I think Beans might be pregnant! She's barely 7 weeks old!

[SADCAT]

Okay, this is not good... I was thinking Beans was just getting chubby, but now her sides are sticking out weirdly and it just reminds me so much of when Parchisi was pregnant. Plus Beans has been acting very dominant (even towards the big girls) and she has been very attracted to feathers, kleenexes and cloth (carrying it around with her, putting it here and there).

What will happen to her if she is pregnant? She's so tiny! She's still just a baby herself! Could she die? Would her babies survive? How would I know if I needed to rush her to the vet? At least Parchisi was about three months old when she had hers...

I'm so worried about my new baby.  

[gabrielle1976]

Do you know how she could have got pregnant did you get her from a pet store ?
You might want to seperate her from the other rats . I have never had a baby that young have babies but im shure it happens just watch her real carefull and give her a good diet. I hope someone around here can be more helpfull.
Good Luck

[Nellybird]

Have you had her around any male rats? If so, she might very well be pregnant. Rats as young as 5 weeks old can get pregnant, so Beans is in the age range. I don't wanna give info on how to take care of her if she is pregos, I'm so underqualified  . Like gabrielle said, somebody else will be more helpful.

[Kitwo Coyote]

I'm no expert but, I've heard of five week old ratties having healthy, active rittens and living through it. Just give her some good, extra attention, lots of things to teasr up and make into a nest and watch her carefully.

[Maggie's Mom]

I'm a little worried about size, too...my girl, Rizzo, who I'm planning on breeding, is 2.5 months old.  She is VERY small for her age.  She has a perfect personality and is absoloutly beautiful and healthy beyond beleif, but she's teeny.  She isn't preggers, I wasn't planning on breeding her till she was about 3 months, but does anyone have advice for small rats?

[SADCAT]

Do you know how she could have got pregnant did you get her from a pet store ?

Yes, she was in a cage with about two dozen other rats, males and females. I was hoping since I knew they were all five weeks old and were just becoming able to breed I would be lucky and neither of them would be preggers... but I guess the odds weren't in our favour!

Should I add some extra protein to her diet? She is in with another rat, Hobnob, who's also just seven weeks old. They are both rather close, and I don't have anywhere to put Hobnob (they're not anywhere near ready to be placed in with the older girls) should I have to separate them.

Does anyone know what I should be looking for that'd tell me I need to get her to a vet right away? Can a vet tell if a rat is pregnant just by listening to her belly with a stethescope?

[DebW]

I think it's very possible she's pregnant, considering how she's acting.  Just in case, make sure she's getting extra nutrition.  Eloise loved dry kitten food.  I even continued it while she was nursing.  I also mixed up   powdered soy baby formula as a treat once a day.  Elosie was a smaller female, but was almost 6 months old.  She only had 9  babies who were all very healthy and she never seemed to lose her health or energy.

I would think she is going to be OK.  In the wild, rats don't wait to have babies and they survive.  Maybe, being so small, she'll have a relatively small litter.

Good luck and keep us informed!

[ratchick24]

wow....that stinks.....i would watch her carefully....if she starts to have them, and she cant get all of them out, then you have troubles.....but in the wild, they have babies at an early age no prob....so just keep an eye on her, and she should be fine!!

[SADCAT]

Thanks! I hope everything goes okay. Most of you know how Parchisi was only eight weeks old when she had her one baby, it lived for two days and then died, and Parchisi has had health problems ever since... I just hope nothing like that happens with Beans.

I'll see about getting some soy baby formula and some kitten food. Will it matter if Hobnob eats it too? It's hard to keep her from eating whatever Beans is eating.

[DebW]

We usually put Eloise in a separate area temporarily while she ate her treat.  In our case it was the cage we planned to have her give birth in.  We wanted her to get used to it and play around with nest building on her own without the other females wrecking it.  We kept her with the other females until a few days before she birth.  (I had the advantage of knowing the exact night she got pregnant.)

We also used the kittlen kibble as little treats with her. We'd give her some while she was out playing.  It's probably a little too much protein for your other rats, so I'd try to find a place you can temporarily separate her to while you feed her these treats.

[SADCAT]

Okay, I put a couple pieces in the cage because I wasn't sure if Hobnob could have it. I'll take her out to give it to her from now on.

I also got some soy baby formula.. how much do I give to her? And can this same stuff be used if she's not producing milk when the babies are born? Parchisi's baby died because she wasn't producing milk...

[DebW]

I just filled a spaghetti jar lid with it once or twice a day.
I continued it while she was nursing because nursing mothers need extra liquid and nutrition.  

[SADCAT]

Can I give it to the babies though? I mean, is it good enough to substitute for mother's milk if Beans can't produce any herself?

[DebW]

In Debbie D's Rat Health Care Book, she suggests using it.  She says to dilute it a little for the 1st several feedings and use the powdered formula and mix it as you need it so it doesn't go bad. Formula will only last 24 hours once opened and mixed.

Other suggestions are ( to quote from her book):

"One of the best methods is to use a tiny piece of rag and form a nipple from one corner.  Start by dipping the nipple in the formula and squeezing drops into the baby's mouth.  Once the baby starts sucking on the rag, you can drip formula little by little onto the rag with a dropper so you don't have to remove it from the baby's mouth."

She says regular animal bottle nipples are too large and can cause choking.

Hopefully, you won't have to use any of this advice.  Good luck.

[SADCAT]

Thanks! That's great, I'll make sure to get some powder just in case. And the rag idea sounds perfect, I wasn't sure what I was going to use!