Sexing Rat Babies

Question
QUESTION: Our female Blue, Rex, Dumbo, rat came to us pregnant and recently (2 weeks ago) gave birth to 10 lovely babies. I was reluctant to handle them too much as hairless newborns not wanting to make mom nervous although she was always beautiful with us around the babies, it was her first litter. Consequently they now have hair at two weeks, and I'm having difficulty sexing them in spite of all the sites I've visited.  I can sex them easily beyond 5 weeks but we all know what might happen then:)  They are all dumbo with 3 blue rexes, 2 white rexes, 1 Satin? white, 3 Satin? blues. Due to the different colorations and sizes it's hard to judge the distance from anus to urethra/penis. They also don't have the noticeable testicles of the older aged males.  Any advice?  Also, are these types of babies unique and desirable.  I find all rats equally cute and wish I could bring them all home but wanted to know if this unique litter is as unique as I find them. -Shawn

ANSWER: Hi Shawn!

http://www.afrma.org/sexing101.htm

Check out the site above.Its really explicit (picture wise) and helpful in comparing male and female pups.
You can also look for nipples on the belly. Female and males have mammary tissue but males do not have nipples. If you see nipples, there is your female. Still though, try the website above for reference. Hopefully you haven't seen this site yet and it helps you alot.

As for the rats being unique and desirable, like you said, all rats are equally cute, but there are some people that are on a mission for a specific rat, be it a blue dumbo or a double rex dumbo odd eye...its just a matter of preference.
I would say that what makes rats desirable, at least in my opinion, is a rat bred for health and temperament, socialized and friendly resulting from being handled early in life and of course bred for health where the breeder has taken the task of keeping records of each rat she uses for breeding,documenting their health history etc... this is what makes a litter of rats desirable more than anything.
It is ok to handle the babies soon as they are born as it has no bearings on the way the mother handles the babies herself. If anything, she appreciates the break!


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

QUESTION: Thanks for all your feedback.  Unfortunately  I've been to that site and I'm still at a loss. My husband and I can't seem to find nipples on them. I wish I had checked when the were newborns. I've even taken digital pictures of all their little bellies to compare to the ones on the AFRMA site, and other sites. Perhaps I could e-mail them to someone who might be able to tell. I guess I could also wait a week to see if things become clearer. Thanks for the advice on handling them. Some sites warned about handling too early.  They started getting plenty of handling/snuggling around week one though:0) We couldn't resist, and mom did seem to enjoy the break, as well as the one on one time with us!

I don't know if the breeder kept records of the pregnancy. It might have been a mistake in sexing ironically, and something I'm trying to avoid when we hit week five and start to separate the little guys and girls. As much as we have loved being able to be a part of this litter it is hopefully our first, and last;) Thanks again for all the information. - Shawn

Answer
Hi Shawn

You still have time right? I cant remember without looking back on your first message how old they are, I am thinking just around 2 weeks old. I have been working with rats for a long time and still I have trouble sexing certain rats and I know why. I fear being wrong and having an accidental litter. That and I am a Libra (although I usually don't believe in that stuff LOL) I am so indecisive when facing a tough decision and when I am certain a baby rat pup is a boy, I usually like a second opinion to back me up. I yank the vet by his lab coat and ask him to give me his opinion and there is nothing worse when he says he "thinks" I'm right. We stand there looking at each other, dumbfounded, and I will go grab yet another person for a third opinion. I  hate that. Often, the male has his testicles drawn up because of being scared of us. Male rats have an open inguinal canal so they can draw their testicles up when scared, sick or even cold and fool even the most experienced rat person. Of course, we are taught how to feel to see if that is what they are doing too, which is not something I like to do to the poor little guy! Here I am, poking his privates! I get dirty looks and squeaks of protest that tells me he is less than thrilled with his inspection! LOL!

Anyhow, I would say to relax a bit,you have a few weeks yet and it will be easier as they get older. You know, it wouldn't be unheard of to have an entire litter full of females and that could really cause confusion too. I have only had two litters from my own rats (two rescues, mother and daughter rats,straight from the snakes tank, who refused to feed on them, thankfully, and even more thankful is that the rats did not turn around and attack and kill the snake, which happens and is yet another reason I am against live feeding in captivity, but thats another story. Anyhow, the snake spared the rats lives, snake owner brings girls back to store, store clerk is snotty about it and refuses to take them back, me and my big heart brings both of them home and during quarantine, the smaller younger female gives birth to 7 rats and a week later, the older rat gives birth to fifteen. Yes fifteen.  LOL   Oreos smaller litter had 3 boys and the rest were female and Charlottes litter....I cant remember to be honest, but I would say it was pretty much divided equally between sexes and I only gave about 9 away out of all the pups so I was totally paranoid sexing them as you can imagine. I kept marking their tails with non toxic marker with an F and an M and kept getting nervous that I was wrong. When 4 and a half weeks rolled around, the boys were very social and calm and relaxed and it was a cinch to tell if they were boys. Those carpet draggers were very obvious!  ;-0

Anyhow, about those sites that warn against handling the new babies. I can pretty much tell you that if they gave inaccurate information like that, it makes me wonder what other information they are putting out there that is inaccurate too. That scares me about some of these sites written by a layperson especially, or those that are not endorsed by a Veterinarian or some other animal professional. You can only believe half of what you read from these sites. Someone recently argued with me that she read on various sites that it was ok to use pine and cedar and use commercial pet food, any kind was fine for rats since they are scavengers, and if pine and cedar were so bad pet stores wouldn't sell it.
I wasn't going to waste my breath arguing about any of it but did warn him that yes, in the wild rats will eat from trash, but they also don't live usually more than 3 to 6 months if they are lucky to go that far. We are talking about raising healthy rats, not scavengers. Oy vey!
Sorry to get off topic but that bugs me when websites pass off information that can really end up causing more harm for the rat than good. My advice to other readers here is to be sure the sites your reading are backed by professionals and not just from the person that is a self proclaimed rat expert.

Glad to have helped you, wish I could do more for you. If only I could see them. Maybe you can e-mail me photos?
If so, send to Sandyscrittercity@yahoo.com

Good luck~

Sandy