Fellow Rat breeder's ?

[Emilio]

I have a litter of babie's that's lookin smaller and skinnier than usual mom's eating well so I don't get it maybe she's sick or something? One more thing they look sweaty and it's not hot in the house weird I have three other litter's in the house and none of them look like these. Might be exessive urination I picked two of them up and they peed all over me.

[Uncle Festae]

Sounds like shes not producing enough for them....I'd put those babies in with another brooding female, or put another female in the tub with her and the babies, but I hate rats and therefore they are not my forte ..... Someone else might have a better suggestion.

[frankykeno]

How odd. Has this particular female produced a litter and been successful with them before? Is this a particularily large litter numberwise? Sometimes you just get a litter that's not genetically as sound as other litters. That's why I'm so nuts about knowing which male and female pairing produces the best, hardiest feeders and sticking with pairings that work so well for me. If I get a litter that sort of not great I put that female to another male and if I get another substandard litter out of her, then she's out of the breeder group. Rats can be awfully inbred and sometimes you just can't avoid the occasional bad litter that can result from that. Your own careful management of the colony can avoid this as much as possible though over time.

What color/patterns are the male and female that produced this litter? How old is the litter? If still pinks can you see very visible milk bands? If older can you tell if they are defecating normally, any sign of belly distension or is it more just failure to thrive? Pics maybe might help illustrate.

[MarkS]

Check the babies out for full tummies and wide white milk bands. If they're getting enough to eat these should be real easy to see. If the milk bands are absent, the mother isn't producing milk and the babies need to be moved to a mom who is. If there are milk bands but they're not very pronounced it's possible that she's not producing enough and you'll have to remove some of the babies so that the rest of them will thrive.

[Emilio]

Their already fuzzy's she had her usual amount 10 or 11 it's just weird , I'm going to try her out again the babie's look like Herp shop babie's. Meaning they don't look as fat as what I'm use to feeding my bp's. Maybe it was just a bad litter I'll give her the benefit of the doubt.