Pregnant or Problems?

Question
QUESTION: My doe Grim had a bit of an encounter with my Siamese buck about 26 days ago. A simple accident led to them breeding on a day that I was positive she was in heat on(I'd been tracking her estrus cycle). For the first week or so she showed all the proper signs of being pregnant. She groomed the hair away from her nipples, partially buried her house under her bedding in an effort to make a nest and was eating heartily, however. It's now the 26th day. And though I had her marked down for around 22-24 days, I'm really worried.

She not only has ceased her nest building but she has also not expanded(which I've heard doesn't always happen so that isn't my main worry) and she also has stopped cleaning out her food dish within a day or so.

I'm not sure if this implies that she lost the kittens or if she is simply just not due yet but I find it strange that she suddenly has ceased the symptoms. Note: She did increase in weight after the first week, around the time she started nesting and her pregnancy seemed evident).

But I dunno. Now I'm just really worried about her. She passed her last litter(When I first bought her, she was pregnant) without difficulty but I'm not so sure about this one. And I really hope to keep this lady with me for years to come.

Do you have any suggestions or even any answers?

Anything would help me. D=

Signed,

Worried and waiting,
Shantell.

ANSWER: Well, if she was showing all the obvious signs and she's this far overdue, if she was pregnant she has lost the babies. Time is now of the essence. She needs to deliver these babies or they could end up hurting her (infection, hemmorage, etc.) - I'd say take her to the vet, explain the situation, and have them double check. They may be able to look at her and go "Nah! She's fat!" or give you some other explanation, then again they may see that she has dead infants inside of her and do a cesearan to remove them. Rattie c-sections are expensive but can be done - I have a doe here who had one after her litter died/got stuck during delivery.

Best of luck!

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

QUESTION: With all those signs evident, is there still a possibility that it was all just a false alarm? Or do rats commonly go through false pregnancies?

I just need to know all the possibilities but I will for sure be taking her to the vet then. But I'd still like to know in case of an emergency in the future if I do decide to raise rats.

And thanks so much for the previous response. I can really only hope for the best.

Answer
In my years of breeding (and owning hundres of rats and raising oh so many litters), I've never seen a false pregnancy. I've seen a reabsorbed pregnancy and aborted pregnancies, but those are fairly easy to figure out what happened, and usually there is some amount of indication of such (generally, blood in the cage). I'd say it's pretty rare for a rat to carry a false pregnancy. I'd rather be safe than sorry, ya know?

I hope it ends up that she's alright! Let me know.