rats again

Question
QUESTION: hi me again.
  I bought my rat pregnant because it was my first one. but when she gave birth it dided and my 2nd rat ate it. but now i have a male rat, so should i separate the 2 rats. but apparently the male was trying to mate with the female but she fought him of. so there is no way of telling age.
thankyou

ANSWER: Yes keep them apart.  Males and females can sexually reproduce as young as 4.5 to 5 weeks old and can have up to 18 babies, maybe more.

Why did you get a male rat when you had a female?  You should have her spayed. This way she also wont develop mammary tumors later in life.
If you need a vet I will be happy to help find one for you!
I am sorry the other rat ate the rat.  That had to be very upsetting!

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

QUESTION: well my friend breeds rats, so she gave me one of the babies at 4 and a half weeks, but we couldnt tell which sex it was so we took the chances of it being a boy and i took it home than i found out it is a boy, but i didnt know the dangers if my female was 2 old. I think she has already hit menopause though. because i got her last year at the begining, but i dont know how old it is. unless theres a way to tell the age. is there?
       but when i got the baby rat with my mum i was secretely hoping it would be a male becasue i had always wanted to breed rats but my parents wouldnt let me, but now i know the dangers and regret it.
         when i got my 2nd rat my female mothered it evan though it wasnt a baby, is that natural?
        Is it also ok that my female rat ate the stomach of my other female after it was dead?
Thankyou
     


ANSWER: Yes believe it or not, gross as it sounds, when a rat dies, it is out of respect that the rats consume their dead.  They do this for several reasons and one is to keep predators from getting the deceased rat and taking it away.  Also, in the wild, a dead rat will attract predators too, so they consume parts of the animal to keep the predators from coming.  They dont want to let part of their colony fall into the hands of the enemy, so to speak.

As for the other female mothering other rats, yes it is natural instinct for them to do this.



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

QUESTION: ok, but is there anyway of telling how old a rat is? like a bird has more stripes on its head when its young and less as it get older.
     my friend is thinking about getting a rat but she doesnt have any ideas, so would you happen to know some good rat names?
  thankyou

Answer


How much does the rat weigh? I dont really answer questions about rat names. I answer health related stuff.  I am not really clever enough to give you any fun or interesting names.  lol  

You  can just google rat names or PET RAT NAMES and find alot of sites.