babies have been totally accepted in with the litters and are doing well. They are chunky and growing now at crawler stage. They'll be fed out most likely this week or next but now they're a bit bigger and thrived in the pinch situation I had.
Just thought I'd share what results I had. Not something I'll be doing all the time but I wasn't going to just let them starve to death.




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[4Ballz]

let's hope mom doesn't decide to have a mouse snack later. question for you, my momma rat is giving birth right now. I'm seeing lots of blood. and only two babies out. should I be worried if she can't get anymore more out, and the blood issue? I understand there will be blood, but the other moms keep checking on her.

[satomi325]

I received a Messed up order of what were supposed to be mouse hoppers with moms. Turns out they were mouse barely fuzzies. No moms. After feeding out what I could I was left with 10 mouse babies that I didn't want to starve to death. Since I only breed rats for my snakes I had no nursing mouse moms but I did have a ton of nursing rat moms. So I tried to integrate. I wanted to keep the babies alive and thriving without having to do it myself... And grow them out a bit. Just putting them down wasn't an option bc none of the snake babies eat ft. So we tried with a couple of rat moms with small litters that were pinks. Needless to say babies are thriving. I couldnt really find any info about this over the Internet and everyone that I asked had simply said "I Have no idea" and that's how the little experiment started. Anyways mouse babies have been totally accepted in with the litters and are doing well. They are chunky and growing now at crawler stage. They'll be fed out most likely this week or next but now they're a bit bigger and thrived in the pinch situation I had.
Just thought I'd share what results I had. Not something I'll be doing all the time but I wasn't going to just let them starve to death.




Check out what's new on my website... www.Homegrownscales.com

Thanks for sharing! I'm glad all the mice are thriving.
What good rattie moms.
I've done the opposite before. Putting a rat fuzzy with a mouse mother. Worked out great!

And a trick in the research lab for integrating babies is have the mother pee on the new baby so it smells like her or put the new baby at the bottom of the baby pile so it smells like the rest of the litter.

let's hope mom doesn't decide to have a mouse snack later. question for you, my momma rat is giving birth right now. I'm seeing lots of blood. and only two babies out. should I be worried if she can't get anymore more out, and the blood issue? I understand there will be blood, but the other moms keep checking on her.

Maybe you're seeing the placenta? Moms eat the placenta after birthing each pup. Each pup has their own placenta. It could just look like a lot of blood, but it's not.
I wouldn't worry about it yet.

[4Ballz]

Thanks for sharing! I'm glad all the mice are thriving.
What good rattie moms.
I've done the opposite before. Putting a rat fuzzy with a mouse mother. Worked out great!

And a trick in the research lab for integrating babies is have the mother pee on the new baby so it smells like her or put the new baby at the bottom of the baby pile so it smells like the rest of the litter.



Maybe you're seeing the placenta? Moms eat the placenta after birthing each pup. Each pup has their own placenta. It could just look like a lot of blood, but it's not.
I wouldn't worry about it yet.

She is going back and forth to corner to corner. I know it must be difficult on her. There are two other moms in there, with their own litter. So, hoping for the best. Yeah, she had a placenta in one corner, I thought it was just a bloody and dead baby, but no.

If you can't get the mom to pee on the adopted baby, is covering it in their bedding another possibility? (I like seeing these threads with other rodents helping each other out).

[satomi325]

If you can't get the mom to pee on the adopted baby, is covering it in their bedding another possibility? (I like seeing these threads with other rodents helping each other out).

I'm sure that works too. But use the bedding that the other pups are in or the pee corner.

[Homegrownscales]

I'm glad it can be done I really had no clue about it until I tried.
I rubbed each baby in the litter one at a time. And then kinda put them in the middle. But hey if this helps someone in the future I'm all for it. At least I was able to save them for this week and next weeks feeding. I wanted hoppers so the baby snakes took to them easier. Or else I would have just gone with pinks which some accepted some didn't. Fuzzies were like the same thing so being able to grow them out made a huge difference.
If mom was going to make a mousey snack she would have done that a long time ago. These guys have been in the litter for a full 7 days now. Doing well.


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[4Ballz]

so, she had a litter of 10, one died. The nine left, I think she had no interest in them. They are cold, and I didn't see any milk in their body. One still had the entire placenta attached to it. I got nine out, and am hoping this other two mom pair will take over. They just had their own litters, and are not expecting anytime, as I have re-introduced a male to them. I wasn't able to get the single baby out with the placenta, as the mom went for me. That mom was feeding other babies, so it let me to believe she isn't going to take care of her new litter. I'm leaving that one baby in there as a test baby. if it doesn't survive, then I know I would have lost them all. Then I'll freeze it, and save it for future clutches...??

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BTW, I'm happy this thread popped up today lol.

[Homegrownscales]

Give them to the other mommas. Or you can try to put her in a small tub with her own. But I'd give them to the other moms. I do that regularly when I'm trying to even out litter numbers.


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[youbeyouibei]

so, she had a litter of 10, one died. The nine left, I think she had no interest in them. They are cold, and I didn't see any milk in their body. One still had the entire placenta attached to it. I got nine out, and am hoping this other two mom pair will take over. They just had their own litters, and are not expecting anytime, as I have re-introduced a male to them. I wasn't able to get the single baby out with the placenta, as the mom went for me. That mom was feeding other babies, so it let me to believe she isn't going to take care of her new litter. I'm leaving that one baby in there as a test baby. if it doesn't survive, then I know I would have lost them all. Then I'll freeze it, and save it for future clutches...??

- - - Updated - - -

BTW, I'm happy this thread popped up today lol.

Am I understanding what you posted correctly in that your mama rat had given birth to a new litter while still nursing a previous litter that hadn't been weaned yet? And you re-introduced a male to the females that are currently nursing litters? If I'm wrong, please correct me; I'm none too bright and I've worked the past 14 hours so I might not be tracking all that well. IF you're breeding your females back-to-back like that, that might be why the mom rejected that litter. That's incredibly taxing on their bodies to have repetitive pregnancies in succession like that. Not saying you can't do it, but you're going to have a higher mortality rate with the litters and the female breeders than you would if you gave them a break between litters. Good luck fostering them off and if I'm completely out of line, please correct me, wouldn't be the first time I've been wrong...only the second. Hahahahaha! I'm kidding, just kidding. Good luck with them and hope that litter pulls through for you.

[Homegrownscales]

While you can breed back to back. It does tend to shorten the mother life span i believe. But while nursing and if I'm wrong someone let me know they dont go into heat. So if the mother was nursing one litter she wouldn't have become pregnant until that litter was weaned off.


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