suddenly out of nowhere..fuzzy balls!!

[Urbanratgirl]

okay now I know why you have to quarentine baby rats!!

You won't believe(well maybe some of you will) what happened, I bought a baby agouti 4 weeks on thursday after checking sex very carefully, friday named and researched baby rat ages sexing etc..and felt relaxed in decision of simply beautiful new baby, Meka
Last night while at a friend's house I was lifting it up and I notice something completely new..underneath the penis/vagina(wee wee hole) was two little kidney shaped bumps that I SWEAR were not there 2 day before as I tried to be careful!!! they look like little kidney shapes but not fully formed.........and I'm already guessing I have a late developer and she is a HE!!

The weirdest thing is I wanted a boy but felt it was unfair of me to put an animal through desexing just so I could have the joy of a different sex...
Now I may have new worries and I have to find a reliable vet that will do a desexing ..because being the litle charmer he already is I definitely cannot send him back, and I couldn't bear to separate him from the girls forever and want to stop at 3!
Now I'm glad he/she is separated...and will be excepting playtime until the big chop if it indeed is true..
Does this happen? how safe is desexing rats and how old should they be?

[BabyBlue]

First of all, he should NEVER play with your girls, even under strict supervision. Rats can "do the deed" very quickly and you might not even be able to stop it. So unfortunately the little boy has to be completely alone until he can be neutered.

From what I heard how early they can be neutered depdns on how experienced your vet is and what he/she is comfortable with. So I'd ask around and see what your local vets say. Neutering is a fairly simple procedure and you shouldn't worry about it as long as your vet is experienced.

CongRATS on your first boy tho! I started out with girls but now I couldn't live without my boys, they're such mama's boys!

[Peachy]

Happened to me with one of my litters.  I was so surprised when my girls testicles dropped and she was a he.  I guess this happed around 3 1/2 to 4 weeks.