Crazy Rat

[Lobo_Reptiles]

I think Regina has lost her mind. She is constantly trying to escape from her tank and throwing herself against the lid. She is even starting to lose fur around her shoulders. Her babies just opened their eyes last Thursday so I plan on weaning them soon. I have no intentions of breeding her again because of it. I think I'll adopt her out as a pet to someone. Maybe she was just too old to have another litter.

I've tried to cover the various problems I thought she might be having. I used to handle her every other day or so, but I don't touch her or the babies or anything. They all seem healthy and are cruising around the tank. She is eating Becky's rattie diet steadily so I don't think there is a problem there. She also drinks A LOT of water. I give Frank new water every 2-3 days and I have to give Regina water 2-3 times a day. She just sits there and drinks for 10-15 minutes straight sometimes.

Anyone know whats wrong or is she just cracking under the pressure of everything?

[frankykeno]

She's likely being a very normal rat mother of a busy, almost ready to be weaned litter. By the time my females have pups of about 20 days of age they are sick and tired of the whole deal and try to escape constantly. One thing is to put something in there the mom can hop into but the pups can't climb into...like a tall heavy container...or just take the female out for a bit each day or just basically she'll deal with it till weaning. I usually wean my feeder pups at about 23 or 24 days....I used to leave them the full 28 days but my females were going mad trying to get the heck away from those rotten leeches LOL.

Just make sure the pups are all eyes opened, ears up, fully furred and you know they can eat mom's food and use the water bottle...if they are old enough....get em out and give momma rat a break LOL. I usually let my females have a week away from their weanlings and the male rat if their litter was 12 or under...if it was 12 or over in number...I give them 2 weeks to recover full conditioning (just may way, not the best or only way lol) The weans can stay in one tub till they are about 5 weeks old if you need to...but then seperate boys and girls or they will be breeding each other instead of putting on weight as you likely want them to (plus extremely young females are not great mothers usually).

~~Jo~~

[Lobo_Reptiles]

I've seen the babies gnaw on the lab blocks a bit, but I haven't physically seen them drink water yet. They don't mew anymore except when Regina uses them as a step tool to get closer to the lid. 23 days will be this Friday, March 3rd.

I'll go back to handling her a lot until the babies get shipped out. My friend who lives with me made the mistake of naming the only piebald one 'Jordan' so she is taking him as a pet. And I also am going to keep a black baby from Frank's litter as well. Ashes is off feed and Narcissa is being a brat so the rest of the ratties will be chunked up for a while. I have 3/4 BPs off feed >_<

[Lobo_Reptiles]

It isnt letting me edit my post...so...sorry.

The babies are eating and drinking water at this point so I'm going to move them out ASAP. Thanks Jo!

[frankykeno]

No problem, glad to be of help. That female will be pleased to be rid of the furry little leeches LOL. Just give her some time to build back up before she re-breeds (especially if you don't really need anymore young rats or euthanize and freeze for future use if your bp's will take f/t).

I have a female with 13 active pups that will wean in a few days. She's sick to death of them and trying to hop out of the tub any chance she gets - poor thing! I monitor my water bottles with a wipeable pen. Once I see the babies starting to try the water I just mark it and then I can see if they are drinking even if it miss it since the water will drop faster suddenly than the day or so before.

~~Jo~~

[Bdadawg]

I normally use cardboard boxes for nesting. Cut one hole in one side about 2 inches from the bottom ... This gives the female a good place to escape to and keeps the pups in the nest.


At 4 weeks I move the pups into the grow out cage ... over the 5th week i wean them by removing the mother for while, abruptly weaning the pups is hard on the moms as they are still producing milk. The first day I remove her for 2 2hr increments, 2nd day 3hr increments, by friday her milk production has slowed down and the pups are weaned.

I do actually have a crazy rat. We call her A.D.D. Her head constantly shakes, and she goes about a million miles an hour. She often latches onto my finger because she missed the food in my hand. She is one of my wifes favorites so I cant euthanize it, however we keep it away from the males so that we dont get defective pups.

Bryan