I feel horrible...

[unrezt]

About 3 days ago I was cleaning my rat's cage, so I moved the rats into an aquarium with a blanket in it for the meantime, 18 babies and mother in one, 3 other females in another.

Fast forward to today, I was going to clean the cage again so I go to take out the blanket from the aquarium and spread it on the floor of it, and a baby rat falls out...

By some miracle it was still alive and squeaking, I gave it back to the mother to see what happens.

I know exactly which one it was too, because it was the first one I put in the aquarium with her, she moved it to one spot, then when I put the rest of them in she moved them to another and I guess forgot about it.

I can't believe I did this.

[Oxylepy]

Maybe she doesn't want it because it has a brain tumor and thus left it to die... Perhaps you should have fed it off to a snake.

[unrezt]

Maybe she doesn't want it because it has a brain tumor and thus left it to die... Perhaps you should have fed it off to a snake.

Maybe...

but it was my fault that it didn't get returned to her, not hers.

Eventually they will all be fed to a snake and I guess it is kind of twisted that I have no problem doing that but I feel terrible about this.

[Oxylepy]

Well a baby has been abandoned for the last three days, it's okay to feel bad. However look at it this way: In the wild babies would die all the time and the only reason any of them are alive is because of you, and the only reason all of them aren't starving to death is because of you. Console yourself in this and just be happy it didn't actually starve to death, thus you are giving it a chance to enjoy life once again.