babies and mom noises

Question
Our pet patches had 3 babies 48 hours ago.  Today we were going to try to handle the babies and the mom for the first time (we were told to give them time to bond)  When we took the mom out to play and give her lettuce as soon as we put her down on the floor she started to make a high pitched scream we had never heard before.  We got nervous and immediately put her back in the cage.  Should we try to take her out again or leave her alone?  Do you think she was scared or in pain? Can we play with the babies? Help we are new at this.

Answer
Hi Christy.  You can try holding her again.  You can usually tell if she is squeaking in pain or just squeaking for some other reason.  If it was in pain, I would expect to start squeaking the minute you picked her (not after you put her on the floor).  Try holding the babies first - maybe she is squeaking because she is away from them.  You can keep them out as long as, I'd say, 10 minutes as long as you keep them warm and safe.  After the babies are a week old you can keep them out much longer - but right now they need to nurse a lot.
Anngela