Frankykeno worthy!!!!

[Freakie_frog]

So heres the back story I just stared breeding rats for feeders I got like 5 litters worth of experiance as of now. Well a week ago my Blue hooded gave birth to her first litter of 9. . I got to noticing that one of the baby's was always out of the nest and looked much smaller than the others. I thought runt. Then I noticed that it wasn't eating that I could see. I have heard that sometimes moms will abandon a pup or tow if there are to many or its their first litter. So I have another mom with a litter the same size. So if figured try and stick that pup with the other mom. No luck same story.

well this morning I saw that the little girl was way skinny from not eating so I was going to feed her off tonight. I picked her up and gave it the once over and noticed something. Why wasn't it opening its mouth to squeak. Her litter mates would open theirs then it hit me. HER MOUTH IS FUSED!!!!.

Sure enough after gentle looking sure enough her lips were fused together so with a clean fresh exacto-knife and a steady hand I made a clean incision and open goes the mouth no blood and lots of smacking and squeaking. So I stuck her back in and with in 10 minutes she was nursing and then fell asleep with a nice big milk band.

I so proud of myself.

Thanks for listening

[littleindiangirl]

OMG thats crazy! I didnt know that would happen. Unfortunataly I would have fed it off without another look. Your a hero to little pinkies everywhere. Props!

[lord jackel]

Ed...you da Man!!!


Way to pay attention and go the extra mile.

[ADEE]

wow, thats an amazing story, your wonderful.. great job! im not sure it wouldve dawned on me or not. youve gotta keep it and give it an awesome name hehe (i would)

[Freakie_frog]

Yea I think I may have just gotten a pet rat .. I'll call it "Lil'bit"

[darkdreamer]

dont feed that one off its got to be a special lucky rat. when it opens its eyes bring it with you when you buy a lottery ticket...
That one is a keeper because its got a fantastic story...

[frankykeno]

Wow that is amazing! I'm glad whatever little bit of skin was keeping her/his mouth closed was so easy to deal with. I've never heard of this before. Excellent job there. No wonder the female was kicking it out of the nest, you're lucky she didn't just kill it off before you even caught on to what was up with it. Very cool...good job!

[python.princess]

wow. even if i figured out what was wrong, i probably would've still fed it off because i wouldn't have known what to do with it!

[Rakshasi]

I just got around to actually coming back to this forum, and this story just brightened my day! I'm glad you figured out what was wrong with the little one. I have never had this happen before, but it's a heads-up to rat breeders everywhere that it IS possible. Thanks for sharing!

[Freakie_frog]

Just an update little girl was nursing again this morning and is very active. . I took some pics of her and her litter mates to show what a couple days of not eating can to a rats growth rate.

As for the skin thing I asked my vet and he said that it happens some times and the pup normally doesn't survive. he said that you'll see stuff like that in new moms or small moms with big litters. He said keep and eye on it as it develops cause there could be other skin fusing that will keep their eyes or ears from opening or even anus or other orifices from developing.