Behavior?

[Cartmansdad]

What behavior do you see in a female rat if she is pregnant? I'm just wondering because I want to make sure is pregnant before I seperate her from the sire.

Thank you in advance

[jglass38]

What behavior do you see in a female rat if she is pregnant? I'm just wondering because I want to make sure is pregnant before I seperate her from the sire.

Thank you in advance

She gets fat. Seriously, if she has been with the male for a couple weeks, if the male is fertile, she is probably pregnant.

[frankykeno]

Rat females are preggie for about 21-23 days or thereabouts. Some won't show much sign of it till the last 7 days or so. A really big bodied female carrying a smaller litter sometimes barely looks pregnant at all. I just had one of those and was sure she didn't catch when all of a sudden she popped out a nice litter of 10...she never appeared preggie at all...just a tad chubby. Here's a few pics of preggie rats to help you see how different it can be female to female, litter to litter. Basically just watch for a pear shape to develop then pull them if you want. Provide lots of food and nesting material. Most females will sleep flat on their backs close to delivery (they look dead!) Most females will build nests about 24 hours prior to delivery but some don't and will deliver then construct a nest and move the newborn litter to it.


Pretty typical preggie rat belly....a few days before she birthed her litter....

This female is a big female and with this litter was pretty fat all over....


Same female with another litter...she was HUGE this time and later the same day I took this picture delivered a healthy litter of 18....she was so big she couldn't even stand upright....


Side view of preggie female....


Alita with her litter of 18...one busy female!....

You can leave your female in with the male until she's obviously pregnant (some leave the females in with the males all the time). Male rats make excellent parents and it's pretty rare for them to hurt their own offspring.

[Cartmansdad]

Thank you for the pics. Also I'm pretty sure that my female is pregnant! She is agressive against male and is very fat. So I seperated them.