A father-in-laws mistake

[frankykeno]

Poor guy. Well you did warn him so perhaps now he'll have learned albeit the hard way. Make sure he keeps that wounds clean Ed and I assume you made him wash it out really well. Rat bites can get nasty fast.

If I have a difficult mother and I need to get at her offspring or clean her enclosure I just quickly tail her and move her to a secure container that I'll have already set up right beside her enclosure. Takes about 2 seconds and I can't remember the last time a rat nailed me (which means of course I'm about due for a bite doesn't it LOL). Most of my females are handtamed enough that they don't mind me around their babies, but you do get the occasional overly protective momma rat. As long as they are normally placid in nature then I don't mind that....if they are nasty by nature....out they go!

[Shelby]

Yikes.. yeah those momma rats can be killers. Hurts more than any snake bite I've had.

[Rakshasi]

It truly is sad it took a bite to get him to realize that the moms really are protective over their kids. But, I'm glad to hear he won't be messing with the mommas, anymore.

I, too, have some moms that are sweet as pie, but then there's the ones that feel the need to be super-overly-protective-mom. I do as Jo said...I just quickly lift them by the tail as close to the base as possible, and transfer into a seperate holding tank. I'd agree that it only takes a couple of seconds, and is the safest method.

Most of the time, all I have to do is say a sweet "Hello," and offer a piece of dried fruit or a Cheerio, and the mom comes right off the babies. Then I can just lift her up, put her in the holding tank, and give her that fruit/Cheerio plus a few more, so she knows she's special and a good girl.

[frankykeno]

Then you can get the other kind of female rat....one of mine will occasionally stand up, grab a fuzzy off her belly and basically hand it to me. I swear she's thinking...

"here take this darned teat leech will you! it's not like I don't have 14 more of the darn boobie chewers! you take this one please"

[Shelby]

Haha.. yeah I have a couple like that, Jo. I open the tub, and they run off the pile of babies.

[recycling goddess]

Then you can get the other kind of female rat....one of mine will occasionally stand up, grab a fuzzy off her belly and basically hand it to me. I swear she's thinking...

"here take this darned teat leech will you! it's not like I don't have 14 more of the darn boobie chewers! you take this one please"

hahahahahahaha yup we have some of those LOL

[Rakshasi]

That's hilarious, Jo!

I don't have any that try to hand me their kids, yet, but I do have the desperate moms that litterally *fly* out of the tank as soon as the lid's off. That's usually around the time the pups start crawling all over the place. I typically let the mom run around the kitchen table (i set it up with toys, tubes, etc, then i just watch, scratch them, give them treats and generally enjoy them...yeah, i'm a dork, hehe) for at least an hour, but as soon as I put her back in, she's trying to fly back out. The look on some of their faces are so depressing and send me on a guilt trip, but I ignore them. All of us here find it really amusing when those moms actually start jumping at the top in many failed attempts to get away from the, as you so affectionately call them, teat leeches and boobie chewers. (*giggles at those terms*) Of course, for fear of brain damage to the mom, they'll usually get their way and get some out time once the jumping starts. Funny thing is, there's usually not many kids left yet they're still desperate to get away. Poor girls.

[frankykeno]

Raven, I used to feel somewhat guilty removing young for feeding off or weaning then I watched enough female rats with their young. The vast, vast majority of them by the time their litters are running around are just flat out sick of the little boogerheads. They are dedicated mothers and all that but I'd say most of them are quite content to go back to the female only bins and not be harrassed continually for access to their bellies.

I've watched my females come up with some unique ways of keeping the babies off them. Things like going to sleep with their belly in a food dish or standing almost fully upright to nap so the babies can't get between her belly and the side of the enclosure.

That's actually one of the reasons I decided to try communal mothering after the litters reach 15 days of age. It seems to give these extremely active pups something else to do in a bigger enclosure than bother their mother. It also allows two momma rats that get along to have some social interaction and help with running herd on their litters. As I remove some of the pups for feeidng off, the two mothers just continue to share out what's left. Seems to be working out very nicely (though when I tried communal mothering from birth I wasn't impressed with that result at all).

[Rakshasi]

I used to really enjoy the behavior of one of my now-retired moms, after all of her kids had been fed off. I'd put her back in the all female enclosure, and she would just become a pile of "clean me, NOW" mush for the first week!! It was really hilarious. She'd just waddle up to one of the other girls and flop down, begging to be groomed. When the other female gave in, she'd get this look of complete Heaven on her face, and lean into the other girl with joy. As if to say, "Finally I'M the one being pampered!" None of the current breeders do that.

I've heard people communal mothering from birth and, it just doesn't seem right to me. I had an accident where two moms had babies at once (i was asleep and was planning to seperate them when i woke, they were not "due" for approximately 5 days, so i thought they'd be okay until i woke up). Babies EVERYwhere. They were completely scattered, no nests, and they kept trying to make their own piles, but the other would go over and steal some, causing the other one to steal from that one, causing more scattering. I put the moms in holding, seperated two groups of babies, cleaned/sat up the tanks and put a mom in each. They were fine after that. So, now when I hear about people leaving two moms (or more) together to give birth and "share" the kids, I just blank it from my mind and move on. I couldn't imagine that nightmare again. I was so scared the babies were injured, but I thoroughly checked and luckily got to them before they were hurt.

Putting two moms together when the babies are 15 days, though, sounds like a much better idea.

Anyway, this way we're not hijacking this thread...isn't it a bit annoying when you warn someone that the rats (or any animal) may bite, yet they continue to aggravate the poor animals? My boyfriend was poking his finger into the wire female cage, and I kept warning he was going to get bit. He kept thinking he was faster than them, and then BAM! He got bit. I was a bit irritated with that. I mean, I felt really bad he got hurt, but I kept warning him. It's terrible that it has to actually happen before they learn, sometimes.