feeding my mommy rat

Question
QUESTION: I have a rat that gave birth to 6 live babies on Saturday. They are doing great! She is fiercely protective so I'm very limited to the babies but that's ok! I know she is taking good care of them. Now, I want to make sure I take good care of her. I read that she needs high nutrients and protein and I've been feeding her peanuts and egg since I got her and I want to give her some oatmeal. I read that you should mix it with goat's milk. I don't have any on hand but I do have human breast milk. I know it's a bizarre question but is it ok to mix human breast milk in her oatmeal? I don't want to give her anything that will negatively affect her. Any other ideas on good things to feed her would be wonderful. She doesn't seem to care for the rat mixture you get at a store. I usually make my own food for them (peas, corn, rice grain mix, fruit) but I'm not familiar with the special diet of pregnant/nursing moms (I unknowingly inherited her pregnant). Thanks in advance.

ANSWER:   I would avoid giving her any kind of natural milk entirely, as most rats get diarrhea from dairy products.  If you want to supplement her calcium, which is a good idea for a nursing mom, try human soy baby formula or puppy / kitten milk replacement.  Usually home made diets are great for rats and most pregnant rats don't need too much extra nutrition except for a bit more calcium to offset the milk they are producing.  Rats are excellent mothers and usually don't need any help taking care of their babies.  Even though she's being protective, do try to get in there and handle the babies, even if you have to remove her from the cage for a few minutes.  The more you handle them and the sooner you handle them the tamer they will be, plus you can use that time to check up on them and remove any dead ones (it's normal for one or two not to survive).  I hope that answers your question, good luck with your rats!

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

QUESTION: Thanks. I do check on them because she will separate herself to eat and they all still seem to be thriving. Would you recommend I wait until they are a week old before handling them or should I try already (they are 3 days old)? Is it ok to give her oatmeal just not with any milk? I'll go get the puppy/kitten milk or soy formula (whichever I find first!) today. I don't think I mentioned the added hurdle that we adopted her 9 days before she gave birth (we didn't know she was pregnant). Although she was handled a lot by her previous owner, she doesn't trust me completely yet - and my husband not at all. She won't let me touch her anymore and she bit my husband so badly that it looked like she almost got the pad of his finger off. I'm working on her and I know she wants out so I think she'll let me handle her soon. I want to put her in with my other girls for a bit (she was with them for 5 days before I separated her to get ready for babies) while I handle the babies. Is that ok to do? That kind of goes back to my question above -- when should I let her have time without the kids and how long? Thanks again. I know we have a bunch of issues here!

Answer
 I think plain oatmeal would be all right, just in moderation like any other food.  It makes sense that she is more aggressive since you just got her; having babies as well as going to a new home can be quite stressful.  She should calm down after the babies are older and be a lot tamer.  I wouldn't try to work with her until the babies are around 2-3 weeks, and if she is still just as protective you may want to wait until they are weaned.  Trying to socialize her at this point may stress her out too much and actually set her progress back.  Since it is crucial to the babies to be handled, just focus on handling the babies at this point and wait until later to work with the mother.  Hopefully she will calm down a lot after the stress of raising a litter is over.  I would also wait to put her with the other girls, again because it may stress her out too much.