Is my hairless pale?

Question
QUESTION: Hello,
My hairless sweetie, Jilly, used to be the prettiest pink color when I adopted her in February from a local pet shop.  Of course being from a pet shop I don't know exactly how old she is but if I had to guess I think she was probably about 6 weeks old when I adopted her.  She was that pretty pink for quite a while up until recently I've been noticing that she looks kind of like a pale pink now.  I wonder if maybe she is getting lighter because she's getting older or could it be something not good and I would need to bring her in to a vet.  She was one of my first brats I've adopted (I like to call them brats...I think it's cute) anyways, I'm a bit worried about her :(  There is an exotic pet vet about an hour and a half away...actually I've been reading a lot of the threads here and see that sometimes you guys say you can find vets anywhere.  I was wondering if you might be able to find one that might be closer to me.  I would very much appreciate it :)  I live in Canton, New York.  There really isn't much up here for rats.  I make my own rat food for them, have done and still everyday do extensive research on how to care for them.  I love them so much.  
Also Jilly's cagemate, Joey, which is a girl haha, had an accidental litter with complications.  She had two little ones that I am hand-rearing as I could not find any foster-rat-mom for them.  Just below I'm putting links on to  show you how they look at 7 days old which was just last night that I took the pics.  They are drinking infant soy formula that I make every couple of hours, and I make sure they have the bands to make sure they are eating, so I hope they're doing ok.  They kind of look a little slim, but I don't know.  I keep reading about how to tell for colors on baby rats and different coat types, and was really curious if you might be able to tell if their markings are agouti or maybe mink or cinamin.  I know they're marked like their mommy, but she is I think silverfawn or a beige bareback with a spot on her back.  I guess I might just be a little impatient to see the colors.  I also keep looking at their whiskers and they seem like they might be satin too, but also not sure there.  The whiskers look kind of wavy, but not curly.  Is it too early to tell with that?  
I'm sorry I have so many questions haha  Really the colors and all that don't matter much.  I'm just curious.  I really hope they survive.  They little miracle babies, my baby's babies.  The day Joey went into labor on the 3rd of October she had the first one and cleaned it all up, then had the second one that she did not clean up.  They are both very wiggly right now and love to get in my hand.  Joey was listless for a little while, but is thriving again now.  I did try to put her two little ones in with her when she was feeling better to see if she would feed and take care of them, and she did clean them up a little bit, but then she started putting them under the blanket I had in with them :( so I took them back out and I'm taking care of the little angels.  I also keep checking to see if they're boys or girls or boy and girl if I could tell this early.  I have looked it up online and found a few sites with pictures, but I'm thinking maybe they're both either boys or both girls, becuase they both look the same down there haha  Okay.  I probably asked too much, and probably forgot a few things too...sorry.  I don't really have anyone up here to chat with too much about wonderful brats :)  Here is a link for you to see my sweeties :)

http://www.geocities.com/cloversleaf/BabyBrats.html

This is a really Awsome site!  Thanks so much for having it :)

ANSWER: Hi

Your rats are cute. Your hairless looks normal, but one thing when she is pale, is she cold, too. When you notice her pale, check her extremeties and see if they change color. If they do, let me know. To be honest, I checked other hairless rat photos and some are pale and some are pink so its really nothing unusual.  As for the types of rats that they are as per their markings, such as if they look like they are going to be a beige bareback etc...that is not my cup of tea. I studied rat health care but not genetics. That would be better asked to one of our breeder experts, Janell or Robin.  However, the babies do look thin. Are you rubbing their genitals to get them to defacate and urinate after feedings? They should eat every 3 hours. Are you using a heating pad?
Also, rubbing them gently as if mother is grooming them will stimulate their circulation. You should gently message them as well. Let me know how much and how often they feed. You should try to see if mother will nurse them. Never stop trying. Hairless rats often have a hard time lactating and will kill their young so be careful of that, too.
By the way. this allexperts.com is not my site. I am a volunteer expert on here.
My website is here:
http://www.freewebs.com/crittercity/index.htm

As for a vets, what cities are closest to you?



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

QUESTION: Hi
Thank you so much on your reply back.  I feel so much better about Jilly, my hairless, now..thanks for that.  Usually when she is pale it's pretty much evenly all over her body, but from now on I will pay closer attention to her extremeties.  I've always wanted to make a sweater for her so she could keep warm when she plays outside of her cage, I just haven't gotten around to it yet haha

As for Joey's babies...one died yesterday, and the other one died this morning :(  I was gently massaging them after every feeding every 2-3 hours, and stimulating them to defacate and urinate before and after every feeding, plus I had the heating pad on low with space for them to get away from the heat if needed too.  I know they may have been sick to begin with especially with the complications that their mommy had, but I wonder if maybe I had missed something or done something wrong :(  I also did keep trying to put them with their mommy to see if she would take care of them, but she just didn't want anything to do with them at all.  I was actually hoping that Joey's cagemate, Jilly, would have produced milk as I've read that somewhere that sometimes that would happen, especially since she had a successful litter before, but she didn't :( and around here I just couldn't find anyone with a girl rat that could have fostered the babies.  Even the pet shop didn't have any girls at all.  They used to have girls, but they've slimmed down on what they have and they always only have boys now.  

My closest city that I live near is Massena, New York, which is about 45 minutes away, and on the other side the only closest city is Watertown, New York, which is 1 and a half hours away.  Thank you so much for your time, I really appreciate it :)

Naomi

ANSWER: I am sorry to hear the pups passed away. I had a strong feeling they would just by the photos. They did not look healthy at all. I do want you to say this to yourself right now and mean it when you say it ok?
IT WAS NOT YOUR FAULT!  You did NOTHING wrong.  It is very very hard for even an expert rat keeper if there is such a thing, (and I doubt it, nobody can know everything there is to know about  ANYTHING!!) would have a super hard time trying to keep pups that young alive.  Usually its less than a 20% chance that pups that are hand fed before their eyes are open actually survive. I have heard very few stories where pups were hand raised like that and made it. A wildlife rehabber, with all the proper tools needed, may have had a better chance, but where do you find someone like that when its hard to even find a decent vet?!  So again, do not beat yourself up.  You did everything you could do and thats all that matters. It just wasnt meant to be which is usually why mother rat rejects them in the first place.  They just have this natural instinct and they know when its right and they know when it isnt right.

I have some errands to run and after that I will help you and try to find a good vet for your rats!

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

QUESTION: Thank you so much for all of your kind words.  I know I do beat myself up all the time about things I should know that I shouldn't be, so thank you so much for that.  I guess I did kind of know that about the mom too, and about it not being meant to be.  I just fell head over heals in love with these two little ones, especially with them being my baby's babies, boy it really broke my heart :(  I was actually very excited about having little Joey's running around, as Joey is one of my favorites.  Don't get me wrong, I totally love all of my brats So much, but Joey...she just has a very special place in my heart.  I cried uncontrollably the day after she went into labor, because I believed that she was going to die.  I guess I like to think that maybe she too has a special place in her heart for me too, because she fought hard to be able to stay here with me, God bless her :)

Thanks so much for all of your help :)  I anticipate on hearing of a Good real certified vet :)  Thanks!

Naomi

Answer
http://www.aemv.org/vetlist.cfm

Check out the link above. It is a link to vets that are exotic vets and members of the Association of exotic mammal Veterinarians. This way you will know better than I the location of the vets. There are 30 exotic vets in NY.   Hopefully there is someone near you!!!!