older pregnant rat

Question
QUESTION: a week ago I rescued two female rats from terrible circumstances(they were living in a hamster cage on wood shavings fed only seeds, and not allowed out of their cage, and both came with little open wounds over their bodies, which I put polysporin on.). I was told that they tried to breed them but the male attacked them, the girls are about 2 years, and I have reason to believe one of them is very pregnant, her stomach doubled in size in the matter of a week. Now, if she is really 2 years old, wouldn't birth be extremely stressful? she is a sweet little doll, could you please tell me what I could do to try to make sure her pregnancy goes fine? (I strongly dislike irresponsible pet owners!)

ANSWER: You can say you strongly dislike irresponsible pet owners but I can say LOATHE them with a passion!!  Grrrrrrr!!

As for your older girl...start by giving her some soy milk and maybe a scrambled egg a few times a week along with a good diet. We want to increase her iron a bit too but keep the protein to a mild roar.

Make sure you have a good vet on hand and the name of a facility that is open 24 hrs a day for emergencies that also see exotics just in case there are problems with her labor. It may be a good idea to also look around for someone that may have a lactating female just in case you need a surrogate mother. She isn't the first 2 year old pregnant rat and wont be the last. I am pretty confident that now that she is in good hands she will do fine, ESP since she is no longer in a stressful environment.  Is she shaped like a pear? Can you see if the fur around her nipples has thinned out? Can you feel any pups moving around in her belly? You don't have to press hard, just touch her belly gently if she is THAT far along, you may feel some movement.
Is she nesting?  Is she showing any signs of being temperamental?

Rats, by nature, are fantastic mothers. I rescued two females years ago, a mother and daughter that were meant for snake food but luckily the snake did not eat them for whatever reason I do not know....the snake owner felt bad for the girls and tried to return them to the store and the punk A** pet store employee refused to  take them back, so I took them after overhearing them bickering about it.  One of them, Oreo, was young, about 3 months old if that, and her mother was tiny as can be and around 18 months. She had already had several litters I was told because she was a blazed dumbo and used for breeding till she started to bite the store employees after probably getting stressed out from having back to back litters so they tossed her and her babies in with the other feeder rats.  Talk about LOATHING people...grrrrrrr again!  Anyhow, Oreo, the young rat, gave birth much to my surprise, a week after I had her. She only had 7 babies but they all were fat little sausage babies and she was great mother.  Charlotte, her mother, and the older rat, started acting odd herself, nesting like crazy etc...I thought it was a pseudo pregnancy, but here she gave birth to 15 pups, one died a week later, but she was a great mother to 14 pups.....and yes I kept them all plus the 8 males I already had.  That was a long time ago and a hectic time too, for sure!  Anyhow, to be honest though, I would be shocked that a 2 year old rat is pregnant mainly since they go through menopause around 18 months of age give or take a few months here or there.   Thats not to say she ISN'T pregnant, though, as her estrus may have not ceased OR she is younger than 2 years old.  
I would watch her  really close though and lets make sure that she IS pregnant rather than having other health related problems that  could be causing her abdomen to swell such as fluid retention or even an abdominal mass.  A diet of seeds is a good way to cause problems with their intestines and can even contribute to tumors, not always cancer, mind you, but still, tumors none the less.

Let me know what you find during your "pre natal exam"!  Also, do you have a good vet?

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: I AGREE WITH LOATHE! especially from what they put these two girls through!I'm almost positive she is pregnant, her nipples are fully exposed (almost no hair around them) I couldn't feel any movement in her belly, but she is very squirmy so I didn't want to harm/stress her. I think she has been nesting I have them on shredded paper towel and she pushes it to one side of the cage and then goes in it.

I am a vegetarian and always have soy milk on hand, so that will be no problem! how about soy nuts? I do eat eggs, but I'm wondering would tofu be a good idea??

The college students I got them from said they think the rats are a year and a half, than they changed it to 2, so I don't think they even knew.

another question, should I leave them together? I haven't seen them fight, and they sometimes snuggle in their hammock. I was reading that sometimes nonpregnant females will go through a false pregnancy where they produce milk to feed the babies?

I was hoping and hoping she wasn't pregnant, but I'm almost positive she is, and so far I have found potential homes for 6 of the potential babies. I read that they can have up to 24 pups is this true? and how likely is that? she's not like super huge or anything, just a little bigger than a golfball-sized stomach!

O and there are no good small animal vets around here, everyone specializes in dogs and cats, I did however talk to my vet, and she said although she doesn't normally do rats, if she's having complications I can bring Bailey to her, and she'll see what she can do. But hopefully it doesn't come to that!  

Thank you so much for answering all my questions!! you have been very helpful!

Answer
I wouldn't give her Tofu, but if you eat eggs, a nice scrambled egg is good for her (and other female too...it wont hurt thats for sure!) I would watch the nuts though as they may be high in protein which we want to avoid esp if she is close to  2 years old since high protein is very taxing on the kidneys.

As for having 24 babies...unfortunately, this is pretty close to the truth.  I am sure this rumor was started when somewhere along the line a rat  gave birth to 24 pups, but its not really normal to have that large of a litter.  My girl had 15.....the other had 7 with the average large litter being  12 and the average small litter being around ummm....lets just say around 6 to 8 pups.  Some rats have had just 2 pups and they were fine.  If she has alot of pups in her, she will gain weight fast and look very large to you. In fact, one way to tell if there is a pregnancy is to watch her closely and if you notice that out of the blue she got really big in the belly and started to nest frantically, babies are on the way!!  

As for the other female remaining in there.....you can leave her but keep an eye on her to make sure she doesnt steal the other pups from the mother and try  play mother her self.

Do you notice if the rat is aggressive or snippy/nippy toward you or her cagemate?

Also, where do you live? I would like to find a vet for you if possible.