Why on earth...

You should never, EVER house intact males/females with each other, regardless of age.  Why not get all the boys neutered?  Or all your females spayed?  Even better, get both done! 

You should get Marshy emergency spayed, and soon. 

Your breeding mentor which you previously said you have.... should have told you that there is no certain time when rats can no longer get pregnant.  It is never ever safe to put an intact male and female together.  You have been breeding, you should know this! 

Like everyone else said- EMERGENCY SPAY.  Now.  No excuses. 

Also, Please halt your plans of breeding.  It is really obvious from your posts previous and current that you do not have the correct guidance at this point in life to be undertaking this kind of responsibility.  These are not little toys we are playing with - they are living, breathing and most importantly - feeling, lives.

At some point maybe you will find a more knowledgeable mentor who will aid you in making the right choices for your rat kids.

Maybe you didn't know any better, but you really should have, particularly if you are breeding.  Now, you've put an elderly rat into extremely unnecessary danger.  If you don't get her spayed, she could have serious complications from the pregnancy and at her advanced age I'd be worried about doing an invasive surgery like a spay.  This was not a wise or responsible choice, and unless you get really, really lucky, this poor rattie is going to pay for your mistake one way or the other.

Any update?

Ok. Well, at my mentor's house, he was with all of her grandmas. Then in about one month, all of her grandmas passed and he was alone in his cage. So, when we decided that Micah was a good genetic match for Keela (by the way, he was. She had absolutely beautiful babies), we took him to our house to put them together and we ended up keeping him.
Then he was alone in the cage again because our boys beat him up too. So we decided to put Micah and Marshy together. Dru (my mentor, as you call it) had him with grandmas younger than Marshy and she never had any problems like this. So maybe you will understand that this wasn't an 'irresponsible' decision and maybe you won't. In all the research I've done, it always says that females are too old to have babies when they are two years old.

We won't do an emergency spay, but if there are complications during labor, we will do all we can to save her and the babies. I am hoping that she reabsorbs.

Please say your comments, but don't phrase them like this...'this poor rattie is going to pay for your mistake one way or the other'. Please don't criticize me. I expect some, but don't be so blunty rude and disrespectful. I know that I'm 13 and you probably don't feel that I deserve your respect, but I do. Plus, don't call me irresponsible. It was an honest accident (haven't you made some kind of mistake at one time or another? Nobody here can possibly say no) and I decided to come to you and ask for help. That doesn't sound very irresponsible to me.

'One thing after another'!!!??? OMG! I only post the bad stuff when I really need help. I know that if I post the good stuff, someone will find something that I did wrong. I'm only willing to go through the extremelly rude criticism if I really need the help and advice.

I think someone missed the point that these are breeding rats. For some reason, I don't think that you would spay a rat that you are planning on breeding.

Take these points that I've said (FYI, they all needed to be said. This forum tends to have a problem with jumping on people) BEFORE you post.

~cuterat

You really need to find a new "mentor."  I'm sorry to tell you but your breeder friend does not know what she is doing, at all.  At 13, you should not be breeding rats, especially not under the guidance of someone who does not have a clue what responsible breeding entails.

Spay that poor rat, if you care about her at all, and never house intact [edit: opposite sex] animals together no matter how old they are.  It's not worth the risk.

I agree with Ratlets 110%.....make that 200%.  You're going to feel like COMPLETE crap if she has complications and you lose her and her babies.  You are saying it was a mistake and you're trying to be responsible, well then you need to do right by this rat.  Otherwise you're just being ignorant and cruel, doing nothing at all and hoping for the best.

If she's as healthy as you say, it should not be a problem.  There are plenty of people on here that have had older rats spayed.  So what if she is pregnant?  What if she does have serious complications delivering?  I'm sorry to tell you this, but if that's the case there probably won't be anything much you can do at that point.

FYI, when I say beautiful, I mean HEALTHY and good temperments as well. How many times have I mentioned that health and temperment is what I breed for over color???

Heather, did you get off to a perfect start? What have I had, 2 serious litters? I'm still in the beginning stages and I'm starting to get used to it and how it works.

your mentor should have NEVER housed him in with intact females.


if you didnt even know you are not suppose to be housing intact male and female rats together then how in the world did you know that he was a genetic match for anyone?



there are so many other alternatives to that situation other then sticking an intact male with an intact female, one of which is  neutering him before hand.


no real mentor in their right mind would put male and female together regardless of age. I'm sorry but Dru is not a mentor, nor a good breeder! Does not matter how many years they have been doing it.


I like to know how in the world you can actually say that the decision you made was responsible in anyway.



Why not do an emergency spay?


why not? someone has to be a voice for that poor rat. Obviously you do not give a care in the world about her health.



No, I'm sorry but you do not deserve any respect. You have done nothing to earn it.


you are VERY VERY VERY Irresponsible!


of course we all have made mistakes. if it wasn't for mistakes, we wouldn't learn. Obviously you have not learned from yours.



I get the feeling you wanted our approval more then our help. There is only two alternatives in your particular situation. Let her have the babies and risk her and the pups dying or have her spayed. Both are still a huge risk with spaying the safest route. We gave you what you asked for. You can not seriously post something like that and expect us not to respond with our opinions. You really want us to pat you on the back and say "OHHHH good job!!!" You got that poor rat into this mess, it is your responsibility to get her out of it!


I'm not even touching this one with a 10-foot pole


I do not quite understand this statement. From what I understand these ARE breeding rats that you got from your supposed mentor. No, you would not normally spay a female that you were planning on breeding which brings me to a question......did you plan on breeding Marshy anyway? I thought the whole purpose of this thread was because she is pregnant and over 2 years old. Maybe I misunderstood something.


I read all your points and found them all not valid. Yes I agree some of us have a tendency of getting a bit huffy when it comes to the welfare of animals, especially when a person obviously does not.